How Should Someone Create a Long Lasting Family History?

I have been having an interesting discussion with a lady in email about how to organize her mother's genealogy and family history research into a useful and long-lasting form so that it won't be lost to her descendants.

Here are the ground rules she gave me:

*  Her mother has collected family history information for many years, mostly on paper.  The mother has a PC with Family Tree Maker (don't know the version), and has an Ancestry account and Ancestry Member Tree.  It is unknown if she has synced the AMT with FTM or not.

*  The daughter has a Mac computer, no genealogy software, is familiar with databases, but has no genealogy experience, but wants to learn.

*  They both want to enter genealogy and family history information into one database somehow.

*  They both want it to be available in some lasting form for their descendants.

Should they use an online family tree that they both can utilize?  Should they use desktop genealogy software?  Should they write e-books or publish books?

I am interested in what my readers would recommend.  I have my own thoughts, but I know that the knowledge and wisdom of a group of knowledgeable persons is greater than my own.   Crowdsourcing works!

What should this mother and daughter do in the short term, and in the long term, to organize and save the genealogy and family history information of the mother?

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/12/how-should-someone-create-long-lasting.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Treasure Chest Thursday Post 292: 1780 Marriage Date of Peter and Sarah (Kinnan) Putman

It's Treasure Chest Thursday - time to look in my digital image files to see what treasures I can find for my family history and genealogy musings.

The treasure today is the  1835 Deposition of Sarah (Kinnan) Putman that defines the marriage and death dates of Peter Putman (1760-1835) in Peter Putman's Revolutionary War Pension Application:

The transcription of the parts that describe the marriage date of Peter and Sarah and the death date of Peter are:

"...That she is the widow of 

Peter Putman who was draughted out of Haukleson

Regiment about the year 1780 Under Captain Joseph

Stokes and served n the New Jersey Militia for about

six weeks.  She further declares that she was married to the

said Peter Putman on the 20th day of March in 1780

that her husband the aforesaid Peter Putman died on the

8 day of October in the year 1835 and that she has

remained a widow ever since that period as more

fully appear by reference to the proof hereto annexed."

The source citation for this record is:

"Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files," online database with digital images, Fold3.com (http://www.Fold3.com : accessed 12 December 2007), Pension Application W 17501, New Jersey, Peter Putman and widow Sarah Putman of Steuben County, New York, image 8 of 20, Sarah Putman deposition, 1837.

This deposition by the widow, Sarah (Kinnan) Putman (1761-1841) is part of the Revolutionary War Pension File for Peter Putman (1760-1835).  It includes their marriage date and Peter's death date.  The deposition was written on 30 August 1837 in Barrington, Yates County, New York.

This is an original source, with direct evidence of the marriage and death dates, but is secondary information because it is not contemporaneous with the events mentioned.  

Peter and Sarah (Kinnan) Putman are my 5th great-grandparents.  I am descended through their son John Putman (1785-1863) who married Sarah Martin (1792-1860).

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/12/treasure-chest-thursday-post-292-1780.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Stimulating Ancestry Member Tree Hints

Some time ago, I noticed that I could "stimulate" Record Hints on my Ancestry Member Tree.  That is, just by showing someone in my Ancestry Member Tree in the Family View, Hints could be generated very quickly.

Here is an example I did today:

1)  I looked at my "View people with Hints" page from the home page:

The screen above says:

*  People with Hints - 7943
*  Records - 30841
*  Photos - 3632
*  Stories - 530
*  Member Trees - 7201

I noticed that, even though I have 42,922 people in this Ancestry Member Tree, I have only 7,943 with Hints.  That means less than 20% of my tree people have Hints.  Are there really over 34,000 people in my tree without Hints on Ancestry.com?

2)  I found a portion of my tree (in the Family view) that didn't have Hints for two generations - the descendants of Chester Cornelius Carringer (1856-1915) and Valeria Magdalene Schick (1853-1929). Chester is my first cousin 3 times removed.  By the time I had the screen set up to take a screen shot, it was populated with Hints for most of the children and grandchildren of Chester and Valeria, as shown below:

3)  I was interested in Buryl Carringer (1929-2012), one of Chester Carringer's grandsons, because I had just found his burial record on Find A Grave.  On the screen above, I clicked on his green leaf on the screen above:

There were 11 Hints added for this person in the 15 seconds between getting Chester Carringer on the screen in the Family view, and the time I took the screen shot.

4)  I went back to the list of "View people with Hints" and saw:

Now there are:

*  People with Hints - 8011 (+ 68)
*  Records - 31353 (+ 512)
*  Photos - 3650 (+18)
*  Stories - 530 (+ 0)
*  Member Trees - 7261(+ 60).

Just by spending 15 seconds on this particular View of my Ancestry Member Tree, I added 512 Record Hints for 68 persons, most of whom are my cousins! For the record, Buryl Wayne Carringer is a 3rd cousin 3 times removed.

Sometimes you have to click on a person on the Family View, bring up the profile, and then go to "View in Tree" and more descendants of the person will appear with Hints.

Reviewing the Hints provided by Ancestry may lead you to discover more ancestors and/or descendants thereby extending your tree.

5)  Well, that was fun!  I think I'll go stimulate more Hints on the Carringer line because this is one of my most promising tree branch for relatively close DNA cousins.  

It is apparent that just by putting a person in your Ancestry Member Tree, using the Pedigree View or Family View, that you can stimulate Hints for the person and several generations of descendants. 

6)  Have you stimulated Hints on your Ancestry Member Tree?  You may really enjoy the experience, and uncover records for your tree persons in the process.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/12/stimulating-ancestry-member-tree-hints.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Christmas at the Carringers - Post 391 of (Not So) Wordless Wednesday

I am posting family photographs from my collection on Wednesdays, but they aren't "Wordless" - I am incapable of having a wordless post.

Here is a photograph from the Geraldine (Seaver) Remley collection provided to me by the Remley family in 2007:

The persons in this picture, taken in the 1970 to 1975 time frame, are (from the left):

*  Emily Kemp (Auble) Carringer (1899-1977), my maternal grandmother.
*  Randy Seaver, moi.
*  Betty Virginia (Carringer) Seaver (1919-2002), my mother.

I don't know the exact year that this photograph was taken, or who took it.  I think it was probably between 1970 and 1975, based on how the three of us in the picture look.  I think that my wife, Linda, took this picture - it took a creative person to turn the camera 45 degrees to get the diamond effect above, and I don't think my father, or grandfather, or brothers, would have done it.  

The photograph was taken in the living room of my grandparents home at 825 Harbor View Place.

My mother and grandmother were very good home decorators - notice the gold and white motif in the Carringer's living room.  The tree is an artificial tree, with white branches, and with red and gold (with a few blue) ornaments, with gold and blue strands of beads, plus a small angel on the top of the tree.  

I love this photo because it shows my mitochondrial line - three generations from my grandmother to my mother to me.  I don't have many pictures with the three of us, and this is one of the best.  I have no four generation mitochondrial line pictures.  It's a great photograph, showing my mother with a smile on her face, holding a camera, and wearing a fashionable green dress.  

Someone, probably either my mother or my wife, sent this photograph to my Aunt Geraldine (sister to my father) who put it into her photograph collection that was passed to me after Gerry's death in 2007.  I am extremely grateful that the whole series of events occurred - from photograph to someone to Gerry to me, because this photograph is not in my family's collections to my knowledge.  

Randy's Photo Axiom is once again demonstrated - "our extended families have valuable photographs of our family hiding in their albums."

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/12/christmas-at-carringers-post-391-of-not.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Russ Worthington Short Videos on Family Tree Maker and Ancestry

My friend and geneablogger colleague, Russ Washington, has been busy this past week since the announcement that Ancestry.com is "retiring" the desktop Family Tree Maker genealogy software.

On his Family Tree Maker User blog (http://ftmuser.blogspot.com), Russ has posted short videos for:

*  Preparing to Transition (10 December 2015) - read this if you are going to move your family tree from Family Tree Maker to another desktop software program.

*  How to Download Your Tree From Ancestry.com (11 December 2015) - this video deals with downloading a GEDCOM file from an Ancestry Member Tree.

*  How to View Media Files in RootsMagic 7 (for FTM2014 Users) (13 December 2015) - this video deals with finding Media for citations after importing a GEDCOM into RootsMagic from Family Tree Maker 2014.

*  FTM 2014 to RootsMagic - Living People Weren't Included (13 December 2015) - this describes why living people were not included in a FTM 2014 GEDCOM export, and how to fix it.

There may be others posted in the next few weeks.

Russ has posted quite a few short videos about Family Tree Maker 2014 - see the Cousin Russ YouTube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLPSok9tbURO8_Sfqxkjy7w/videos.

In addition, last week's Wacky Wednesday Hangout On Air, hosted by DearMYRTLE and Russ Worthington, titled Life Beyond Family Tree Maker, discussed the retirement of Family Tree Maker and some of the ways that FTM users can preserve their family tree.  See the video at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5a6RoJBpZo.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/12/russ-worthington-short-videos-on-family.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Tuesday's Tip: A Year of Genealogy Education at Family Tree Webinars

This week's Tuesday's Tip is to:  Enjoy a year of educational webinars from Family Tree Webinars.

Family Tree Webinars (http://familytreewebinars.com/) has released their schedule of 2016 webinars - there are 62 90-minute presentations on the list by notable speakers and educators.  The list is on the Legacy News blog in 2016 Legacy Family Tree Webinar Series Announced.

The list of webinars scheduled for 2016 includes:

January 2016

• Tap Into Your Inner Private Eye - 9 Strategies for Finding Living Relatives by Lisa Louise Cooke. 1/6
• Technology and Techniques for Differentiating Two People with the Same Name by Geoff Rasmussen. 1/13
• Snagit software for Genealogists by Michael Brophy. 1/15
• The Basics of Virginia Research by Shannon Combs-Bennett. 1/20
• The Paper-Less Genealogist by Denise Levenick. 1/27
• MyHeritage - Technologies and Content to Bolster Your Research by MyHeritage. 1/29

February 2016

• The Scots-Irish in America by Peggy Lauritzen. 2/10
• Getting Started with Microsoft Word by Thomas MacEntee. 2/17
• Problem Solving with FANs by Beth Foulk. 2/19
• A Guided Tour of Cyndi's List 2.0 by Cyndi Ingle. 2/24

March 2016

• The War of 1812 Records - Preserving the Pensions by Michael Hall. 3/2
• Making YDNA and mtDNA Part of Your Family History by Diahan Southard. 3/4
• How Do I Know That's My Ancestor? by Amy Johnson Crow. 3/9
• The Private Laws of the Federal and State Governments by Judy Russell. 3/16
• Introduction to German Parish Records by Gail Blankenau. 3/23
• Proof Arguments - How to Write Them and Why They Matter by Warren Bittner. 3/30

April 2016

• Getting to Know Findmypast - Your Source for British and Irish Genealogy by Jen Baldwin. 4/6
• Confirming Enslaved Ancestors Utilizing DNA by Melvin Collier. 4/8
• U.S. Land Records - State Land States by Mary Hill. 4/13
• Fire Insurance Maps - The Google Maps of Their Day by Jill Morelli. 4/20
• England and Wales - Rummaging in the Parish Chests by Kirsty Gray. 4/27

May 2016

• Google Drive for Genealogists by Thomas MacEntee. 5/4
• Dirty Pictures - Save Your Family Photos from Ruin by Denise Levenick. 5/11
• Messages from the Grave - Listening to Your Ancestor's Tombstone by Elissa Powell. 5/13
• Mining the Über-sites for German Ancestors by Jim Beidler. 5/18
• Discover American Ancestors (NEHGS) by Lindsay Fulton. 5/25

June 2016

• Get the Most from AmericanAncestors.org by Claire Vail. 6/1
• Researching Your Washington State Ancestors by Mary Roddy. 6/8
• Introduction to the Freedmen's Bureau by Angela Walton-Raji. 6/10
• Ticked Off! Those Pesky Pre-1850 Census Tic Marks by Peggy Lauritzen. 6/15
• Digging Deeper in German Parish Records by Gail Blankenau. 6/22
• Circles or Triangles? What Shape is Your DNA? by Diahan Southard. 6/29

July 2016

• Navigating Naturalization Records by Lisa Alzo. 7/6
• A Genealogist's Guide to Heraldry by Shannon Combs-Bennett. 7/13
• Finding French Ancestors by Luana Darby. 7/15
• Organize Your Online Life by Lisa Louise Cooke. 7/20
• Researching Women - Community Cookbooks and What They Tell Us About Our Ancestors by Gena Philibert-Ortega. 7/27
• Solutions for Missing and Scarce Records by Tom Jones. 7/30
• The Germanic French - Researching Alsatian and Lorrainian Families by John Philip Colletta

August 2016

• Getting Started with Microsoft PowerPoint by Thomas MacEntee. 8/3
• The Battle for Bounty Land - War of 1812 and Mexican-American Wars by Beth Foulk. 8/10
• Homestead Act of 1862 - Following the Witnesses by Bernice Bennett. 8/12
• Successfully Applying to a Lineage Society by Amy Johnson Crow. 8/17
• Using Findmypast to Unlock Your Irish Ancestry by Brian Donovan. 8/24

September 2016

• The Treasure Trove in Legislative Petitions by Judy Russell. 9/14
• Clooz - A Document-Based Software Companion by Rich Thomas. 9/16
• How to Use FamilySearch.org for Beginners by Devin Ashby. 9/21
• Beginning Polish Genealogy by Lisa Alzo and Jonathan Shea. 9/28

October 2016

• AHA! Analysis of Handwriting for Genealogical Research by Ron Arons. 10/5
• Time and Place - Using Genealogy's Cross-Hairs by Jim Beidler. 10/12
• Finding Your Ancestors' German Hometown by Ursula Krause. 10/14
• Social History Websites That Bring Your Ancestor's Story to Life by Gena Philibert-Ortega. 10/19
• Flip for Flickr - Share, Store and Save Your Family Photos by Maureen Taylor. 10/26

November 2016

• Analysis and Correlation - Two Keys to Sound Conclusions by Chris Staats. 11/2
• Publishing a Genealogy E-Book by Thomas MacEntee. 11/9
• Dating Family Photographs by Jane Neff Rollins. 11/16
• Nature & Nurture - Family History for Adoptees by Janet Hovorka and Amy Slade. 11/18
• Multi-Media Story Telling by Devin Ashby. 11/30

December 2016

• Becoming a Genealogy Detective by Sharon Atkins. 12/7
• From the Heartland - Utilizing Online Resources in Midwest Research by Luana Darby. 12/14
• Tracing Your European Ancestors by Julie Goucher. 12/16
• An Introduction to BillionGraves by Garth Fitzner. 12/21

As you can see, there's something there for just about every genealogist and family historian!

All live webinars are free and their recordings are free to watch for the first 7 days. With a webinar subscription you also get all of this:

*  Access to 1) all the existing 284 classes in the library (428 hours of quality genealogy education), 2) plus the 61 webinars that will be added during the 2016 season, 3) plus any additional bonus subscribers-only webinars (30 of these so far in 2015) - all available for the duration of your membership

*  Access to all 1,260 pages of instructors' handouts plus the new handouts of the 2016 season

*  Chat logs from the live webinars

*  Additional 5% off anything at FamilyTreeWebinars.com

*  Chance for a bonus subscribers-only door prize during each live webinar

*  Additional members-only BONUS webinars

*  Playlist, resume watching, and jump-to features

It's just $49.95/year ($44.95 through 12/31/15) -- register at  http://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/memberships-c11.php

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/12/tuesdays-tip-year-of-genealogy.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

All Ancestry.com Customers Forced to Have Only "New Ancestry" Experience

The Ancestry.com Blog post today is titled All Members Now Moving to the New Ancestry, effective 15 December 2015.  This is not a surprise or a joke - we have known the day would come.  For some, it's much sooner than they wish.  For others, including myself, I don't care that much at this time.

The blog post says:

"Over a year ago, based on extensive research into our members’ wants and needs, we set out to build a better website that reinvents the way Ancestry helps you discover and tell your family story. On December 15, we will complete the final transition worldwide to the new Ancestry site."

The post goes on to note that many comments from users have helped build the revised website, and notes they will continue to provide feature improvements based on user suggestions.  The implication is that the new Ancestry "experience" will be much different, with increased capabilities and functionality, than it is even now.

I have gotten used to the black and gray background with white title lettering, especially in the Ancestry Member Tree.  The new "LifeStory" can be useful, and has drawn the most comment in the reactions of user.   I much prefer the Facts list with or without the Family Facts.  The Person Profile now has three columns in the Fact page - for Facts, for Sources, and for Family.  Many of the optional links that appeared when a user hovered over a person in the Pedigree Tree View or Family Tree View  now requires an actual click to see the different options.  

In the main, the Ancestry Member Tree experience is nearly the same on the website on a desktop or laptop computer as it is in the Ancestry Mobile Apps for iOS and Android smart phones and tablets.  There are a few things missing in the mobile apps, like any display of complete source citations.

All in all, my user experience with New Ancestry is pretty similar to that on Old Ancestry - the search algorithms are consistent but require an understanding of how they work, has a wealth of genealogy and family history information, mostly indexed and with record images, provides Record Hints for persons in an Ancestry Member Tree, offers suggested records for the search result of a person for further research, and has the largest collection, by far, of online individual family trees.  All of this happens within a second or two, it seems, of the user clicking a link.

Ancestry.com stated in More Information on Family Tree Maker Desktop Software (posted 9 December 2015) that:

"We are continuously exploring new options to make the experience better for all users and currently we’re looking into ways to bring desired features from Family Tree Maker into the online experience – such as report functionality or the ability to replace one instance of a change throughout your entire family tree."

That sounds promising, but there are many more features currently in Family Tree Maker and other desktop genealogy programs that are necessary to make the "experience better for all users."  My guess is that 80% of all customers won't really care about many of the changes that would make an Ancestry Member Tree a real quality user experience - one where the user would exclaim "Wow" and "This really helps me in my research."  

What would some of these changes include?  I have a list - here it is:

*  A Family Group Sheet - including all family members, notes, media, sources, facts, etc., with print and save options.

*  Ancestor or Descendant narrative reports with standard numbering systems, option to include notes, media, source citations, etc.  

*  Wall charts, including ancestors, descendants, hourglass, bow-tie, fan, all with font and color options, thumbnail photos, and PDF file saving options.

*  Individual summary reports, with the vital information, options to include notes, media, sources, private information, etc.

*  Relationship reports between two persons, for all relationships and not just the closest relationship, 
*  Useful lists and statistics - ahnentafel list, birthday and anniversary lists, kinship lists, media item list, surname statistics list, tree statistics list, On This Day, Who Was There, etc.

*  To-Do List for each person, sortable by surname, location, repository, etc.  

*  Research Log for each person or surname, with information interchangeable with the To-Do List 

*  Evidence Explained quality source citations that provide a master source, citation detail that defines the actual record location and person identification, and the source of the source (including specific microfilm numbers or NARA publication/roll numbers.

*  Genealogical Proof Standard measures for Information, Source and Evidence, with note space for a Proof statement or argument. 

*  Standardized place names, and the ability to merge place names, and to change all instances of a place name.

*  Duplicate person checks, with the ability to Merge duplicate persons and select the preferred Fact or Name.

*  Data error reports, such as birth before parents birth, birth before parents marriage, birth after mother's death, mother's age between, say, 14 and 50, and more.

I know that my readers can find many more items that would make an Ancestry Member Tree more useful and complete than the present Tree in New Ancestry.

Frankly, I don't think that many of these features that might enhance the user experience will be added in the next six months.  I hope that some of them will be added by the time TreeSync stops working, and all of them, and more, within three to five years.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/12/all-ancestrycom-customers-forced-to.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Reader Comments About Ancestry.com and Family Tree Maker Retirement - Post 1

I wrote three posts last week about the Ancestry.com announcement that Family Tree Maker genealogy software retiring, closing sales on 31 December 2015, and ending support on 1 January 2017; they include:

*  Ancestry.com Announces Retirement of Family Tree Maker Software (8 December 2015)

*  What Do Family Tree Maker Users Do Now? (9 December 2015)

*  Other Genealogy Software Options to Replace Family Tree Maker - UPDATED (9 December 2015)

There are many comments on each post, and they ask many questions, which I want to try to answer.  I won't answer all of the comments on the posts!

1)  Dave Lyon said:  "One thing I'd love for them to do is license TreeSync as an API. For example, if they'd let RootsMagic incorporate TreeSync so you could sync your RootsMagic db with Ancestry-- awesome. "

My response:  Ancestry.com said in More Information About Family Tree Maker Desktop Software (posted 9 December 2015) that Ancestry.com "... are exploring possible relationships with other desktop software solutions that would make it possible for their products to integrate with Ancestry."

"Integration" could mean using the TreeSync API (but I sincerely doubt it because of all the problems they have had making TreeSync work well with their own software).  Since they have an API that enables LDS members to exchange information in an Ancestry Member Tree with FamilySearch Family Tree, it may take that form which would enable exchange of information with other desktop software or online family trees.  

2)  Pam noted:  " I do not want to rely on a family tree on a commercial site - where it is out of my control.  I really like the flexibility of FTM report functions, allowing me to tailor reports for different purposes and do different checks, and maintain a task list, etc."

My response:  I agree with you about control - you still have it when the website disappears, the Internet goes down, etc.  Desktop software has many more features than online trees - especially in the reports, charts, planning, error checks, etc. functions.   

Ancestry's second blog post did say "We are exploring options to bring more reports and related functionality from Family Tree Maker into the online service. Stay tuned for updates on this over the coming year."

How nice - a promise to add more functionality to the Ancestry Member Tree.  They haven't been able to create a Family Group Report yet to New Ancestry.  I sincerely doubt that an Ancestry Member Tree will ever have the capability to create To-Do Lists, Research Logs, Evidence Explained quality source citations, Genealogical Proof Standard measures, standardize place names, ancestor or descendant narrative reports with source citations, individual reports, relationship reports, useful lists, duplicate checks, data error reports, true research reports, etc.  All of those are standard in most of the most popular desktop programs now.  

3)  Claire commented:  "I have been waiting to buy a desktop software and have a lot of records and notes saved online in Ancestry.com Can anyone give me some advice: do I need to spend the $$ to buy FTM to download all that I have saved in ancestry. If I export a GEDCOM, the info will be limited, right? Is there any other software I can download from ancestry.com into that would preserve some of my work?"

My response:  The names, places, dates, relationships, events, source citations, notes, etc. will download in a GEDCOM from your Ancestry Member Tree.  At this time you have two choices to capture the attached records from your Ancestry Member Tree.  a)  Go to each person, save the record image to your computer file folders, and then attach them to persons or events in your alternative desktop software; b)  Obtain Family Tree Maker 2014 before 31 December 2015, and download the AMT to it using the TreeSync feature.  The media items you have uploaded or attached to persons in your AMT will be downloaded, along with all of the other items mentioned in a).  

As you stated, if you export a GEDCOM from your Ancestry Member Tree, the attached or uploaded media items will not download.  At this time, there is no other desktop software that will download the attached or uploaded media.

4)  John McCall asked:  "...my first thought was to ask you how best to work with it, Ancestry.com, FamilySearch and Rootsmagic (which has been my main program for years). Is it worth scooping Ancestry hints into FTM while we can and then exporting individuals or clusters back into RM with the attached sources?"

My response:  I think it would be a waste of time to add Ancestry Hints to your AMT and then sync it to Family Tree Maker so that you could have them in RootsMagic.  My reasons are twofold:  a)  The file names for the attached Ancestry Hints are generic - you can't figure out who they apply to without clicking each one in the FTM Media file folder.  b)  Ancestry's source citations for the Ancestry Hints are poor - they identify the database, the original source, and not much more.  FTM downloads them in a sync, and in order to have quality source citations the user has to edit them - meaning  you have to find them again online and figure out the citation details.  

You would be better off following the Ancestry Hints, downloading the record image, attach the image to your RootsMagic person profiles and events, and creating quality source citations in the process.  You would touch the record image once, and add real value to your RootsMagic database.  This applies to other desktop software programs that have quality source citation templates.  You won't have to do this by a deadline either as long as you have an Ancestry subscription.

5)  mbm1311 queried:  "...I have a question on notes. Do they transfer from FTM to RootsMagic with out a problem?"

My response:  Yes, General Notes transfer from Family Tree Maker to RootsMagic without a problem.  Fact Notes transfer also.  I'm not sure where Research Notes in FTM go in a GEDCOM transfer to RootsMagic.  

6)  Keith Riggle offered:  "Great point about most desktop apps mangling source citations in their GEDCOM files. That's not all they mangle, unfortunately. Family Tree Maker and other apps don't comply with the GEDCOM standard perfectly. You can lose data when you export to a GEDCOM file without even realizing it. I recommend people use a GEDCOM validator like http://ged-inline.elasticbeanstalk.com/validate or http://gigatrees.com/toolbox/vgedx to see where the problems are in their files before they import them into a new app or the cloud. Fix the problems you can first. For example, FTM improperly exports AKAs using the ALIA tag. Some other apps know this and will nicely import the AKAs for you, but others will just drop them. Therefore, I don't use the "Also Known As" field in FTM. The following fields are also not recognized in the GEDCOM standard: arrival, civil, degree, elected, employment, organization; there are probably others. Also, the only thing allowed in the Description field for most events (birth, death, marriage, etc.) is the letter Y if the date and place fields are blank; otherwise, the Description should be left blank, and anything you might want to put there should go into a note field. The bottom line is that you shouldn't just export your FTM file to GEDCOM and import it into another app or website without checking it first."

My response:  I wasn't aware of all of that - thanks for the information.  The GEDCOM issue with source citations is why I try to craft free-form source citations (a "master source" portion and a "citation detail" portion) in my family tree.  Those transfer using the SOUR and PAGE GEDCOM tags.

7)  Bill Boyd noted: "A couple other points from a long-time FTM/Ancestry user. There is a function to check the validity of media files and to re-download all of them to FTM. Simply go to the Media browser screen and press -F5. I have used this to fix errors and "missing" media files in FTM. Ancestry also allows media, identified as a document, to have a description and transcription comment added. BOTH are not synchronized with FTM."

My response:  More information I didn't know.  Thanks!

8)  RebeccaRoss stated:  "I still have Family Tree Maker 2012, and never upgraded to 2014. Do you think there is a reason to upgrade now? Is it better to have the most up to date software before they stop selling it? Would this help increase my chances of having better GEDCOMs that I could import to other programs in the future?"

My response:  Are you syncing your FTM database with an Ancestry Member Tree?  If so, you might want to upgrade to FTM 2014 if you are going to download media and such from the AMT.  Maybe Russ Worthington has an opinion.  If not, your FTM 2012 should work until a computer operating system change, or a desktop/laptop computer change, causes it to fail.  Be sure to make a GEDCOM file in FTM before you change your computer or operating system.   I don't think that FTM 2014 will make a better GEDCOM that FTM 2012, but there may be other opinions.

9)  Sandra Mitsler asked:  "Is Ancestry.com still going to exist? I actually use the web-based Ancestry because I like the way it functions better than the software.  I do use the PC-based Ancestry to sync, of course, and for reports, even though I haven't done that for a while since I can't find a report I actually like.  OR, am I going t need to switch to another ancestry web site? Thank you..."

My response:  My guess is that Ancestry.com will continue to exist for years if not decades with all of the current services and perhaps more.  It's almost too big to fail at this point, and is still profitable. 

That's enough for now - it's my nap time.  I will probably write several more of these notes trying to answer reader questions.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/12/reader-comments-about-ancestrycom-and.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

New or Updated Record Collections at FamilySearch.org - December 6 to 12, 2015

I'm trying to keep up with the new and updated record collections at FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list).  

As of 13 December 2015, there were 2,052 record collections on FamilySearch (an increase of 2 from last week):

The new or updated collections are:

*  Venezuela, Archdiocese of Mérida, Catholic Church Records, 1654-2013; 596,635 indexed records with record images, added or updated 12 Dec 2015

*  Spain, Province of Sevilla, Municipal Records, 1293-1966; 1,224,251 indexed records with record images, added or updated 12 Dec 2015

*  Japan Village Records, 709-1949; Browse Images only, no indexed records, added or updated 11 Dec 2015

*  United States Census, 1930; 125,176,439 indexed records with record images, added or updated 11 Dec 2015

*  United States Census, 1940; 134,867,562 indexed records with record images, added or updated 11 Dec 2015

*  Australia, Tasmania, Civil Registration (District Registers), 1839-1938; Browse Images only, no indexed records, added or updated 10 Dec 2015

*  Italy, Caltanissetta, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1820-1935; 291,719 indexed records with record images, added or updated 09 Dec 2015

*  Utah, Weber, Ogden, John David Eccles Photograph Collection, 1951-1976; Browse Images only, no indexed records, added or updated 09 Dec 2015

*  Netherlands, Zuid-Holland Province, Civil Registration, 1679-1942; 157,246 indexed records with record images, added or updated 09 Dec 2015

*  Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950; 4,599,297 indexed records with record images, added or updated 09 Dec 2015

*  Italy, Reggio Calabria, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1896-1943; 45,338 indexed records with record images, added or updated 09 Dec 2015

*  Delaware Vital Records, 1650-1974; 624,586 indexed records with record images, added or updated 08 Dec 2015

*  BillionGraves Index; 17,976,691 indexed records with record images on partner site, added or updated 07 Dec 2015

Unfortunately, it is difficult to tell which collections are brand new and which ones are updated.  The asterisk they use is for "Recently added or updated."  I am particularly interested in new collections, for the obvious reasons.  FamilySearch does provide a listing of which collections are new or updated about a week after my post.

In order to select a specific collection, go to https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list and use the "Filter by collection name" feature in the upper left-hand corner.

Each one of the collections listed above has a Research Wiki page (use the "Learn more" link).  It would be very useful if the Wiki page for each collection listed the dates for when the collection was added as a new collection and the dates for major updates also.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2015/12/new-or-updated-record-collections-at_14.html

Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.