TMG-L Archives

Archiver > TMG > 2000-06 > 0960137909


From: Randy Robinson <>
Subject: [TMG-L:] Re[2]: TMG-L: importing-merging records
Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2000 11:58:29 -0500
References: <20000604011659.29285.qmail@hotmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <20000604011659.29285.qmail@hotmail.com>


Thanks everyone for the input. I was hoping that there would be a way
to spread the work amongst the family for input, but I guess that was
just wishful thinking. As it works now, as the 'unofficial' family
historian for several lines, I get letters with pages and pages of
names and dates and notes. Being that I have a job, a business, and
several hobbies, I very quickly fell behind and I have boxes of documents
that need to be input into my database. I haven't figured out a way to
organize the input enough to keep from getting confused and
overwhelmed with all of the information. Each time I find some time to
work on it, I have to pretty much go through a lot of the stuff I've
already put in to find out if I put it in already or not, and find out
if it conflicts with other documents.

The sad part of this is that most of the information is on current distant
cousins and branches that I have less interest in than in running my
ancestral lines back. Unfortunately, 3 of my 4 grandparents lines are
dead ends at only 3 or 4 generations up from me. So when I have time
to work, that's what I want to work on, not enter the hundreds of cousins
names and birthdates. Does anyone else have a similar situation?

My hope was to have a common database (on the internet) so everyone
could enter their information on their own leaving me time to
investigate my dead ends. But it doesn't appear that
this will be feasible to save me any work. One thing I can't help
thinking though, is that if the ID number for each person was
maintained through the GEDCOM export and then the import, that it
would be possible for the program to automatically look at the data
for each individual and add new and changed events, etc. with
confidence that it is comparing a specific individual and not two
different people. I assume that the GEDCOM export/import does not
maintain the same ID number for individuals? How come?

Any tips for organizing input when you're overwhelmed with documents
to input? Maybe I'll just leave them in the boxes for now and pursue
those dead end lines...

Randy Robinson

Saturday, June 03, 2000, you wrote:

> I'm a UFTer with my TMG on order, but I doubt my method will change. I
> usually have UFT open with my master database and simultaneously have FTM
> open with the new GEDCOM, and sometimes I have WORD open with a report from
> the new GEDCOM exported from FTM and I cut and paste selected bits of info
> between. I have never imported a whole GEDCOM into my own database.
> Several reasons for this:

This sounds like a good idea if I set up the myfamily.com website.


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