I've been passed some scans of a hand written, hard to read, family tree
going back generations and with possibly some gaps between the 11th
century and now.

I'm not interested in Genealogy, but there seems to be a family push to
get things together. I've already been persuaded, and have started, to
scan in old photo albums full of pictures of so far totally unidentified
ancestors, so I suppose a readable tree would be useful to someone.

Does anyone have views about suitable free Windows programs for this?

Is it possible just to type it into, say, a basic spreadsheet, or do any
of the specialist programs use standard database formats so that data
typed in will be reasonably future proof and recoverable? What is Gedcom
compatibility and is that any use?

Basically, I'm asking what to type the data into so it might be usable
by someone in the reasonably foreseeable future.
--
Bill

On 2/9/2018 2:08 PM, Bill wrote:
I've been passed some scans of a hand written, hard to read, family tree
going back generations and with possibly some gaps between the 11th
century and now.

I'm not interested in Genealogy, but there seems to be a family push to
get things together. I've already been persuaded, and have started, to
scan in old photo albums full of pictures of so far totally unidentified
ancestors, so I suppose a readable tree would be useful to someone.

Does anyone have views about suitable free Windows programs for this?

Is it possible just to type it into, say, a basic spreadsheet, or do any
of the specialist programs use standard database formats so that data
typed in will be reasonably future proof and recoverable? What is Gedcom
compatibility and is that any use?

Basically, I'm asking what to type the data into so it might be usable
by someone in the reasonably foreseeable future.

You might want to ask advice over at soc.genealogy.britain

On 09/02/18 19:08, Bill wrote:
I've been passed some scans of a hand written, hard to read, family tree
going back generations and with possibly some gaps between the 11th
century and now.

I'm not interested in Genealogy, but there seems to be a family push to
get things together. I've already been persuaded, and have started, to
scan in old photo albums full of pictures of so far totally unidentified
ancestors, so I suppose a readable tree would be useful to someone.

Does anyone have views about suitable free Windows programs for this?

Is it possible just to type it into, say, a basic spreadsheet, or do any
of the specialist programs use standard database formats so that data
typed in will be reasonably future proof and recoverable? What is Gedcom
compatibility and is that any use?

Basically, I'm asking what to type the data into so it might be usable
by someone in the reasonably foreseeable future.


The format you want is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEDCOM
It's ascii, and AFAIUI *the* defacto standard that anything decent can use.

"Bill" wrote in message
...
I've been passed some scans of a hand written, hard to read, family tree going back
generations and with possibly some gaps between the 11th century and now.

I'm not interested in Genealogy, but there seems to be a family push to get things
together. I've already been persuaded, and have started, to scan in old photo albums
full of pictures of so far totally unidentified ancestors, so I suppose a readable tree
would be useful to someone.

Does anyone have views about suitable free Windows programs for this?

Is it possible just to type it into, say, a basic spreadsheet, or do any of the
specialist programs use standard database formats so that data typed in will be
reasonably future proof and recoverable? What is Gedcom compatibility and is that any
use?

Basically, I'm asking what to type the data into so it might be usable by someone in
the reasonably foreseeable future.

Basically why not just tidy up the stuff you've got, and anything
additional you can find in Word or your DTP program of choice and
print out a few copies on archival quality i.e acid free paper,
along with copies of the scans date of transfer etc put the copies
in archival quality envelopes with Family Tree written on the
outside and distribute copies to however many relatives might
be interested, either for themselves or to save for their
children.

If you're serious about the 11th century - or have not simply been told
like a lot of other people that you're descended from William
the *******/Conquerer/1st then its likely that one of your more
illustrious rellies, given that clearly you're not all peasants
may have already done some of the work.

Stuff written on paper is far more future proof and is more
likely to be looked at in the future than is stuff on
somebodies computer which will doubltless be buried amongst
loads of other stuff - files etc.


michael adams

....

On Fri, 09 Feb 2018 19:08:48 +0000, Bill wrote:

I've been passed some scans of a hand written, hard to read, family tree
going back generations and with possibly some gaps between the 11th
century and now.

I'm not interested in Genealogy, but there seems to be a family push to
get things together. I've already been persuaded, and have started, to
scan in old photo albums full of pictures of so far totally unidentified
ancestors, so I suppose a readable tree would be useful to someone.

Does anyone have views about suitable free Windows programs for this?

Is it possible just to type it into, say, a basic spreadsheet, or do any
of the specialist programs use standard database formats so that data
typed in will be reasonably future proof and recoverable? What is Gedcom
compatibility and is that any use?

Basically, I'm asking what to type the data into so it might be usable
by someone in the reasonably foreseeable future.

Get a free WikiTree account and stick it is there. It's very capable,
quite easy, and you can export GEDCOM if you wish.



--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

On 09/02/2018 19:08, Bill wrote:
I've been passed some scans of a hand written, hard to read, family tree
going back generations and with possibly some gaps between the 11th
century and now.

I'm not interested in Genealogy, but there seems to be a family push to
get things together. I've already been persuaded, and have started, to
scan in old photo albums full of pictures of so far totally unidentified
ancestors, so I suppose a readable tree would be useful to someone.

Does anyone have views about suitable free Windows programs for this?

Is it possible just to type it into, say, a basic spreadsheet, or do any
of the specialist programs use standard database formats so that data
typed in will be reasonably future proof and recoverable? What is Gedcom
compatibility and is that any use?

Basically, I'm asking what to type the data into so it might be usable
by someone in the reasonably foreseeable future.

https://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/...title=download

It is the same question as how do you future proof any data. How do you make
it understandable in the future and as you say readable enough to understand
any description of the format.
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Bill" wrote in message
...
I've been passed some scans of a hand written, hard to read, family tree
going back generations and with possibly some gaps between the 11th
century and now.

I'm not interested in Genealogy, but there seems to be a family push to
get things together. I've already been persuaded, and have started, to
scan in old photo albums full of pictures of so far totally unidentified
ancestors, so I suppose a readable tree would be useful to someone.

Does anyone have views about suitable free Windows programs for this?

Is it possible just to type it into, say, a basic spreadsheet, or do any
of the specialist programs use standard database formats so that data
typed in will be reasonably future proof and recoverable? What is Gedcom
compatibility and is that any use?

Basically, I'm asking what to type the data into so it might be usable by
someone in the reasonably foreseeable future.
--
Bill

michael adams formulated the question :
If you're serious about the 11th century - or have not simply been told
like a lot of other people that you're descended from William
the *******/Conquerer/1st then its likely that one of your more
illustrious rellies, given that clearly you're not all peasants
may have already done some of the work.

Stuff written on paper is far more future proof and is more
likely to be looked at in the future than is stuff on
somebodies computer which will doubltless be buried amongst
loads of other stuff - files etc.

On paper, if it goes back far, it can become very unweildy and needing
large pieces of paper to get it all in. Then when it needs
modification, as more people are discovered, you need to start again.
It is much easier on a PC.

A free site, where you can build up such a tree is
https://www.familysearch.org

The site seems very reliable, well supported, with plenty of
facilities. It is the one I have used and my tree is traced back to the
16th century. The more relis you find, the more appear.

Your own research, is often supplemented by the efforts of others, in
the form of hints you are sent. Its well worth reviewing the hints to
confirm their validity, before accepting them.

It is a really fascinating subject - I found several interesting
mentions of my ancestors in local papers from the 1500's.

"Harry Bloomfield" wrote in message
news
michael adams formulated the question :
If you're serious about the 11th century - or have not simply been told
like a lot of other people that you're descended from William
the *******/Conquerer/1st then its likely that one of your more
illustrious rellies, given that clearly you're not all peasants
may have already done some of the work.

Stuff written on paper is far more future proof and is more
likely to be looked at in the future than is stuff on
somebodies computer which will doubltless be buried amongst
loads of other stuff - files etc.

On paper, if it goes back far, it can become very unweildy and needing large pieces of
paper to get it all in. Then when it needs modification, as more people are discovered,
you need to start again. It is much easier on a PC.

Doing it on PC indeed makes it easier for the compiler right now,
but my suggestion was mnainly directed at the question "who is this
for" or in the end who is going to benefit from Bill's work
in the future, say in 50 years time or whenever ? While they
may all crowd around the computer screen right now if
sufficiently encouraged to see the results of Bills efforts,
(even assuming they actualy undestand what they're looking at
- not that Bill's rellies are thick or anything. just "normal")
will they still be doing that in 60 years time ?

From his original question, Bill's not familiar with genealogy,
but why should we assume any of his family are that interested
in PC's either ? Reference has been made on here to GEDCOM
compatability; which indeed will make sense to genealogy
enthusiasts or anyone curious enough to follow the topic
up on Wiki. But why should anyone assume that any one of
Bills relatives in the future will be sufficiently
intersted in the topic to immerse themselves in the
subject sufficient to make sense of what Bill has left
them ? That's even assumimg that they find these files
on a computer, a disk, USB stick, in the clousd or wherever
and can actually identify what they are. And have access to
a computer screen large enough to make sense of a family tree
before just giving up.

As to the large paper size, even going so far back as
MSPublisher 95 its been possible to print large sheets
as posters comprising loads of separate panels.
Maybe all I'm saying to Bill is, whatever software you
chose to use, you're probably better off in the long
term printing it all out if you "want to be sure" it's to
be of any long term benefit to anyone.

It is a really fascinating subject - I found several interesting mentions of my
ancestors in local papers from the 1500's.

I stand to be corrected but AFAIAA there were no local papers
in the 1500's. The earliest newspapers started in the mid 17th
century - "Courants" which carried mainly foreign news
about the outcome of European battles as this would affect
market prices for imports etc and were circulated in cities.
Amsterdam, London etc. Printing domestic news of any kind was
subject potentially to strict censorship and penalties, prison
etc. The provincial press only got started in the 18th century
based on largish towns.


michael adams

....

On Fri, 09 Feb 2018 19:47:20 +0000, Chris Hogg wrote:



While I'm sure you can build a family tree using a spreadsheet, a
dedicated family history programme will give you a whole lot more and
make researching a lot easier and better structured.

There is a standard format that allows the exchange of family trees
between different programmes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEDCOM
Most family tree programmes will allow saving in that format, as well
as their own particular format.

I use RootsMagic, not for any particular reason; it was the first I
hit on, a few years ago. I find it OK; it does what I want. There may
be better ones, but it's the only one I've tried. At the time I got
it, it wasn't free. https://www.rootsmagic.co.uk/

But there are also quite a few free programmes out there.
http://bit.ly/2BjP0Yx and a comparison chart here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compar...alogy_software

I see RootsMagic does a cut-down free version. Bearing in mind my
version is 3.2.4, and they're now up to version 7, the free version is
probably not very different from what I use.

Unless someone has a very unusual surname, I'm extremely sceptical of
any family tree claiming to go back much beyond 1750. Before then,
you're relying on Church registers, which give much less information
about the individual than say the official birth, marriage and death
registers and census returns, that came in later and were much more
detailed. Without that detail it's almost impossible not to go down
the wrong road at some point. I stopped researching my tree some years
ago, having got back to about 1780, for that reason. There were just
too many possibilities to choose from.

I agree with everything Chris has written, except that where he uses
RootsMagic, I use familyecho.com, also free. I'm saying nothing
against RootsMagic; my reasons for using familyecho are exactly the
same as his, IYSWIM! It too supports GEDCOM, is easy to use, and
produces clear print outs. If you have access to an A3 printer, so
much the better, of course.

I too am sceptical about all these trees claiming to go very far back.
I've been researching since 1990, and the oldest date I'm happy with
is 1680, and that's because the names Grizell and Prudence reappeared
over different generations, and there was other strong supporting
evidence. Apart from that one line, I can't be certain of anything
before about 1770 or so, and that's because although Civil
registration in Scotland didn't start till 1855, Scottish death certs
are a mine of info. including the names of the deceased's parents.

michael adams explained :
I stand to be corrected but AFAIAA there were no local papers
in the 1500's. The earliest newspapers started in the mid 17th
century - "Courants" which carried mainly foreign news
about the outcome of European battles as this would affect
market prices for imports etc and were circulated in cities.
Amsterdam, London etc. Printing domestic news of any kind was
subject potentially to strict censorship and penalties, prison
etc. The provincial press only got started in the 18th century
based on largish towns.

Agreed, a silly error - unable to find the actual stored documents on
my system, I had to make a wild guess as to the rough publication
dates.

One reference made mention of a reli who had gone out in the middle of
the night, to help sort out the mess of a mail coach which had crashed
with a hay cart being driven by a drunk. There were deaths involved and
reli was called to court to give evidence about the incident. They had
drunken drivers even then.

Another was a then young reli who had been having a drink with his
girlfriend. The girlfriend worked for a farmer and the farmer had
become rather attached to the girl. Said farmer stormed in the pub and
stabbed the girl to death, reli was in the court to give evidence.

Another I found, was something about the sale of a large property and
land, but I wasn't able to find out enough details to be able to make
proper sense of it.

On 10/02/2018 09:50, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sat, 10 Feb 2018 09:25:40 +0000, John J Armstrong
wrote:

Scottish death certs are a mine of info. including the names of the deceased's parents.

And copies of Scottish BMD certificates are readily available for a
modest price (a couple of £ IIRC, the last time I looked, a few years
ago now), much cheaper than getting the equivalent English
certificates from the General Register Office, so getting it wrong is
not nearly so expensive (and you do get it wrong, quite often)!


not now:

copy from National Registers Scotland £12 online

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/registration/how-to-order-an-official-extract-from-the-registers

copy from General Register Office £9.25 online*

https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate

*the GRO were piloting a system where for £6 you were emailed a PDF. I
don't know if a decision has been taken on the future of that offer.

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

On 10/02/2018 10:02, Chris Hogg wrote:
snip

Just a thought: if you put your tree onto 'Ancestry',
http://www.ancestry.co.uk/ it will be on record for future members of
your family and others, should you so wish, and for as long as
Ancestry exists. What would happen to what must be an enormous archive
of family trees* if Ancestry folded, I don't know, but I can't believe
it wouldn't be preserved by some academic institution, for example.

*(albeit not always the most reliable: I've found examples of children
older than their parents, and other inconsistencies!)


Just a suggestion to think before putting trees on Ancestry (or any
other site). IIRC Ancestry's they are by default public. And while
great x 3-grandparents aren't going to complain, your living relatives
might.

You can make the tree private. But that may defeat the "for posterity"
purpose.

The best advice I've heard from family history obsessives is to try to
find someone younger on your tree with an interest to whom you can
bequeath it all.

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

On 10/02/2018 10:35, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sat, 10 Feb 2018 10:22:00 +0000, Robin wrote:

On 10/02/2018 09:50, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Sat, 10 Feb 2018 09:25:40 +0000, John J Armstrong
wrote:

Scottish death certs are a mine of info. including the names of the deceased's parents.

And copies of Scottish BMD certificates are readily available for a
modest price (a couple of £ IIRC, the last time I looked, a few years
ago now), much cheaper than getting the equivalent English
certificates from the General Register Office, so getting it wrong is
not nearly so expensive (and you do get it wrong, quite often)!


not now:

copy from National Registers Scotland £12 online

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/registration/how-to-order-an-official-extract-from-the-registers

copy from General Register Office £9.25 online*

https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate

*the GRO were piloting a system where for £6 you were emailed a PDF. I
don't know if a decision has been taken on the future of that offer.

I'm talking about copies obtained through ScotlandsPeople
https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

Quote "The number of credits and costs of digital images for the
different record types are as follows:

Statutory registers of births (older than 100 years), marriages
(older than 75 years) and deaths (older than 50 years) cost 6 credits
(£1.50)
Census returns and church registers of births and baptisms,
marriages, deaths and burials and other events cost 6 credits (£1.50)
Valuation rolls cost 2 credits (£0.50)"

There may be something similar for English records now, but there
wasn't at the time I was researching my trees, or if there was, I
didn't know about it. The caveat about the ScotlandsPeople images is
that they're not useable for legal purposes, whereas AIUI copies from
the GRO are, as I assume are the Scottish ones you refer to.


Ah, sorry, thanks for that. I was patently out of date.

--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

In message , Harry Bloomfield
writes
On paper, if it goes back far, it can become very unweildy and needing
large pieces of paper to get it all in. Then when it needs
modification, as more people are discovered, you need to start again.
It is much easier on a PC.

A free site, where you can build up such a tree is
https://www.familysearch.org

The site seems very reliable, well supported, with plenty of
facilities. It is the one I have used and my tree is traced back to the
16th century. The more relis you find, the more appear.

Your own research, is often supplemented by the efforts of others, in
the form of hints you are sent. Its well worth reviewing the hints to
confirm their validity, before accepting them.

It is a really fascinating subject

As the OP, my problem is that I don't, at the moment anyway, find it at
all fascinating. I just felt, and have been gently encouraged, that it
might be sensible to get what we have typed up so that others don't have
to struggle so much with the handwriting on the old manuscripts we have.

There is a box with the family tree in two large sections inside. A
family member has scanned this in as a bunch of A4 sheets that would
have to be assembled to make any sense. The current keeper of the box is
mentally and physically unwell. His son, who worked for Oracle, was
killed - vanished - in the Twin Towers but had been working on
computerising the family tree. Unfortunately no-one knows what happened
to what he had done.

I am very grateful for everyone's suggestions. My problem with the ones
I have looked at so far is that they appear to be aimed at someone
interested in the research rather than just recording what we have.

The ones I have tried include Wikitree and Family Tree Builder but they
both seem associated with sites that require registration and want to
"Help with my research". This put me off as I already am up to my ears
scanning in old photos of unknown family members from decaying albums,
and attempting to label them. Readers of another forum may remember that
it took me a week getting my W98-only handheld scanner (with Japanese
software) running satisfactorily on a VM.

I'm beginning to think that the simplest thing would be to start typing
up names from the top down and assembling it all using ascii art, then
or simultaneously, putting this into whatever simplest GEDCOM supporting
program that I can find.
--
Bill

On 09/02/2018 19:24, S Viemeister wrote:
On 2/9/2018 2:08 PM, Bill wrote:
I've been passed some scans of a hand written, hard to read, family
tree going back generations and with possibly some gaps between the
11th century and now.

Ideally find someone in the family who is interested in it and get them
a copy of the latest version of Family Tree Maker with a free 30 day
Ancestry subscription. If the paper version is any good you can strip
mine the Ancestry database to confirm what is written down. Be sure to
follow the instructions to cancel your free trial carefully.

I'd be very suspicious of anything claiming to go back past the 1600's
unless the name was very very unusual. It gets incredibly difficult when
the records are handwritten in Latin and origin is "out of county".

I'm not interested in Genealogy, but there seems to be a family push
to get things together. I've already been persuaded, and have started,
to scan in old photo albums full of pictures of so far totally
unidentified ancestors, so I suppose a readable tree would be useful
to someone.

Does anyone have views about suitable free Windows programs for this?

I reckon Legacy on Windows is pretty good as free software goes.
Options online he

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compar...alogy_software

Whatever you use make sure it can import/export GEDCOM.

Is it possible just to type it into, say, a basic spreadsheet, or do
any of the specialist programs use standard database formats so that
data typed in will be reasonably future proof and recoverable? What is
Gedcom compatibility and is that any use?

Possible but a lot easier into a database intended to cope with multiple
spouses and quirky unmarried couples and couplings.

Basically, I'm asking what to type the data into so it might be usable
by someone in the reasonably foreseeable future.

You might want to ask advice over at soc.genealogy.britain

+1

Also check your data against IGI and/or Ancestry as you do data entry -
nothing worse than adding loads of duff relations to a database.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

On Sat, 10 Feb 2018 13:17:58 +0000, Bill wrote:

The ones I have tried include Wikitree and Family Tree Builder but they
both seem associated with sites that require registration and want to
"Help with my research".

Wikitree requires registration only for reasons of privacy.

As for the "help", that is completely optional.
--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

In message , Bob Eager
writes
On Sat, 10 Feb 2018 13:17:58 +0000, Bill wrote:

The ones I have tried include Wikitree and Family Tree Builder but they
both seem associated with sites that require registration and want to
"Help with my research".

Wikitree requires registration only for reasons of privacy.

As for the "help", that is completely optional.

I am especially wary of the privacy element because of other family
members.

For example, a recent birth was not put in the Telegraph because a
member of the family is paranoid about full names and dates of birth
being accessible in the public domain.
In my own case, I logged in to Twitter, apparently successfully, after
several years of ignoring it, only to find that I had assumed the
identity of someone in California. It wasn't easy to reach a human in
the Twitter organisation to retrieve my identity. I have no idea whether
this was malicious or just that Twitter's database was broken. Worrying
either way.

The video interview full of woffle with the two fat ladies on Wikitree's
homepage put me off, but I have registered to give it a go.
--
Bill

On Sat, 10 Feb 2018 15:07:14 +0000, Martin Brown
wrote:


+1

Also check your data against IGI and/or Ancestry as you do data entry -
nothing worse than adding loads of duff relations to a database.

You will find plenty of duff data in both Ancestry where uploaded
trees are frequently copied by other interested parties without any
checking so just propagate errors. Beware the "granny hunters" whose
primary purpose seems to be filling a pedigree chart with names and
dates with little care for accuracy or connected social history.
Even transcribed official documents contain errors and step back one -
census enumerators were past masters at that when transcribing from
the Schedules to the enumerator's books. Also, transcriptions of early
BMD indexes which could be excruciatingly difficult to read are to be
treated with suspicion. In both of these document types that initial
transcription cannot be directly checked as the sources no longer
exist.

Of course the IGI is fraught with problems especially where the
information is submitted rather than transcribed; this can be checked
against the Batch Number. If an event it identified by just a year
rather than a full date and place it will usually be a guess rather
than from primary source documents. One of the problems is that trees
that are uploaded may contain the word "about" in front of a year; the
IGI strips the "about" off.

Regardless of where information comes from you must always check it
against primary source information. If it has been transcribed by
anyone the risk of errors is there.

All that said, it can be a most rewarding hobby!

Mike

---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com

On Saturday, February 10, 2018 at 3:07:18 PM UTC, Martin Brown wrote:
On 09/02/2018 19:24, S Viemeister wrote:
On 2/9/2018 2:08 PM, Bill wrote:
I've been passed some scans of a hand written, hard to read, family
tree going back generations and with possibly some gaps between the
11th century and now.

Ideally find someone in the family who is interested in it and get them
a copy of the latest version of Family Tree Maker with a free 30 day
Ancestry subscription. If the paper version is any good you can strip
mine the Ancestry database to confirm what is written down. Be sure to
follow the instructions to cancel your free trial carefully.

I'd be very suspicious of anything claiming to go back past the 1600's
unless the name was very very unusual. It gets incredibly difficult when
the records are handwritten in Latin and origin is "out of county".

I'm not interested in Genealogy, but there seems to be a family push
to get things together. I've already been persuaded, and have started,
to scan in old photo albums full of pictures of so far totally
unidentified ancestors, so I suppose a readable tree would be useful
to someone.

Does anyone have views about suitable free Windows programs for this?

I reckon Legacy on Windows is pretty good as free software goes.
Options online he

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compar...alogy_software

Whatever you use make sure it can import/export GEDCOM.

Is it possible just to type it into, say, a basic spreadsheet, or do
any of the specialist programs use standard database formats so that
data typed in will be reasonably future proof and recoverable? What is
Gedcom compatibility and is that any use?

Possible but a lot easier into a database intended to cope with multiple
spouses and quirky unmarried couples and couplings.

Basically, I'm asking what to type the data into so it might be usable
by someone in the reasonably foreseeable future.

You might want to ask advice over at soc.genealogy.britain

+1

Also check your data against IGI and/or Ancestry as you do data entry -
nothing worse than adding loads of duff relations to a database.


If you're using Ancestry, be prepared to think out of the box when searching. Some of the transcription is ludicrously inaccurate - I believe optical character recognition software was used for a lot of it, with manual input to cover the bits where the OCR gave up. You can alert Ancestry to any errors, but all they do is add a note to the transcribed data - they don't update the search indexes. Considering the price they charge, it's taking the **** a bit.

On Sat, 10 Feb 2018 09:05:44 -0800 (PST), Halmyre
wrote:


If you're using Ancestry, be prepared to think out of the box when searching.
Some of the transcription is ludicrously inaccurate - I believe optical character
recognition software was used for a lot of it, with manual input to cover the bits
where the OCR gave up. You can alert Ancestry to any errors, but all they do is add
a note to the transcribed data - they don't update the search indexes.
Considering the price they charge, it's taking the **** a bit.

Ancestry do add submitted corrections to searches but they appear in
search results as the original so it appears initially as if they have
done nothing until you click to view the item then the change becomes
evident.

They do not replace the original which is quite correct as submitted
changes might be for reasons other than Transcription Error. They
might be because of prior knowledge such as an Emumerator's error or
even because a householder made a mistake on a census schedule. So
Ancestry are doing it right. It might be better if they also showed
correction in initial search results but that would greatly complicate
query reports. This would become worse if there were multiple
notifications on one record. So even if something that you think looks
wrong appears in search results do look at them; you might get a nice
surprise!

If you think about the Ancestry annual charge in terms of the
alternative cost of travelling to archives then it is cheap.

Mike

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If you think about the Ancestry annual charge in terms of the
alternative cost of travelling to archives then it is cheap.

Mike



And it might be free at your local library. It is in ours but they don't publicise the fact because the staff can't deal with customer queries.

On Sat, 10 Feb 2018 15:39:33 +0000, Bill wrote:

Wikitree requires registration only for reasons of privacy.

As for the "help", that is completely optional.

I am especially wary of the privacy element because of other family
members.

Create a Wikitree account and have a look. There are multiple levels of
privacy, and anyone still alive has their details locked by default.



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On Sat, 10 Feb 2018 13:58:38 +0000, Chris Hogg wrote:

On Sat, 10 Feb 2018 13:17:58 +0000, Bill wrote:

I'm beginning to think that the simplest thing would be to start typing
up names from the top down and assembling it all using ascii art, then
or simultaneously, putting this into whatever simplest GEDCOM supporting
program that I can find.

In which case forget the web sites, research and ASCII art, but
install a simple free programme (see my comparison list), and start
filling in the boxes with what you've got. But I'd start from the
bottom up, i.e. the most recent member of the tree (which may be you),
rather than the top down.

Agreed. And it needn't take that long, depending of course on how
good you are at typing. I'm no great shakes, but I found it quite
quick, and I enjoyed the sense of achievement when I saw my tree
(work-in-progress!) on screen.

On 09/02/2018 20:08, Brian Reay wrote:
On 09/02/2018 19:08, Bill wrote:
I've been passed some scans of a hand written, hard to read, family
tree going back generations and with possibly some gaps between the
11th century and now.

I'm not interested in Genealogy, but there seems to be a family push
to get things together. I've already been persuaded, and have started,
to scan in old photo albums full of pictures of so far totally
unidentified ancestors, so I suppose a readable tree would be useful
to someone.

Does anyone have views about suitable free Windows programs for this?

Is it possible just to type it into, say, a basic spreadsheet, or do
any of the specialist programs use standard database formats so that
data typed in will be reasonably future proof and recoverable? What is
Gedcom compatibility and is that any use?

Basically, I'm asking what to type the data into so it might be usable
by someone in the reasonably foreseeable future.

https://www.gramps-project.org/wiki/...title=download

+1