Monday, January 17, 2011

Source Citations Created in Family Tree Maker 2011 - some examples

I wrote five posts last week about some of the problems I encountered while creating source citations in Family Tree Maker 2011 using the source templates.  I've created about 100 source groups using the source templates to the best of my ability.

The next step in this study is to show some of my source citations created by the FTM 2011 source templates so that I can compare them to the source templates created by other programs from a GEDCOM file of my FTM 2011 database. 

In other words, how mangled do my carefully crafted source citations get mangled when they are exported from FTM 2011 to other programs.  I must note that any differences are not solely the fault of either of the programs involved - it means that their GEDCOM export and import processes are different.

Why do this?  Well, I still have more than 500 source groups to convert from free-form sources to template sources, and I want to know if it is worth my time to convert them.  And if I do, which sources get mangled through GEDCOM to another program or to an online family tree.  Or, am I stuck with using FTM 2011 once I've used their source templates?
Here are some of my source citations created by the FTM 2011 templates:

 Vital records index

"California Death Index, 1940-1997", Rootsweb, California Death Index, 1940-1997 (http://vitals.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ca/death/search.cgi).), Maybelle C. Wright entry, Death Date 31 March 1964, Death place San Diego (80), Birth date 17 May 1902, Mother's maiden name Ashdown.

Vital records certificate

Certificate of Registration, San Diego County, California, Department of Public Health Certificate No. NC-867 (1943). "This is to Certify that Randall Jeffrey Seaver was born on October23, 1943 in the City of National City, San Diego, Calif."; Department of Public Health, San Diego County, California.

Published book

Blaine Whipple, History and Genealogy of "Elder" John Whipple of Ipswich, Massachusetts: (Victoria, B.C., Canada: Whipple Development Corporation, 2003). Carlsbad Georgina Cole Library, Carlsbad California, USA, (1250 Carlsbad Village Dr., Carlsbad, California, USA).

Record Commissioners of Boston, A Report of the Record Commissioners of the City of Boston Containing Dorchester Births, Marriages and Deaths to the End of 1825: (Boston, Mass.: Rockwell & Churchill, City Printers, 1890). New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.

Robert S. Wakefield (editor), Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Volume 13: Family of William White (Boston, Mass.: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1997), page 6. Carlsbad Georgina Cole Library, Carlsbad California, USA, (1250 Carlsbad Village Dr., Carlsbad, California, USA).

Periodicals

Caroline Martino, Marcia Lindberg, "Henry Collins of Lynn and his Descendants", The Essex Genealogist Volume 10, #3-4; Volume 11, #1-3; Volume 12 #4 (1990-1992). New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.

Elizabeth French Bartlett, " Genealogical Research in England: Weeden", New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 76, Number 2 (April 1922): Pages 115-129. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts.

Newspaper articles

Frederick Schaffner Death Notice, 1 July 1899, page 10, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco, California, online images (http://www.sfgenealogy.com/).
Census records


1930 U.S. census, population schedule, NARA microfilm publication T626, San Diego County, California, San Diego city; ED 116, Sheet 5A, Dwelling #142, Family #148, Lyle L. Carringer household, Roll 192; digital image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com).
 
Probate Records
Worcester, Massachusetts, Worcester County [Mass.] Probate Court Records, Abigail Gates, 1867; Probate Packet 52,857 (viewed at Worcester County Court House); Worcester County Courthouse, Worcester, Massachusetts.

Cemetery marker

Woodside Cemetery (Westminster, Massachusetts), Benjamin Seaver monument.

Family papers

Abigail (Vaux) Smith, Della (Smith) Carringer, others, to Abigail (Vaux) Smith, Della (Smith) Carringer, others, Personal Notes and Letters , Smith/Carringer Family Letter Collection, 1888-1902; privately held by Randall J. Seaver, Chula Vista CA 91911.

Family Bible

Rebecca (Spangler) Carringer, 1828-1946, Carringer Family Births, Marriages and Deaths (loose pages), unknown title (unknown location: unknown publisher, unknown date; before 1901); privately held by Randall J. Seaver, Chula Vista, California 91911, 1988-2011.

Note that some of the selected source citations above have source details and comments in them. 

I made the FTM 2011 GEDCOM export file after creating those citations, and will import the GEDCOM file to RootsMagic 4, Legacy Family Tree 7, and Family Tree Maker 16.

1 comment:

Delia Furrer said...

Hi Randy, you have motivated me to get my sourcing done as well and have been really following your blogs about this. I had imported my data from Master Genealogist to Family Tree Maker and all my hours I had spent formulating my sources so that they would print out cohesively got mangled and distorted. Thankfully they are there in FTM but need to be rearranged. I have wondered as well when there are times we need to transfer our data over or upgrade to newer versions will we be able to keep these entries intact? It is alot of work carefully inputting then to lose the integrity. I wonder what Genealogists do about this? I haven't seen much discussion about this. Thanks for sharing your insights with us about this.