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  • It's easier than ever before to check your entries from the 1881 Census - more details here

Methods of Checking All My Ancestors have been added to Lost Cousins

Jacqueline.......having a compulsory rest............
We certainly hope you are feeling great again very soon.:)
 
Jacquline
This is what I do - hope this helps Create a Folder to contain the program Open a window to show this folder (it will be empty) Download the program FTAnalyzer It downloads as a zipped file

Thank you for this simplification!! I, too, was "blinded by science but now I have seen the light"! I am aware I will most likely have some input-related discrepancies but am looking forward to the challenges, the education and the results!
 
I have now got my GEDCOM on to FTAnalyzer. I clicked on Lost Cousins box in row of boxes at the top. Then I clicked on 1881 - result blank screen. Then I clicked on 1911 - blank screen. I got 1 individual on the 1841 screen. Is that all good or bad?
 
Put a tick in the box that says "Treat Residence facts as Census facts". Census entries show as proof of residence rather than as a Census fact in Ancestry.
 
ok I did that. No difference. And the (only) one that shows in the 1841 census is in "My Ancestors."
 
I have now got my GEDCOM on to FTAnalyzer. I clicked on Lost Cousins box in row of boxes at the top. Then I clicked on 1881 - result blank screen. Then I clicked on 1911 - blank screen. I got 1 individual on the 1841 screen. Is that all good or bad?


The LostCousins tab should show you everyone you have found on a census for that year according to the criteria you select. Note that it will pickup anyone with a CENS fact or a RESI fact in your GEDCOM. Note that depending on how you have entered locations it may not realise your locations are for instance "England and Wales". I'd be happy to look at a small snippet of your GEDCOM say for a single individual or single family you expect to show up but aren't. I may be able to deduce the problem or to fix the code to solve the problem.
 
Thanks Alexander. I haven't checked for who is missing! I thought the program was to show me who was in my family tree who I have not entered on Lost Cousin, but could have - ie designed to show me who I have missed out. What part of my Family Tree Maker program should have "England and Wales" on it? I have usually entered the county in the place of birth, but a few of them say England. Everyone who could be in 1841, 81 and 1911 census in my FT was born in England so I saw no need to enter the fact (except one, b in Scotland but she was in England for 2 censuses). All my census references are in the person notes.
 
Yes the program should tell you exactly that. However if for whatever reason it isn't then there is a problem. A problem I'd hope to fix for you.

My first guess if you haven't put the country name in your locations is to suggest you tick the box "Ignore Country in Location" on the Lost Cousins page this will then assume the locations have no country thus it will simply look for an 1881 census record for instance rather than an 1881 census record in England & Wales. I am fairly confident that ticking this box will solve your problem.

Note I've released a new version with the data errors form, as v1.5.2.0, tick the box on either version and I think you will have fixed the problem.
 
I finally got my GEDCOM in thanks to grandson no. 1 only to lose it all when I updated the FTAnalyzer. Meanwhile have added more families to my Family Tree while waiting for return of said grandson to fix it again. Lots of new families added to 1881 on main site. No more hits though....
 
You have to open the gedcom file each time you use FTAnalyzer. This assures you always use the most up-to-date data source you have available. Just remember where you saved the gedcom file, although FTAnalyzer does remember where you last opened the file from.
 
Does this mean creating a new GEDCOM each time? Probably a silly question since you say that you'll be using the most up to date information but I'm like Alice in a computer world. I'll have to get grandson no. 1 to oversee my writing the beginner's guide to doing it for myself - I'm getting ashamed of sending out SOSs.
 
No, just re-use the latest gedcom you have. When you have made further changes in your genealogy program you can generate a new gedcom file then. Continue using that until you decide to create a more up-to-date one.
 
Does this mean creating a new GEDCOM each time?


When you export your GEDCOM you are taking a snapshot in time of your family tree. When you run the FTAnalyzer you load up your latest GEDCOM and it gives you results. Now often this may prompt you to alter things in your family tree software - eg: correcting data errors, adding people you find on a census etc. After you have updated your tree in your family tree program the GEDCOM snapshot is out of date. You could continue to use FTAnalyser with the old GEDCOM file or you could refresh it with the latest data.

So a few top tips to remember...
  1. A GEDCOM is just a snapshot in time from your family history program
  2. FTAnalyzer needs you to load the GEDCOM each time you start - this is because you may have several different files so you have to tell it which one to use - eg: I often look at a friend's file as well as my own. It will remember the last directory you loaded though so when you click open it should be in the right place to load your latest GEDCOM file.
  3. If your GEDCOM is getting out of date - ie: you've updated a lot of data on your family tree program - then you can create a new GEDCOM from your family tree program.
 
Thanks Alexander. Now a lot clearer. Now it's the process of getting gedcom to FTAnalyzer I need to get off pat!
 
Now it's the process of getting gedcom to FTAnalyzer I need to get off pat!

Who's Pat? :)

You can either create a folder specifically for your gedcom files, and always save your files there, and then always open the files from this location in FTanalyser, or you can save them to your desktop and retrieve them from there in FTanalyser.

Personally, I would create a folder, it stops cluttering your desktop with files and they'll always be in the correct place.
 
Pat wouldn't show me his/her process so I'll use yours, Tim. Must just check I put all the Stevens in first...
 
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