Ancestry, Legacy, GEDCOMS, and Brainfreeze! Help

[Susan Bock]

Years ago I started my genealogy on paper. Libraries, courthouses,
cemeteries and a whole lotta binders. Stopped for many years then
started w/ Ancestry.com a few years ago.

I had a ball - all those digitized records, attached lots of photos,
obits, notes. Developed a nice detailed tree. But printing options are
practically nonexistent so started looking at software.

Started with FTM under the oh, so naive assumption that there would be
more ease and "transparency" between the two platforms. I had never
worked with a GEDCOM file before. With my first download I learned
that all that detail I put in the Ancestry tree isn't included in the
GEDCOM. When I then did some work on the FTM version and uploaded it
back to Ancestry, I learned that you can't merge into your original
tree - you must create a new one, and now a bunch of Ancestry stuff
was screwed up (hints, etc.) So I gave up on the software and just
kept working on Ancestry.

Now I'm at a place where I want to share my tree w/ non-computer savvy
relatives and I need to be able to print decent reports and charts.
I'm looking at Legacy which I think will be fine but I'm just confused
as to how to move forward.

It seems like I'll download to Legacy and then have to go through each
person on Ancestry to find and attach pics, stories, notes, etc. My
tree is huge and this seems ridiculous. I understand I should have
probably started w/ software to begin with (I did use DOS based stuff
years ago) but I guess I went backwards.

So, lets say I do all that re-attaching and make a great Legacy tree.
How/when do I use Ancestry? I like to work my way through the Hints
that build up on Ancestry but those seem to disappear when you upload
a tree and I haven't found a way to "invoke" them.

I just don't know how to go about this and I'm trying not to spend the
next year doing work I've already done. If anyone has suggestions or
education for me I would greatly appreciate it. Just sign me Addled by
Ancestry.

[Steve Hayes]

On Wed, 2 May 2012 21:33:15 -0700 (PDT), Susan Bock <suzb...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>It seems like I'll download to Legacy and then have to go through each
>person on Ancestry to find and attach pics, stories, notes, etc. My
>tree is huge and this seems ridiculous. I understand I should have
>probably started w/ software to begin with (I did use DOS based stuff
>years ago) but I guess I went backwards.

Yes, that is probably the next step.

>So, lets say I do all that re-attaching and make a great Legacy tree.
>How/when do I use Ancestry? I like to work my way through the Hints
>that build up on Ancestry but those seem to disappear when you upload
>a tree and I haven't found a way to "invoke" them.

Legacy has its own hints etc.



--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

[J. Hugh Sullivan]

On Wed, 2 May 2012 21:33:15 -0700 (PDT), Susan Bock
<suzb...@gmail.com> wrote:

>Years ago I started my genealogy on paper. Libraries, courthouses,
>cemeteries and a whole lotta binders. Stopped for many years then
>started w/ Ancestry.com a few years ago.

If you want to print a tree you will probably have to use a genealogy
program. If your data has not been entered in the program that will
have to be done - GED or otherwise. I think most people must start
with some handwritten notes but convert quickly to a program.

Not just to repeat what you already know, as I did above, I have a
comment about Ancestry. I have subscribed for probably 16 years and
consider it a very important tool. But that's all it is - it doesn't
do the work for you.

The trees are furnished by people with various levels of expertise,
starting with none. They are very suspect until you prove them
yourself. Seeing 20 trees doesn't guarantee accuracy. It usually
indicates about 2-3 trees, maybe accurate - maybe faulty, with the
rest being copied from those. Family Seach is every bit as suspect.

To be a little more specific my paternal GG Grandfather was born to 9
different marriages according to Ancestry. I can disprove 8 of the 9.
At least 5 of the marriages have absolutely no basis in fact. The
possible one can only be proven by preponderance of evidence and it
was posted by someone who got his data from me. I have never released
my tree - just limited parts on a one-on-one basis. I include
appropriate caveats for links without proof but Ancestry does not.
They just harvest trees.

I'm not trying to diss Ancestry - just trying to encourage you to
"kick the tires before you buy the car".

Hugh

[ne...@jecarter.us]

I agree with Hugh - your collected data should be in some genealogy
program (I use Legacy - not perfect but very good).

I use postings on Ancestry as potential pointers, not as data to be
added.

For non-computer people, I print charts with Family Tree Super Tools -
including one with some 1100 people in it for a family reunion (done
at a friend's office on an HP roll-fed plotter - 2 feet wide and 12+
feet long.

For the marginally computer savvy, I give them a CD with the free
version of Legacy and a copy of a portion of my collected data. I'm
tracing 4 lines, so not everyne needs (or wants) all that info.

Note that I do NOT post the trees on Ancestry, just as I do not post
my date of birth on Facebook - unless you prune away everything about
the most recent three generations, you may leave enough information
for an identity theft.

John

[singhals]

Step Zero:
On your Hard drive at home create a folder/directory called
"TRANSITION FROM ANCESTRY" All other steps that involve
saving something should go into this folder.

Step One:

A. Make sure your personal printer options (off-line)
include "Generic Text Printer".
B. Select "Generic Text printer" as your DEFAULT.
C. Log onto Ancestry.com and find your tree.
C.(i) include absolutely everything; it used to allow you to
include the filename.jpg rather than the actual image -- if
it still does, take it!
D. Print it ALL, using Generic Text Printer, so you'll have
a digital text version for copy'n'paste. File Name should
be anything you consider painfully obvious:
AncestryTree[date you printed t].txt works but so will lots
of other things.

STEP Two:

MAKE A COPY OF THAT TEXT FILE and put it in a completely
different place. Work ONLY with the copy in the Transition
folder, which you may open in WORD/WP/OO/whatever so you can
use the hi-liters and colored fonts for different things.

[Different things: yellow highlight the people whose data
you want worst, usually direct line. work with those first.
Use red ink for those things you question, green for
sticky-notes, hi-lite everyone in aqua and clear the
highlite when you finish with that person...]

With the text file open in one window, check the content
against what you see on-line about each person. Update the
text file to match. This part will take a long time
(nothing close to a year, though!) and you can do some
today, some tomorrow, some next week. If you can copy the
photos, do so, and annotate the text file with the file name
in the right place. At this stage, try to acquire a copy of
the image file; with luck someone more familiar with it can
tell you how to do that, but I can't.

A. after each working session, make a COPY of the file (I
add a _1, _2, etc to the file-name so they don't overwrite
each other).

Step Three:

After you're fairly confident that your file and what you
see on Ancestry are the same, download one of the free
genealogy programs (familysearch.org offers Personal
Ancestral File --aka PAF, and legacyfamilytree.com offers a
free version of Legacy. Either is a good starting place)
and install the program.

Step Four: download a GEDCOM from Ancestry; import the
GEDCOM into the program you d/l and installed. Find the
Print BOOK feature (under print reports in both those I
mentioned). Print yourself a book titled something akin to
Book1PAF or Book1Legacy and match the content with your
annotated file from Ancestry. Copy and paste things from
the Annotated file into the right place in the program.

Step Five: continue comparing your output with (a) what you
see at Ancestry and (b) what your annotated file says. HOW
the data presentation differs is for this purpose
irrelevant; that all the data is present in your program is
essential.

Note to the Peanut Gallery: Yeah, there are probably
several dozen other ways to do this. This one is easy to
explain, easy to follow, and doesn't require a Computer 1001
class. (g) Besides, it works.

Cheryl

[Susan Bock]

On May 3, 12:09 am, Steve Hayes <hayes...@telkomsa.net> wrote:
> On Wed, 2 May 2012 21:33:15 -0700 (PDT), Susan Bock <suzbo...@gmail.com>

Thank you!

[Susan Bock]

On May 3, 8:18 am, Ea...@bellsouth.net (J. Hugh Sullivan) wrote:
> On Wed, 2 May 2012 21:33:15 -0700 (PDT), Susan Bock
>

Thanks. I too have found a lot of faulty data on Ancestry and I'm very
careful about what I add to my tree.

[Susan Bock]

Wow! Your printout sounds great! That is exactly what I want to do -
print for non-computing relatives and provide CDs for the rest, Thanks
for your input.

[Susan Bock]

First of all, thank you so much for taking the time to give me all
these instructions. I'm a little confused about Generic Text Printer
but I can probably figure that out. I just got a new HP Wireless
printer so I'm still learning some things about that anyway. My real
confusion is with Step One, item C - You say to include everything but
I don't know what you mean. I'm not familiar with an option that lets
you print your whole tree or where to find it. I understand the rest
of it and I think it will be very helpful. I have three separate trees
with a total of 9800+ people so you can see why I'm concerned about
all this work. Thanks again for all your help.
Suzie

[singhals]

Most trees have printing options: direct line, everything,
this family ... I haven't used the program on Ancestry for
several years and don't know if it still offers those
options. I hope someone who uses it now can address that point.

OTOH, 9800 people ... there is no easy way to do it, and
with that many people you're looking at much more than a
year. My large database is about 23,000 now that I've
pruned off spousal parents (g) and the physical printout
runs just under 3 reams of paper. I had the impression you
were talking a few hundred, not thousands. I'll backpedal
and suggest you simply grab a GEDCOM, pull it into a program
on your harddrive, and pick your way through your direct
line with your off-line data open in one window and the
AncestryTree data in a 2nd window and simply copy'n'paste
anything from the second that didn't come with the GEDCOM.

Sorry to have raised hopes, but 9800 is way big to do it
with. :(

Cheryl

[J. Hugh Sullivan]

On Thu, 03 May 2012 20:45:34 -0400, singhals <sing...@erols.com>
wrote:

>Sorry to have raised hopes, but 9800 is way big to do it
>with. :(
>
>Cheryl

A big BRAVO ZULU from me anyhow, Cheryl

Peanut

[DougVL]

Another way to gather or save your data for use in copying and pasting
(instead of retyping) into your new genealogy program is to use the web
browser program's ability to save a web page to your computer. With
Internet Explorer, click on File, then choose 'Save As' and save the file to
that suggested Transition directory. Best to save the web page as "HTML" or
with the HTM extension rather than the default MHT extension. As HTM, you
can edit the file with a word processor or even Notepad and copy data from
the page to your genealogy program. And you can actually use highlight,
copy and paste straight off many web site pages into your own software,
whether word processor or genealogy program.

I save a lot of web pages on many different subjects, mainly because
otherwise they often disappear completely and just having a link is no good
anymore.

DougVL

"singhals" <sing...@erols.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.4.133607...@rootsweb.com...

--- Posted via news://freenews.netfront.net/ - Complaints to ne...@netfront.net ---

[DougVL]

"Susan Bock" <suzb...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:109555bc-1bca-4933...@z6g2000vbz.googlegroups.com...

Suzie -

An important detail was left out of the description of using the "Generic
Text Printer". You must also choose "Print to File" in your printer setup
(for the Generic Text Printer). That's a setting in Windows's printer
settings, not in the genealogy program or web browser. And it's very
important - that's how you get all that Ancestry or other web page info into
a text file on your computer.

On a slightly different topic, you can install a "Print to PDF" progam ( I
use BullZip, freeware) and create PDF files on your computer of things you
print from Ancestry. The PDF programs install as another printer on your
PC, and you choose it when you print something. In addition, the PDF
program I use has a 'tool' that lets you select text in the PDF file and
copy it to the Windows clipboard for pasting into another program. I find
that feature pretty handy.

DougVL