PhilGee
LostCousins Member
Firstly, I should point out that this is NOT a criticism of FTA - it is a program I find extremely useful. However, I think it necessary to indicate the errors I had from adding to/updating the LC "cousins" list using FTA, caused by my personal "tree preferences".
It's just over 11 years since joining LC and I must confess to having only 600 "cousin" entries
The first "few" were manual entries, then I became aware of FTA and used it to add the data from a GEDCOM of my embryo tree.
Fast forward...
Recently I decided that it was time to remedy the tardiness and, as a first step, re-check (or should that be "check"?) my entries for compliance with the rules and add any new details - certs etc. It was then that I realised how far my tree data was from being "compliant", which FTA would not be able to identify nor correct; for example the NAME entry in the GEDCOM file is frequently not the same as the census and the name I add to the CENSus data is my interpretation from the image (1881 requires the transcription name) - plus the census reference is for the person and not the head of household!
Fortunately, I made the decision very early on that my main family tree database would be spreadsheet based and I would generate GEDCOM files for use with Family Historian and Family Tree Maker; standard GEDCOM for FH (spot checks with GEDCOM Validator) and Ancestry compatible GEDCOM for FTM. The result is that, with a small change to the generating software, I can now create a LC compatible (but non-sensible *) file for each of the census years to add new entries for that year using the name from the appropriate census information
- test runs with the existing LC ancestors came up clean (everyone matched).
I am now ensuring the relevant "head of household" census reference is used for all in these files, creating the 1881 "transcription name" file for entries that differ from the image and a system for manually adding the additional data (name difference etc).
* The GEDCOM files have one family with a fictitious mother (no census reference!) and everyone else is a child of that family with the appropriate census data
It's just over 11 years since joining LC and I must confess to having only 600 "cousin" entries
The first "few" were manual entries, then I became aware of FTA and used it to add the data from a GEDCOM of my embryo tree.Fast forward...
Recently I decided that it was time to remedy the tardiness and, as a first step, re-check (or should that be "check"?) my entries for compliance with the rules and add any new details - certs etc. It was then that I realised how far my tree data was from being "compliant", which FTA would not be able to identify nor correct; for example the NAME entry in the GEDCOM file is frequently not the same as the census and the name I add to the CENSus data is my interpretation from the image (1881 requires the transcription name) - plus the census reference is for the person and not the head of household!
Fortunately, I made the decision very early on that my main family tree database would be spreadsheet based and I would generate GEDCOM files for use with Family Historian and Family Tree Maker; standard GEDCOM for FH (spot checks with GEDCOM Validator) and Ancestry compatible GEDCOM for FTM. The result is that, with a small change to the generating software, I can now create a LC compatible (but non-sensible *) file for each of the census years to add new entries for that year using the name from the appropriate census information
- test runs with the existing LC ancestors came up clean (everyone matched).I am now ensuring the relevant "head of household" census reference is used for all in these files, creating the 1881 "transcription name" file for entries that differ from the image and a system for manually adding the additional data (name difference etc).
* The GEDCOM files have one family with a fictitious mother (no census reference!) and everyone else is a child of that family with the appropriate census data