FTM2014 and Ancestry Member Trees - an Update

I did a blog post on Ancestry Member Trees.

FTM2014 and Ancestry Member Trees

As mentioned in the Comments, I forwarded the blog post to the Evidence Explained user Forum for comments. It was clear to me, that I had selected the wrong Template. I had also forgotten to look at a resource I have on my desk, QuickSheet: Citing Ancestry.com® Databases & Images also by Elizabeth Shown Mills. On the 3rd page, the third and fourth items on the QuickSheet, was the format that I am to use.

Two things caught my eye on the Quick Sheet. First the term "Public Member Trees" and, looking at the data elements I had seen that format before.

As I have shown here in the past, I took that example apart to determine what comes from the Source Template and what I need to provide in the Citation Detail. When I do that, the Template needs to provide the "name" of the database, where did it come from and the URL.

That is when I discovered my first error. I used the term Ancestry Member Tree. For me, that was an FTM2014 'term' and not what we suggested on the Quick Sheet. So, I went back to that image I had provided in the earlier Blog post. and sure enough, "Public Member Tree" is the correct title of the tree.

That can be fixed easily. What I then had to do, is to find a template that would allow me to have Quotation Marks around the "right" database title, the word "database" the Company Name, and it's URL. The year of the database as well. I have worked with such a template so I used the Keyword of DAT. 

As before, I was in the Sources Workspace and since this will be a NEW Source I clicked on Add, the New (screen not seen), which brings up the screen to enter a Keyword. What I remember working on before were records from the National Archives Records Administration (NARA) database. 

That Template is asking me the right questions.

The only thing I won't enter, because Public Member Trees are dynamic, meaning that the user's created the information and the online profile that does NOT have a date, I am leaving the "year" field blank.

I click OK and now have a New Source. But, what about the one I did earlier? Do I have to re-do that? Answer, NO. I just need to replace the old with the new SOURCE.

Here is the old source and citation.

In the upper right, just to the left of the Green Plus sign, is a downward pointing arrow where I select this new one.

All of the data, citation information, from the "old" Source will be brought into the new Source Template.

There were two things to be cleaned up. The Citation Detail had this information in it.

Profile of Richard Ridgway (1679-1718), Ancestry Member Tree; accessed 04 Apr 2014.

That is not very helpful, as there are a number of Richard Ridgway's in that tree as well as mine. It needs to be filled more completely with some quotations around the tree name. I changed it to this:

accessed 04 Apr 2014; "Cowan Mulliner Woodruff Kerr" family tree by Crista Cowan, profile for Richard Ridgway (b. 1679, Bucks, Pennsylvania - d. 1718, d. Burlington, New Jersey) undocumented data updated March 2014 

A far clearer description. Also, when I went back to that online tree, none of the Facts in that tree had any documentation, but I do know that the owner had last updated "the tree" within the last month. The profile doesn't tell me IF Richard was updated, but by the Citation, I can tell that the owner has been active, based on the Owner's profile in my earlier post.

There is ONE issue to be handled carefully. Thise is what the Reference Note now says, remembering that the Reference Note is a combination of the information from the Source Template, some information that we enter, and some generated from within FTM2014, information from the Citation Detail, and Citation Text.

"Public Member Tree", database, The National Archives (http://www.ancestry.com), accessed 04 Apr 2014; "Cowan Mulliner Woodruff Kerr" family tree by Crista Cowan, profile for Richard Ridgway (b. 1679, Bucks, Pennsylvania - d. 1718, d. Burlington, New Jersey) undocumented data updated March 2014.

The National Archives comes from the Template, so we don't have control over that. The URL comes from the field we complete any time the Reference Note is Reset The National Archives information will need to be changed to Ancestry.com.

"Public Member Tree", database, Ancestry.com(http://www.ancestry.com), accessed 04 Apr 2014; "Cowan Mulliner Woodruff Kerr" family tree by Crista Cowan, profile for Richard Ridgway (b. 1679, Bucks, Pennsylvania - d. 1718, d. Burlington, New Jersey) undocumented data updated March 2014.

So now the Citation Screen looks like this:

Looking at the QuickSheet and the feedback from the Evidence Explained user Forum, I think this is a little closer to what the Reference Note should look like.

I will share the blog post to the forum for another review.

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Copyright © 2014 by H R Worthington