GEDCOM Imported Trees
Recently I have been bombarded with duplicate person hints for individuals on GEDCOM trees that do not have any sources specified to support the data contained in them. The only evidence provided is "GEDCOM data" without any citations of where it has come from. They largely duplicate existing tree structures and I have been merging them in, which as they add nothing new is equivalent to deleting them. Should I be doing this? It is seems to be a waste of my time and theirs.
Sometimes they include minor differences, but as they do not provide sources, how can anyone analyze the evidence to determine which data is likely to be correct?
Thanks😀
Best Answers
-
Hi Simon - Welcome to FamilySearch Community and asking your question about GEDCOM files. The short answer is that yes, you should be doing this. But to further explain. Many do not understand the premise of Family Search and that is to have only one record per individual. When a person loads a GEDCOM file and then brings it into Family Tree, each record is examined for possible matches etc. The person loading the file must go record by record and determine what to do with the record from their GEDCOM file. Unfortunately it seems that many just select to add the record without regard to what is already in Family Tree. Thus, you get a lot of duplicates. We would suggest that you take a couple of minutes and message the person who loaded the file and explain that they created many duplicates. You can ask for help in eliminating the duplicates and ask for care in the future not to create duplicates. You can message them by clicking on the name by the change. If an email address is given, you can email directly or just chose to message through Family Search. Attached is a link to the guide for loading GEDCOM files. Thanks for your diligence in helping to maintain the integrity of Family Tree. Hope this helps.
1 -
Hi - I agree, the GEDCOM process is tedious and prone to having duplicates introduced into family tree/search. Thanks for your comment @Graham Buckell. In my observation, many GEDCOM files that are being loaded should probably not be loaded since most if not all the records are already in Family Tree/Search. GEDCOMs are more applicable to loading areas of the tree not already in Family Tree/Search. Of course that take some investigation and understanding of what is in Family Tree/Search. Obviously if a person has a GEDCOM file, that means their genealogy is already in another program. For me, a better solution is to utilize another program that will interface with Family Tree/Search. There are several available and some offer free versions. When using these types of programs, you can link and compare records between your program and Family Tree/Search. This allows you to resolve difference between your genealogy and what is on Family Tree/Search based on good genealogical research and sources. And if you identify an area of your tree that is not on Family Tree/Search, by all means, make a GEDCOM for that portion of your tree and load it to Family Tree/Search. Another huge advantage of this approach is that it is permanent. You can always do a compare between your program and Family Tree/Search. For example, I have areas of my tree where changes are constanly being introduced into Family Tree/Search. Especially around some of my Mayflower ancestors. Using my own program which interfaces with Family Tree/Search, I can easily do a compare between what I am confident is correct and changes being introduced into Family Tree/Search. I can do that compare at a person level, family level or up to 4 generations of descendants. Family Tree/Search has so many advantages for preserving and sharing your genealogy and I hardly recommend it. So my recommendation is to use a program that will interface with Family Tree/Search, load your GEDCOM to that program and do the work to link between your program and Family Tree/Search. Doing the linking between your program is about the same as doing the compare when you load a GEDCOM into Family Tree/Search. The difference (huge difference) is that now you have a permanent linking which doesn't have to be repeated. Programs that will linterface with Family Tree/Search can be found in the solutions gallery. Here is a link: https://partners.familysearch.org/solutionsgallery/s/
Hope this helps, let me know of further questions or comments.
1
Answers
-
As many, including myself, have previously commented, the gedcom compare facility does not work well leading to many duplicates not being picked up as such.
1