Event Types and Roles

The table below identifies some of the main event-types and event-subtypes of interest. The default in both instances is ‘Unknown’. The table also indicates typical associations of person-roles with event-type.

The predefined event-types are ones for which direct evidence is likely to be available. STEMMA deliberately makes it easy to define new event-types and subtypes, partly so that custom entities can be defined for describing detailed hierarchical events. The Persons associated with an Event are ones mentioned in a supporting source and that usually means they were present but not always. The Status Property can be used for deceased/implied/absent/ persons (e.g. a deceased parent on a marriage certificate, a person mentioned — implied — but not present, or a crossed-out — absent — person in a census household).

The values for event-subtype are subordinate to an event-type. In software terms, the event-subtype may be represented as a child of the event-type, e.g. Union.Marriage. The reason this was not carried through to the person-role (e.g. Union.Marriage.Bride) was due to the number of combinations and the undue rigidity.

Event Type	Event sub-type	Event Role	Notes
Birth	Birth	Child, Mother, Informant
	StillBirth	Mother
	Miscarriage	Mother
Death	Burial	Deceased
	Cremation	Deceased
	Death	Deceased, Informant
Dissolution	Annulment	Husband, Wife, Partner
	Divorce
	Separation		Also applies to unmarried couples
Education	Enrolment	Subject
Education	Graduation	Subject
Group	Begin
	Change
	End
Legal	Court	Subject
	Imprisonment
	Probate
	Release
	Will
Medical		Subject
Military	Campaign	Subject
	Discharge
	Disciplinary		e.g. Court martial
	Engagement		Not same as Union.Engagement
	Enlistment
	Rank		Promotion, Demotion
	Recognition		Medals, awards, citations
	Travel
Place	Begin
	Change
	End
Religious	Baptism	Child
	Bar-mitzvah
	Bas-mitzvah		Also Bat-mitzvah
	Blessing
	Christening
	Communion
	Confirmation
Responsibility	Adoption	Child, AdoptedParent, FosterParent
	Fostering	Child, AdoptedParent, FosterParent
	Guardianship	Dependant, Guardian
Social	Correspondence
Social	Meeting
Survey	Census	Head, Apprentice, Assistant, Boarder, Governess, HouseBoy, HouseKeeper, Inmate, Keeper, Lodger, LodgerHead, Member, Nurse, NurseChild, Officer, Orphan, Porter, Probationer, Pupil, Servant, Visitor	Normally just one Head per household
Survey	Directory
Travel	AddressChange
	Emigration
	Immigration
	Naturalisation
Unknown	Unknown
Union	Affair	Partner
	Banns	Fiancee, Fiance
	Cohabitation	Partner
	Engagement	Fiancee, Fiance	NB: Fiancée is a woman, fiancé is a man
	Marriage	Bride, Groom, Witness, Guest, BestMan	Where civil/religious distinction not relevant
	MarriageCivil
	MarriageContract
	MarriageReligious
	PrenuptialAgreement	Fiancee, Fiance
	SameSex	Partner
Work	Commencement	Subject
	Retirement
	Status		Promotion, Demotion
	Termination

A description of how custom event-types and roles are accommodated may be found at ExtendedVocabularies. Note that Unions involving more than two people, or people of the same sex, can be determined by looking at the Roles involved. They are not given a specific event-type.

Roles and Relationships are both normalised items of information about a subject reference, but a Role is something relative to the Event itself, whereas a Relationship is something relevant between two subject references, such as between two persons. A more readable work on Roles and Relationships can be found at Role of the Role.

Q: Do we need a recognised event-type for a gender reassignment procedure? The <Sex> element describes the “birth sex” (however indeterminate) but we still need to be able to record such a procedure. See No Sex Please, We’re Genealogists!.

Q: Should we handle change of slave ownership under the event-type ‘Responsibility’?