Cross-reference audit (2026-10-31)

Christopher asked whether every person and narrative is cross-referenced with places, congregations, beliefs, children, politics, conferences, converts and history. Measured across the 196 ancestor notes.

The model Christopher described

At the core, people in a family tree. Around each person:

Facet	Where it lives now	Status
Places lived	Places/ (117 notes); person born_place, died_place, residences	partial
Congregations	Congregations/ (10 notes); person congregation	thin
Belief systems	History/ tradition notes (Swiss Brethren, Amish, Amish Mennonite, Swiss Mennonite, Low German Mennonite, General Conference, Mennonite Church, Reformed, Lutheran, Catholic) and Faith traditions; person tradition	partial
Kids	Families/ (78 couple notes); person father/mother	good
Larger politics (rulers, governments, edicts)	scattered in History/ event notes	no category
Conferences	not modeled	missing
Born into the faith vs. joined	not modeled	missing
General historical trends	History/ event notes; Stories	good, under-linked

Measurements (ancestors, n = 196)

Check	Count
born_place filled	74 (38%)
links at least one Place note	111 (57%)
tradition filled	123 (63%)
congregation filled / links a Congregation note	33 (17%)
links a History note	143 (73%; mostly the automatic “In their lifetime” list)
links a Story	13 (7%)
has a Family (couple) note	142 (72%)

Gaps found

• Places with no notes used in recent research: Sandhof, Schönhorst, Neukirch (a broken link), Fürstenwerder, Elbing, Groningen, Adelaida (Calif.), Salisbury and Cocalico townships (Lancaster).
• Place notes nothing links to: Harlingen, Franeker, Pasewark, Platenhof, Trub, Thurgau, Stark County (Ohio), Zollikon, Les Brenets, Erlenbach, Oberhofen, Höfen, Rohrbach, Lutter.
• Congregations missing: Am Trakt (Köppenthal-Ohrloff), Fürstenwerder, Danzig Flemish (Gemeynte Godts), Eggiwil (Anabaptist), San Marcos (Paso Robles), Pine Grove (Somerset), Swiss congregations at Riley Creek/Bluffton and Chippewa, Lancaster Amish.
• Stories and research notes from 2026-10-31 (Plague/Reformation, the world around the migrations, Lancaster, 1528/1653, Krahn, Smith, Belk, church papers) link out to people, but most people do not link back to them.
• Tradition notes (Catholic, Lutheran, Mennonite Church) have no inbound links.

Proposed fixes

1. Schema additions: person fields faith_origin (born / joined, with year and former church, e.g. the Fieguths, who may have joined from Lutheran or Catholic) and conferences; a new Conferences/ folder (Western District, Pacific District, General Conference, Ohio and Eastern Amish Mennonite, Lancaster); a Governments/ (or History “rulers and edicts”) set: Bern council and Täuferkammer, Prussian kings and the 1789 edict, Catherine II and Alexander II, the Dutch Republic, U.S. draft laws.
2. Fill fields from the notes’ own text: derive born_place, residences, congregation and tradition where the body already states them (no new facts).
3. Create the missing Place and Congregation notes above, with sources.
4. Back-links: add a “Narratives and research” section to each person and place that a Story, History or Research note mentions.
5. Re-run this audit and the rebuild tools to confirm.

After the fixes (same day)

Check (ancestors, n = 196)	Before	After
born_place filled	74	74
tradition filled	123	128
congregation filled	33	49
links a Place	111	118
links a Congregation	33	51
links a Story	13	34
links a Government	0	15
links a Conference	0	3

• New categories: Conferences/ (7 notes), Governments/ (9 notes); schema fields conferences, faith_origin, governments.
• New congregations: Am Trakt (Köppenthal-Ohrloff), Fürstenwerder, Danzig Flemish, San Marcos (Paso Robles), Riley Creek (Bluffton–Pandora), Sonnenberg (Wayne County). New places: Elbing, Groningen, Fürstenwerder, Neukirch, Schönhorst, Sandhof, Adelaida, Salisbury and Cocalico townships.
• Back-links: every person and place now ends with a generated “Narratives and research” section (_System/tools/backlinks.py, part of the standard rebuild in AGENTS); 246 notes have one.
• Remaining orphans: Neuenschwander Family Record 1812-1958 (different family).
• Not fixable from the notes alone: birthplaces are unknown for 122 ancestors, and most congregations and traditions before 1800 are unrecorded. Those need new sources, not linking.

Record compiled 31 October 2026.

About this research

Supporting documentation is linked throughout. This project is an exercise in AI-assisted research and development, and I haven’t manually verified every link or conclusion. All transcriptions and translations of Swiss parish records were made with AI, and their accuracy should be treated accordingly.