Uploaded gedcom
I uploaded my gedcom from Ancestry a while ago. It seems to have totally messed up what was existing in FamilySearch though it has more generations. Evidently it coincided with the updates here. I am totally confused about how to resolve all the now duplicates after attempting to reconcile a few of them tonight. I spent an hour unwinding a pair that merged incorrectly with an individual having an identical name but different parents most likely because I am not finding the new revisions as user friendly as previous.
I would appreciate any guidance you may have on how to resolve these issues. I ended up renewing an Ancestry for a few months in order to keep building on the US side but would like to do more here with the European side if possible as I cannot afford the World sub at Ancestry.
I'm not sure what information you may need to review my 'tree'. I will keep an eye out for and look forward to your reply.
Answers
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Hi @GrandToDo
Loading a GEDCOM to family search is a complicated process and hard to get right as you have experienced. There is one fundamental difference between FamilySearch and your Ancestry Tree. In FamilySearch, we only want one profile for each person which is shared by everyone using FamilySearch. On Ancestry, you have your own profile for each person. In loading your GEDCOM, you had to do a compare of each person to determine if your ancestry profile is the same as a profile already in FamilySearch. Depending on the comparison, you can identify matches or create a new profile in FamilySearch. These new profiles you create in FamilySearch are many times a duplicate of a profile already in FamilySearch. Sounds like this is the case with your GEDCOM. Our computers can only go so far in identifying possible duplicates based on the information in each profile. Where the computer can identify a possible duplicate, then you can investigate if a merge should be done. Where the computer can't identify a possible duplicate, you have to do that and merge by ID if appropriate.
So, what to do in your case. I don't have a silver bullet to offer but do have some suggestions. There is no undo button on what you did in loading the GEDCOM. The duplicates you have created have undoubtedly impacted other users of FamilySearch. These other users may be doing work to resolve the issues which can be a big help to you. In the meantime, here are some suggestions. First of all, make sure you follow what the sources indicate. To start, if possible open both Ancestry and FamilySearch. This works well if you have 2 monitors or 2 devices. Then I would start with the first generation in your Ancestry and compare each individual with what is on FamilySearch. You do this by looking at the profile page on Ancestry and the person page on FamilySearch. You are looking in 2 primary areas, vital information (dates and places) and family structure (correct relationships with correct children and correct parents). This comparison should highlight any inconsistencies and identify where you have duplicates or missing people. Make corrections as necessary on FamilySearch and/or Ancestry being sure to uses the sources available. Once you finish one generation, step back a generation and repeat. This is a long and tedious process as you look at each individual. You will probably want to devise a way to keep track of your progress.
If you have further questions, please feel free to reach out again.4