I use Abt when there is some evidence to support that date. E.g. the 1861 census recorded him as being 7 years old. I would say born Abt 1854.
I use Est when there is no evidence, but I want to put something in the date field. E.g. A marriage record says that John's father was James. That's all I know about James, but I know John was born in 1867 so I will guess that James was roughly 25 years old when John was born and use Est 1845. I tend to round Est dates to the most likely multiple of 5. I think circa is a synonym for abt. I don't use it. I may be wrong, but I don't think there is any hard and fast rule about this. Just pick a method, be consistent and document it so others can follow your reasoning. Cheers Tony Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
