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Publicising Lost Cousins

The 1000 people may very well have been me. Occasionally entering things onto LostCousins can get away from me, and well... This is going to make life a lot easier.

Attached is the three examples of US1940 Census failures as requested. I will download Beta 10 and have another go!

**Edit: Just noticed (as I'm adding the responding LC facts onto my GEDcom) that these failures often are a single record from where the rest of the set of records - i.e. the rest of the family, have already been added. It's very strange!

**Edit 2: Now I'm going through what is actually on LostCousins as well - some of those "failures" didn't fail at all! They were added to Lost Cousins!

**Edit 3: Still adding doubles, particularly where the name on the original Lost Cousins entry and the name on the GEDcom don't match (and you may have forgotten to add an LC fact to the GEDcom!)
 

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No easy way to tell if you've already added someone of a slightly different name. I've a few ideas but nothing implemented yet. Most likely something along lines of checking census ref and checking soundex of name but that's not going to guarantee a match for some entries. The key is the already entered not having a Lost Cousins fact.

I'm hoping I can do something about looking up the ancestors page and working out who the people are before you upload. Still a work in progress though.
 
Attempted to run Beta10 and it hit an "unhandled exception" error.

This was the information (the start of it at least) which appeared when clicking on the "detail"
See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at FTAnalyzer.Exports.ExportToLostCousins.ProcessList(List`1 individuals, IProgress`1 outputText)
at FTAnalyzer.MainForm.<>c__DisplayClass120_0.<BtnUpdateLostCousinsWebsite_Click>b__1()
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task`1.InnerInvoke()
at System.Threading.Tasks.Task.Execute()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter`1.GetResult()
at FTAnalyzer.MainForm.<BtnUpdateLostCousinsWebsite_Click>d__120.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
 
I am not quite sure how this works. I have the program open and clicked on Lost Cousins. It says

Lost Cousins facts recorded:
1881 England & Wales Census: 0 Found, 26 Missing
1841 England & Wales Census: 0 Found, 11 Missing
1911 England & Wales Census: 0 Found, 5 Missing
____________________________________________________
1881 Scotland Census: 0 Found, 0 Missing
____________________________________________________
1911 Ireland Census: 0 Found, 0 Missing
____________________________________________________
1881 Canada Census: 0 Found, 0 Missing
____________________________________________________
1880 US Census: 0 Found, 0 Missing
1940 US Census: 0 Found, 0 Missing
____________________________________________________
Totals: 0 Found, 42 Missing

And in red - You have 42 Census facts with no Lost Cousins fact
Click the Lost Cousins website link to add them today.

How do I do this? I do not see a link unless it is the visit the website today. When I do that I just see my summary page with nothing added since last week.
 
Is there a tab on the Lost Cousins page which says “Update”? If not, download Beta 10 from the last post on page 3, unzip it to a folder and run the exe program file.
 
Just did an update with version Beta 14. As I used to test at work I did a test without reading any instructions (as people do), however note I am an experienced computer user.
I extracted the Zip file and put in in its own folder (that I had read about that)

Uploaded my GEDCOM file and found the Lost cousins tab.
I had a brief look at the front screen (reports) and them realised there was an updates tab.
Found that I had 200 records that could be updated and another 150 ish that have no valid ref number. (see image)
I entered my user information and ticked the the box for Root Person, and clicked upload.
The Lost Cousins screen opened and on checking I found that the 200 entries (for blood and married to) had been added successfully.
I had already added all my direct ancestors.
Now I have the tasks in FTM of adding 200 lost cousins record and to sort out the missing census references, I will use the data from Analyzer to help me do that

I got one new match with a contact

Capture.JPG
Alexander that is a great tool.
 
Alexander Bisset said:
Once I've ironed out kinks I'll release it to general user base. Initially this is on the Windows Version but I'll add it to the Mac version for release by end of Month.
Click to expand...
I'm looking forward to trying out the Mac version when available. I have a list to enter onto Lost Cousins but will probably hold back on entering them manually in anticipation of being able to do it automatically via FTA. Reading the rave reviews on here for the Windows beta version, it looks pretty amazing.
 
Helen7 said:
I'm looking forward to trying out the Mac version when available. I have a list to enter onto Lost Cousins but will probably hold back on entering them manually in anticipation of being able to do it automatically via FTA. Reading the rave reviews on here for the Windows beta version, it looks pretty amazing.
Click to expand...
The Mac version will likely be February given that once Windows one is released I need to be able to react to any issues. Plus it always needs Apple to chip in and say it's ok to put on App Store.

What you can do in the interim is check your Census References to see how many of them are in your file. Unfortunately I don't think the current Mac version has a census reference report yet though so it's a manual check.
 
Alexander Bisset said:
The Mac version will likely be February given that once Windows one is released I need to be able to react to any issues. Plus it always needs Apple to chip in and say it's ok to put on App Store. What you can do in the interim is check your Census References to see how many of them are in your file. Unfortunately I don't think the current Mac version has a census reference report yet though so it's a manual check.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the update. When I run the latest Mac version (v.1.06.19), under 'GEDCOM stats' I get:

Found 3422 residence facts in GEDCOM file (3304 treated as census facts)
Found 0 census references in file and 3304 facts missing a census reference

So it appears there are no census references in the exported GEDCOM. But when I look at the residence entries in my FTM 2017 file, the source includes the census reference, e.g. for my great-grandfather's 1881 census it has under 'citation detail': Class: RG11; Piece: 3934; Folio: 60; Page: 9; Line: ; GSU roll: 1341939. So where does this info need to be in order to be saved in the GEDCOM for FTA to find it? Cut and paste into 'Notes'? Obviously I'm not going to manually input over 3000 census refs, but I could do it for the new ones I haven't yet entered into Lost Cousins.
 
Helen7 said:
Thanks for the update. When I run the latest Mac version (v.1.06.19), under 'GEDCOM stats' I get:

Found 3422 residence facts in GEDCOM file (3304 treated as census facts)
Found 0 census references in file and 3304 facts missing a census reference

So it appears there are no census references in the exported GEDCOM. But when I look at the residence entries in my FTM 2017 file, the source includes the census reference, e.g. for my great-grandfather's 1881 census it has under 'citation detail': Class: RG11; Piece: 3934; Folio: 60; Page: 9; Line: ; GSU roll: 1341939. So where does this info need to be in order to be saved in the GEDCOM for FTA to find it? Cut and paste into 'Notes'? Obviously I'm not going to manually input over 3000 census refs, but I could do it for the new ones I haven't yet entered into Lost Cousins.
Click to expand...

FTM will save it in the GEDcom fine - I don't stuff around with any census refs in my FTM files, and FTA finds them pretty well. I've been using the PC FTA beta to play, and while there are a small number that are "missing census refs" it is the minority. (I have a work PC and a home Mac - and my home Mac has FTM) I think I am the one who has uploaded over 1000 entries onto Lost Cousins (and I have a lot of entries on LC at the moment).

I think those which are left, for the most part, are those which are missing a part of their Census ref.
 
jorghes said:
FTM will save it in the GEDcom fine - I don't stuff around with any census refs in my FTM files, and FTA finds them pretty well.
Click to expand...

So why am I getting '0 census references' in my FTA report? Are you saying the census references are actually there, even if it says they aren't? When I export a GEDCOM from FTM, I tick all the boxes and 'entire file' so don't know what else I can do.
 
Helen7 said:
So why am I getting '0 census references' in my FTA report? Are you saying the census references are actually there, even if it says they aren't? When I export a GEDCOM from FTM, I tick all the boxes and 'entire file' so don't know what else I can do.
Click to expand...

This is what my Mac version of FTA gives for my GEDcom:

Found 0 census facts in GEDcom file (0 good, 0 usable).

But three lines down it says:
Found 18677 Residence facts in GEDcom file (17267 treated as Census facts) 3 warnings (data tolerated).

Ancestry saves census information as Residence information, so does FTM if synced.

And that is where FTA gets the census references for my LostCousins, and what I used to upload in the PC Beta.
 
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Helen7 said:
Thanks for the update. When I run the latest Mac version (v.1.06.19), under 'GEDCOM stats' I get:

Found 3422 residence facts in GEDCOM file (3304 treated as census facts)
Found 0 census references in file and 3304 facts missing a census reference

So it appears there are no census references in the exported GEDCOM. But when I look at the residence entries in my FTM 2017 file, the source includes the census reference, e.g. for my great-grandfather's 1881 census it has under 'citation detail': Class: RG11; Piece: 3934; Folio: 60; Page: 9; Line: ; GSU roll: 1341939. So where does this info need to be in order to be saved in the GEDCOM for FTA to find it? Cut and paste into 'Notes'? Obviously I'm not going to manually input over 3000 census refs, but I could do it for the new ones I haven't yet entered into Lost Cousins.
Click to expand...

Hi Helen,

It should find census refs like the one you quoted. Can you export the individual that has the census and I can check.

BTW you don't have the latest Mac version, it is on the App Store it is v1.1.0 (Build 33) and has big changes since v1.0.6 Build 19. In particular it adds printing and exporting to Excel/Numbers, plus sortable columns and a lot of little tidyups. There is also a newer Mac Build on the website which is v1.1.0 build 36 (although barring a couple of minor tweaks it's identical to the App Store version).
 
peter said:
Might this eliminate the need for LC facts?
Click to expand...
Mostly it will. Beta 15 can now read a user's my ancestor page and check to see if the person is already there before the update process works. It checks the exact census reference plus name (using fuzzy matching if required) and birth year (within 1 year tolerance). If it finds a match is records a Lost Cousins fact for that person and logs that in the users' FTAnalyzer database file so that next time the GEDCOM is loaded it will auto add back in that Lost Cousins fact. This should all just work as long as the users' software doesn't change the ID numbers for the individuals.

It might get a bit confused if a user happens to have two different GEDCOM files and a two different individuals who just happen to have the same ID number, the same name, same birthdate and same census record exists in both files. My thought though is that is a pretty unlikely combination.

So for belt and braces if there's a GEDCOM Lost Cousins fact that will be honored but the local database Lost Cousins facts that are auto created will work too as long as things don't change between GEDCOMs. So fairly robust but the experienced user may still wish to create manual facts. The Auto created facts are flagged as such within the app.


The aim is a novice user loads a GEDCOM it detects all their census references, they login to Lost Cousins, click update and it updates the website and auto creates Lost Cousins facts so that the next time they use the feature it doesn't bother with the ones already uploaded. This is how it is currently working in beta 15.

I'm thinking for a help sheet it should assume it's a novice user that hasn't ever used FTAnalyzer or Lost Cousins. Then it can say things like "If you are familiar with uploading a GEDCOM skip to section A", as well as "If you are already signed up to Lost Cousins skip to section B". ie: it would have a section on how to create a GEDCOM and load it into FTAnalyzer and would have a section on creating a Lost Cousins account, but with skippable sections for experienced users.
 
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