Ancestry Member Tree Views

How to control the Settings in an Ancestry Member Tree for a View / Guest to that tree or as a Contributor or Editor to that tree.


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Copyright © 2016 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 + Public Member Trees = Collaboration

It must be the approaching spring weather but I seem to be treading in waters of controversy these days.

I have been blogging about how to cite my sources, when the Source is an Undocumented Ancestry or Public Member Tree,

Until this point I have stayed away from Using information from them, but have looked at them for research hints. But, if you looked in my FTM2014 family file, you wouldn't find a trace that I had looked at any Ancestry Member Tree (AMT).

A while ago, The Barefoot Genealogist Crista Cowan, had one of her weekly videos that I was watching and for some reason she had "MY" family on her screen. That isn't the first time that has happened to me. After all, that's how I found out that I was related to +DearMYRTLE . I have blogged about some of this in the past.

This time, I want to share how I NOW use information in an AMT. I got the idea from a day long presentation at an Ancestry Day in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago. +Crista Cowan made a comment about how others are helping her with her research. How? By telling her she had some errors in her tree. Hmmm, hadn't though about that before. But what was my first reaction when I saw MY family on her screen? I got back to work on that branch of my family, as we descend from two brothers. I spent a number of hours working on "cleaning up my act", so that IF I were to share my tree with her, SHE would not find any errors.

After listening to her at the Ancestry Day, I re-thought what I COULD do. What if I put MY Tree Online and got Crista Cowan to do MY research. The word of wisdom that I picked up from +DearMYRTLE , in the Google+ DearMyrtle Genealogy Community, Collaboration came to mind. Why not Collaborate with the owner of this "undocumented" Ancestry Member Tree, share with the information that I have with her, and maybe I can pick up some information from her. After all, she is descended from a different brother. Oh, did I mention that I only have information from a couple of Family Group Sheets? So, which is worse? Actually, I have some information in my file that Crista doesn't have.

NOTE: the ONLY information that I gather from an Ancestry Member Tree (AMT) are the Facts. Only the Facts AND I cite them, as I have recently blogged about. But, look at what I see on the AMT:

There is information that I do NOT have in my file, Richard Ridgeway's father, Robert, and when and where he was born and died.

I wanted to Thank Crista for this new information. I did so in the Comments:

So, WHY would I want information from an UNDOCUMENTED AMT? Those Relationships are MY Relationships. But, I have two children that she doesn't have.

I'll trade you one Great Grandfather for 3 more siblings, including mine. Good deal, right ?

In my Research Notes I entered that I had found the AMT that belongs to Crista.

I also posted some  information that I have in my file, into the Comments for her person:

I have a page of information in the Person Notes already, so I just copied and pasted that into the Profile Comments for this person.

IF there had been any documentation in her tree, I would want to Find those records myself. I would create a Task for that person, such as this.

That is from my To Do List, but if that AMT had a source, I would make that a To Do list to locate it, so I could look at the record myself. That is not a trust issue for me but more about I want to see that record myself. I may be looking for additional information, or look at the record differently.

As I mentioned, I have copied and pasted some information that I have for her. She can do with that whatever she wants. I am not concerned if she even sees what I posted, but it's there if she wants it. In fact, I did put two pieces of sources in the comments. I don't want to update her tree, even if I was allowed, but it's there for her.

So, yes, I am using information in an Undocumented Public Member Tree. For me, the fact that she has many relationships in that AMT that are like mine, why not share the resources? Collaboration should make BOTH of our family trees better. No, I didn't say perfect, just better.

Bottom Line: I may share this branch of my file, Online and Public. I also sent an invitation to my "new" cousin to my public tree.

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Copyright © 2014 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 and Ancestry Member Trees - New Process for Citations

What a great learning experience about How to Cite Public Member Trees.

It started with my first attempt at selecting the "right" Family Tree Maker Template

FTM2014 and Ancestry Member Trees

I shared that in the Evidence Explained Forum (links in the next blog post). I hadn't selected the right Template and was referred to the QuickSheets, also created by Elizabeth Shown Mills

FTM2014 and Ancestry Member Trees - an Update

The response to the posting in the Evidence Explained Forum brought forward the finer points of a Citation.

FTM2014 and Ancestry Member Trees - What Next

This is ALL GOOD. What an honor to have Elizabeth Shown Mills help this user of Family Tree Maker understand the art of a citation.

Also, I have seen several colleagues follow suit, using their genealogy programs to show their followers that same process. 

+Shannon Thomas, a Legacy Family Tree has a blog post:

Citing Ancestry.com Member Trees in Legacy Family Tree

and my friend +Randy Seaver did a blog post for Roots Magic

RootsMagic 6 Source Citations for an Ancestry.com Public Member Tree

Reality Check:

Clearly, I have the most "clean up" work in the area of a Citation using the Template feature. That is what I am going to discuss here.

I selected the Online Database, National Archives (United States) as the Template, as it provided the information that was needed for the Source information in the Reference Note. Details of that are in the Update blog post.

Since I may use other Public Member Trees (Ancestry Member Trees) in the future, I don't want to have to Remember what goes where and what I have to change. I have put those notes into the Source Template COMMENTs.

Here is the Edit Template Screen:

That is the large (I enlarged it here) box at the bottom of the Template Screen.

This is the part of the Comment that reminds me what goes into the Citation Detail field

Citation Detail:

"[ Tree Name ]" family tree by [ tree name owner ] profile for [ name, (  [birth information - death information ] undocumented / documented data

This defines the Tree Name that is put into quotes; the text family tree by followed by the tree name owner; the text profile for and the information for the profile that I am looking for, with any information on that profile that will help identify which profile I am looking at. That is followed by either the data is documented or not. The brackets remind me to enter that data from the Profile.

The next step, because the Reference Note information is filled in by the Template and the Citation detail, that needs to be edited next. 

From the Template Comments

Reference Note:

Change The National Archives to Ancestry.com

Put  the "accessed" date inside of the parenthesis (http://www.ancestry.com) with a ":" so that it looks like  (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed  ## Month YYYY) 

This reminds me to change The National Archives from the hidden part of the Template to Ancestry.com and I am reminded to carefully Edit the URL piece of the Reference Note. Adding a space after .com and adding a colon and the date. I use 09 April 2014. That date format is a change for me, based on the Evidence Explained conversation.

The next step is the information that goes into the Citation Text field.

Citation text

Tree owner contact information

Ancestry Member Tree of [ name ] if ancestry.com email is used or email address

Copy the updted Reference Note into this field in case the Reference Note has to be Reset

Copy profile URL into the Web Address

No check marks in Citation text or Web Address

Couple of points here. I want the contact information here. Remembering that Ancestry.com has an internal email system I could put the tree owners, ancestry user name or I can spell out the name of the tree owner. That is what I have done here, because I know the tree owner. I did NOT include the email address in these screen captures, for obvious reasons, but it's in my file. I want the Citation Text to have the information needed to contact the tree owner.

That information and the direct link to the profile page is in the Web Address field but I do not want them in the Reference Note. The Evidence Explained documents so not call for the full URL. The Web Site, ancestry.com is sufficient.

The final note in the Comments:

If the public tree has documentation enter that into the Research Log and create a task to locate that source information

That reminds me that IF the tree has documentation, I want to locate that information myself. I am NOT going to copy or download it from the Ancestry Member Tree. I want to look at it myself. So, I create a Research Log identifying any Source Information in detail, and create a ToDo list for that person to locate that source material.

The Reference note now looks like this:

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

I'll do another blog post in more detail on the information that I gather from an Ancestry Member Tree.
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Copyright © 2014 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 and Ancestry Member Trees - What Next

After a delightful chat with The Editor of Evidence Explained forum  I thought I would post an update and my next steps:

This discussion has to do with a Proper Citation for information added into FTM2014, using the Template Feature. I have posted two earlier blog posts on this;

FTM2014 and Ancestry Member Trees

FTM2014 and Ancestry Member Trees - an Update

The first blog post I had selected the totally incorrect Template. I was thinking about how the data looked like in a Family Group Sheet, and the web page looked to me like a Family Group Sheet.

The discussion with The Editor pointed me to the QuickSheet for Citing Ancestry.com® Databases & Images: which I have right next to Evidence Explained: Citing History Resources from Artifacts to Cyberspace (this link is to the electronic edition)

The format should be:

1. “Public Member Trees,” database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2014), “Cowan Mulliner Woodruff Kerr” family tree by Crista Cowan, profile for Richard Ridgway (1679-1718, d. Bucks, New Jersey) undocumented data updated March 2014.

The closest I could get to this was:

"Public Member Tree", database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), accessed 05 Apr 2014; "Cowan Mulliner Woodruff Kerr" family tree by Crista Cowan, profile for Robert Ridgeway (b. 24 Aug 1631 Devon, England - d. in Devon England) undocumented data updated March 2014

Close, but not so much; There are a couple of issues that are different.

"Public Member Tree", database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), accessed 05 Apr 2014; "Cowan Mulliner Woodruff Kerr" family tree by Crista Cowan, profile for Robert Ridgeway (b. 24 Aug 1631 Devon, England - d. in Devon England) undocumented data updated March 2014

Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), accessed 05 Apr 2014;

There are two things about this piece of the Reference Note:

1. I have to remember to change "The National Archives " which comes from within FTM2014 where I cna not control what it says. I have to change that to Ancestry.com
2. The second is that the "accessed" date should be within the parenthesis of the Website: (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2014) which means that I have to manually edit that piece of the Reference Note. 

The problem here is, that the Source Template, for the Public Member Tree can't be edited to include the date that will be used in the Reference Note. Here is what I had in the Citation Detail screen.

accessed 04 Apr 2014; "Cowan Mulliner Woodruff Kerr" family tree by Crista Cowan, profile for Robert Ridgeway (b. 24 Aug 1631 Devon, England - d. in Devon England) undocumented data updated March 2014

All of the information is there and it can be edited but IF I have to use the Reset for the Reference Note, I have to Edit it again.

I am putting the follow note in the Source Template Comment Field:

Change The National Archives to Ancestry.com

Cut the "accessed" date inside of the parenthesis (http://www.ancestry.com) with a ":" so that it looks like  (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 April 2014) 

Then I will copy the correct Reference Note into the Citation Notes field, so that it can be returned to what it should be, before the Reset option was used.

The likelyhood of getting the Template feature to do this, is slim to none. Its a minor technical detail, but it's based on THE Standard.

This is my new "standard" work around for this type of a Source and it's citation. Each citation using this template will be handled this way. I have submitted, on the Feedback forum, to add a New Template to handle The Public Member tree issue. That is, to use the same Template, but to have one where The National Archives is changed to Ancestry.com.

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Copyright © 2014 by H R Worthington

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

FTM2014 and Ancestry Member Trees

One of my readers asked me a question and thought I would do a blog post about this topic, as I suspect other followers may have the same question.

How to Cite information from an Ancestry Member Tree (AMT)?

As a general rule, for myself, I don't spend a lot of time on AMT's, mostly from bad experiences early on. I found information in these trees that made no sense and has no documentation. I have about 8,000 Hints to follow that do NOT include any AMT hints, as I have them turned off. I have enough hints waiting for me already.

Since I was asked the question, I turned on the Hints to see what might be there. Far too many to follow, but I did see one that was of interest to me.

Here are two AMT's that might be of interest:

That first tree is clearly marked as Unsourced. From my earlier experience with on line trees, not just on Ancestry but anywhere, I will not look at those trees. What I am looking for in AMT's is for places or repositories where I should be looking, IF I am running into a brick wall. I don't what to, nor will I, take the information in that tree and put it into mine. BUT there are two things I will do on that 2nd tree. That is what this blog post will be about. What Sources did they use that I haven't looked at yet, AND, perhaps make some electronic connection with that person to help collaborate in our research.

What I see is a Public Member Tree, with 6 attached records and 6 sources. Lippincott and Tuckerton, Ocean County are 'mine', meaning right place, right time, right name. Now, I don't know the name Throckmorton, nor Shepherd, nor the middle names of Norris or Arnold but since the tree is Public, I can go look.

I click on the link to that tree and see:

There are two things that I am looking for. The Contact Person and the confirmation that this person has 6 sources, with the information / facts, with source information. It's worth my time to look a little further.

The names on the right still aren't in my tree. In my tree, in a little earlier time were Lippincotts and Ridgway in the same area of New Jersey. I wonder if this tree has any Ridgway's with the Lippencotts?

So, I want to see if Richard Ridgway is in this SAME tree.

As I have learned with Ancestry, start to type and don't type too fast and watch the results start to appear. I got as far as RIDG and there were three Richards in this same tree. This tree certainly is indicating that we might have a connection.

But now, who Owns this AMT?

I hover over the Owner's ID and see this:

This is a link where I can send her a note, if I want to, and make contact. Of interest to me, is that this tree was last worked on "last month". Meaning recent for me. Some one who is active with their research.

That other tree, when I looked, the owner hadn't been on the tree for a couple of years and without any sources.

This tree is owned by Crista Cowan. I did a blog post about my connection with Crista back in September 2013:

FTM2014 - Ancestry Member Tree Connection - Part 1

 What I want to do is actually two things. 1) compare what I have with what is in Crista's AMT, 2) and cite what information from her tree and put some information into my tree, in FTM2014. I will NOT copy what she has, but can CITE any Facts from her tree into mine.  I can then share with her what I have from my research.

I see that Richard was born 27 February 1679/80 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. There is a Hint right there, with the "double date". That is a topic for another time and I have talked about that in the past. The hint to me, is that the Month that I might have MAY BE different from what Crista has.

Richard's wife is a Willetts. That's good. Richard is the father and Elizabeth the mother.

Here is what I have in my FTM2014 file:

There is that birth month issue, but the Birth DATE is correct and the Birth Year is one of the two years in the AMT. BUT, I don't have information on WHERE he was born. The parents of Richard are the same, except my spelling is Willits and I also have Jr as a suffix for Richard.

Now, Crista doesn't have any citation in her AMT. My tree isn't too much better, because the course of my information is from a Family Group Sheet.

The creator of this Family Group Sheet is a cousin where his family and mother spent years researching this family line. So, the information is credible, but neither is completely accurate. No way to draw a conclusion on the family based on either tree. It's a matter, at this point of gathering information.

Now, what am I going to do here? I want to Document this new information and Cite these new facts into my tree.

In FTM2014, I go to the Sources Workspace, click on Add, select New, which brings up the screen where I enter the Keyword "fam" and select Family Chart of Family Group Sheet

Why did I select Family Group Sheet instead of something Online?

To me, there is nothing in that list that clearly defines what I am looking for. To me, what I am seeing is an online version of a Family Group Sheet with the same type of information that is in the Family Group Sheet information that I have in my file already.

Here is the Source Template that I created for the information that I will include in my database.

Remember, this is the Source Template. I did put the URL to the page here in the Comments. That is more for me and it won't be seen anywhere else. I will have in the CITATION that this information was found online.

I did a screen capture of Richard Ridgeway's profile page so that I could see it in my file. I will mark it as PRIVATE so that it won't be posted online. It's for my information.

When I clicked OK from the earlier screen, I was taken to the Citation Screen, so I clicked on the Media Tab, so that I could Attach a New Media File.

That took me to the screen where I selected that Screen Capture and that image is now in the Media Folder on my computer in the Family Group Sheet Category that I created.

Now for the Citation;

I entered into the Citation Detail:

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

That will be included in the Reference Note. I used the Citation text as a reminder to me that this came form an Ancestry Member Tree and I pasted the URL into the Web Address field. The globe ICON to the right of that line will take me directly to that Profile. I have de-selected the Citation Text and the Web address from showing in the Reference Note field, which will become the Citation / End Notes.

Crista Cowan, Cowan Mulliner Woodruff Kerr; Crista Cowan, Utah, 2014.  Profile of Richard Ridgway (1679-1718), Ancestry Member Tree; accessed 04 Apr 2014.

Is the Reference note.

From there, I then will add the Facts that I will take from that Profile. The other names, dates, places (Facts) that are in  the profile and put them into my tree, with that AMT as the Source of the information.

Remember the Double Date issue that I mentioned, I entered 27  Feb 1680 into the Date field. Having run into this issue before, I entered the 2nd date, which brought up a warning at the top of the page and also the ICON on the right. Clicking on that warning ICON opened the Double Date screen, where I choose to use the double date format. This does two things. The first of which is to record in my file when EXACTLY I was in the AMT, and serves as a reminder that I may have conflicting information in my database.

I proceed with the location / place.

There are two things here to point out. The Place Name, as recorded in the AMT is not in the Place Name Authority, meaning that it may be a Historical Place Name. I covered how to handle the Historical Place Name issue in that earlier blog post. I also made this new Birth Fact is Preferred. This is a more complete Birth Fact, or one might say a conclusion. It's not a conclusion for me, but a working hypothesis of when and where Richard was born.

Two conflicts remain, birth date information and birth location information.

I put them into my Task List for Richard.

I continue to document this Profile in my FTM2014 file. I will make contact with Crista, using the internal Ancestry.com email system, to 1) Thank her for the information in her AMT, and 2) to let her know that I have a connection to her AMT. If you look at the comments from the September Blog post, we have already made that connection.

Again, the purpose of this blog post, is to illustrate how I use and document a find from an Ancestry Member Tree (AMT)
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Copyright © 2014 by H R Worthington

Recap and What to do with Comments

I thought it might be worthwhile to RECAP this series of Blog Posts on Collaboration between FTM2014 and an Ancestry.com with a colleague, researcher, and Genea-Blogger Randy Seaver. I encourage you to visit his GeneaMusings.com blog for his view on this topic. He also has a series of blog posts.

In addition, I have added a couple of Videos in the Training Resources Tab under the list of You Tube posts by Dear MYRTLE of DearMYRTLE.com.

• CrowdSourcing - Build a F.A.N. Club

• FTM2014 - Thought about Shaky Leaves

• FTM2014 - Thought about Shaky Leaves - Follow up

• FTM2014 - Thought about Shaky Leaves - Status

• FTM2014 - Publish - Sources, Undocumented Fact Report

• FTM2014 - Web Merge - Web Clipping tool

• A couple of thoughts about Sharing / Collaborating with others

• FTM2014 views and AMT views

• More on Collaboration

So far I have talked about how this project started, with a blog post by Randy and what I have done with this project.

I should mention, that the email I received was a notification from Ancestry.com to my email address associated with Ancestry.com. My invitation to Randy to this tree was using  his Ancestry.com Username. So, this communication was not done using our individual Email Addresses, although that is also an option. Suppose I didn't know Randy, but found him online with an Ancestry Member Tree (AMT). The connection can be made by using the Username associated with that AMT. I blogged about this: FTM2012 - Invite to Onliine Tree

The last on that list talked about a Comment that Randy had posted for one person. Actually that was the second one, but I want to try to explain "now what?". What do I do with that comment?

It started with an Email, my looking at his comment and then thanking him for the comment and that I would follow up on what he said. Actually he, in the one brief comment, has at least 3 items for me to do.

Here are the comments for this person:

The text isn't as important as the Tips for Comments on the Right:

• Comments can be seen by anyone who can see your family tree 
• Comments about people in your tree that appear to be living are hidden (unless you have given others permission to view living individuals in your tree)
• You can delete comments others leave on the tree
• You can edit or delete comments you leave on the tree
• The tree owner will be notified by email of each new comment added

That was the main reason for me to suggest we use this method of updating this AMT.

The first thing I did was to add this item, as I saw them, to my Task List. Although they are for specific people, I want them in the High Priority List so that I address them.

I typed them in, and marked them as Follow Up, High Priority. I have to see them each time I open the file.

Earlier, I talked about Citing my Sources. I consider this comment and my three Tasks as an "Email" / communication between Randy and I, so I created an Email Template in this file for this purpose.

I have blogged about this as well:  Keeping Track of Emails in your research

This is what I put in the Citation Detail:

23 Nov 2013; comments on Mamie _____; RandySeaverCV added this on 23 Nov 2013

 I used her Maiden Name, and not the name that Randy used. I put the text of what he said in the Citation Text field.

Russ, there is an AMT with Mamie Hickox as this Mamie. Also, the first two children of Berl Collins were not by Mamie, but the last 3 were. The first two children, Berl and Eva, were by his first wife Ruth A. Snearley. I wrote about her in a blog post a week or two ago. Thanks -- Randy 

Just to complete the process, I also copy and paste the dialog from the comments for Mamie into the Notes tab for this citation.

I also put the URL (Internet Address) to this specific comment. Over kill, maybe, but I do not know where I might want to see those comments again.

Only the Citation Detail will appear in the EndNote:

Randy Seaver,  to Russ Worthington, e-mail, 23 Nov 2013; comments on Mamie _____; RandySeaverCV added this on 23 Nov 2013, Randy Crowd Sourcing; privately held by Russ Worthington, Hackettstown, New Jersey 07840.

I will then Link this citation to the names of the six people mentioned. I try to break things down into bite size pieces or tasks. What will come next?

• More detailed task or tasks by Person
• Note in the Research log for that Person as research is done
• Update the FTM2014 file as appropriate
• Sync the file with the AMT
• Follow Up Comment in the AMT

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Copyright © 2013 by H R Worthington

More on Collaboration

In an earlier blog post, A couple of thoughts about Sharing / Collaborating with others

I talked about sharing and collaboration. My friend and colleague Randy Seaver posted an excellent article on this same topic.

Challenges of a Shared Ancestry Member Tree

 He does an excellent job of presenting the issues that we share, and Dear MYRTLE  did a Hangout On Air, where we discussed this.

As a follow up, I wanted to show why I have chosen to collaborate with Randy using the Comments.

I received this email from Ancestry.com that advised me that Randy had posted a Comment.

I have visited the comment and have replied to Randy in the comment, thanking him for what he found, so that I can follow up with the source that he found.

The reason why I have chosen this way to collaborate is that I receive that notification as soon as Randy posts it. It's in the AMT for me to follow up on, and I can do that and maintain the file to meet my standards. For example, many people struggle with the use of the Template feature in FTM2014. I have learned it and use it all of the time. I can take the time to do the research and update as appropriate, citations and all.

It's those other set of eyes that really help. Randy has already pointed out a data entry problem that I had and was able to correct it.

As Randy pointed out, this isn't a perfect solution, but at least it can work and is working for he and I.

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Copyright © 2013 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 - Ancestry Member Tree Connection - Part 2

Note: This blog is part of a series, but this specific one will not include any features of FTM2014. The work documented here, WILL lead to data entry into FTM2012.

Part one of this series: FTM2014 - Ancestry Member Tree Connection - Part 1 I talked about how I Planned my research trip to Little Egg Harbor Friends Meeting and Burial Grounds. All of the planning worked out, GPS took me right to where I needed to turn. But Meeting house was NOT visible from the street, but there was a sign at the street, the same sign I saw on Google Maps, street view.

I was very lucky to have two cemetery helpers with me, my daughter Carrie and husband Patrick. I'll have to take them again. They knew, from my print outs who we were looking for, at the Surname Level, which is what I wanted. They spread out over the cemetery and all I could hear was "I got one" while I was taking a picture of the Sign of the Burial Ground and of the Meeting house.

The first photo I always take is that of the Cemetery sign. I know that the next pictures are from this Burial Ground.

 

Next the Meeting House:

 While I am walking between the Sign and where I could take a picture "I found another one". Two extra set of eyes is always a plus.

One stone that was very important was just to the left of the Meeting house, toward the back of the building.

"In unmarked graves here were buried many of the pioneer settlers of Little Egg Harbor at the end of the seventeenth century and during all of the eighteenth century -- In the main they represented a noble type of manhood and womanhood devoted to the good of the world and to the service of God."

Hmm, Unmarked graves. But then echoing through this quiet space "Another one...."

I took 70+ pictures of the headstones. We had a successful trip. I did not try to do any work there, only that I took most of the photos of stones that were readable, and probably some that I couldn't read there.

My Post Visit process is to transfer the images from my point-and-shoot cemetery camera to my computer, where I use Picasa 3. I use the Export feature of Picasa so that I can retain the original image, untouched, and put a copy of the pictures I want to use, and export them to a Cemetery Folder on my computer. The export function does two things. Reduces the file size, but allows it be acceptable on a website and put a copyright label on the pictures.

Now for the detailed fun of taking the Camera Filename and making it useful for FTM2014.

I look at the image in Picasa and it would look like this

 or this

 

They are pretty readable and I can use them for uploading to Find-A-Grave or adding it to my FTM2014 Family File.

I have about 1,000 headstone pictures, so I need a way to keep track of what I have, and how I use them. 

Find-A-Grave has an EXCEL Template that can be used to upload data to their website.

Find A Grave Spreadsheet Template

I use a modified version of this template to meet my needs, but this section of my file IS THIS piece.

I open Picasa, go to the folder for this cemetery and view the stones, as seen above and Transcribe what I see on the stone into the EXCEL Template.

The expanded columns I add allow me to sort of filter the information for later entry into FTM2014 IF it is someone in my file. Not ready for that yet, I want to Rename the files. to something that is helpful to me.

I enter the State, County, Cemetery Name, a Find-A-Grave Cemetery Number, and the new filename. In this case:

NJ-Ocean-Friends-Tuckerton-BartlettJHenry

State-County-Cemetery-Location-SurnameFirstNameMiddleName

In this case, I used the Cemetery Name that Find-A-Grave uses. As there may be another Quaker Burial Ground in Ocean County, I added Tuckerton to remind me which Burial Ground. That Filename Column (X) will be the filename of the image.

I transcribed the Name, and in these two cases, the birth and death year and the inscription. (yes, there are two typos below, but fixed in the file)

This screen capture, has Picasa behind it and Windows Explorer in front where I will copy the filename from EXCEL into the Rename feature in Windows Explorer (right click on filename). I copy the Filename (column X) from EXCEL into the Windows Explorer rename field.

 

I checked my family file, and don't have a Charles A Barlett yet, so I don't need that photo, but I wanted to see if there was one on Find-A-Grave. The headstone ICON says that there is a photo already online.

Going to that Memorial I see this.

What is nice about this memorial, is that it lists his parents names. His mother is a Leeds. Another surname from my file. But, I don't have either of them in my file (YET).

I will repeat this process through all of the photos that I can read and rename. Will check to see if any of my photos need to be uploaded to Find-A-Grave.

My next step, will be to see if Crista has any of these people on her Ancestry Member Tree. That will be in a follow up post.

Yes, this can be time consuming, its down to some details. But the pay off will be, for me at least, that IF I find one of my people in these pictures, I can then add these photos to my file. That will also be another blog post.

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Copyright © 2013 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 - Ancestry Member Tree Connection - Part 1

I am cleaning up my Help Resources page, and watched a couple of the Livestream/ancestry / YouTube videos that the Barefoot Genealogist, Crista Cowan creates. and saw a surname, in a location that I know. In her September 26, 2013 video, she was talking about Collaboration, when you use an Ancestry Member Trees (AMT).

There is always a lot of negative words around the genealogy community about them, but Crista gave us an example of how to use them as part of our research. The surname of Ridgeway, and the Location was Egg Harbor, New Jersey. Now THAT got my attention.

With that hint, I will try to describe the steps I am taking, in light of Collaboration. I am using FTM2014.

I knew two things: Ridgeway is a Surname in my Family Tree and Little Egg Harbor is a location in my family file. The quickest way, for me, to see what I might have in Little Egg Harbor is to go the the Place Workspace, in FTM2014, select Little Egg Harbor in the Left Panel, and in the Right Panel will appear all of the Names who had an event there.

22 People had an event there.

What caught my attention first, was the ICON on the right which indicates that this Place is not in the Place Name Authority. I have blogged about how to resolve that, but this one hasn't been resolved yet. I want to take care of that first, as there might be a Resolved Place name where the others might be. Note: the County is Burlington County, and all of the dates are in the 1700's.

 

The normal way to resolve the place name is by clicking on that ICON, with the Question Mark (?)  and a pop-up window will appear, and you can move the text to the upper field, (up to the comma) which would put Little Egg Harbor there, then hit the search button. The search finds Little Egg Harbor, OCEAN, New Jersey.

 

I know that today, Little Egg Harbor is in Ocean County. so I may have entered something wrong, so I also moved Burlington to the upper field, with the up arrow on the Left of that window. The end result of doing that was:

 

 

That's not right, because it should be listed under Ocean County. Looking at the resulting map:

 

 

The Red Pin is not in the right place, it should be in Tuckerton.

Before I did anything else, I hit CRTL+Z (UnDo). You can also click on the Edit menu, and select Undo.

Back to where it was, unresolved. I want to resolve this before I move any further. Where is Little Egg Harbor, or is it really Egg Harbor as Crista suggested. 

The first place I would look would be Wikipedia and look for any information about County Border Changes.

Since my information called for Burlington County, I found this:

Anglo-European records of Burlington County date to 1681, when its court was established in the Province of New Jersey. The county was formed on May 17, 1694, "by the union of the first and second Tenths." (1)

OK, so Burlington County was formed in 1694. What about Ocean County?

Ocean County was established on February 15, 1850, from portions of Monmouth County, with the addition of Little Egg Harbor Township which was annexed from Burlington County on March 30, 1891 (2

Here is what that page said.

 

Ocean County was not established until 1850, but Little Egg Harbor Township wasn't annexed until 1891. 

For now, this place name will remain UnResolved. I will come back to resolving that place name in the future. I have a Task / ToDo list item in the Plan Workspace to resolve this. That task is not linked to anyone because it's a location task to be resolved.

Now to see the Surnames of who had an event, in more detail in Little Egg Harbor.

The Publish Workspace, Person Collection  and select Surname Report.

 

I only want a Surname list for those in Little Egg Harbor.. I select Individuals to Include, in the right panel, and it will bring a window up, where I select "Filter In" and another (filter in >) window appears where I will select "Other". I want to select Any Fact Places in the first entry, and type in Little Egg Harbor in the third entry. I leave "Contains" as the default.

 

This results in 37 people have that term in their Fact Locations. 

 

What I am trying to do, is to get a list of Surnames for Little Egg Harbor  

 

That will come in handy going forward.

I want another report, the Index of Individuals for that same list of people. The Person Collection (again) was selected and the Index of Individuals was selected.

 

Now I have some information to work with, based on my own database. I haven't yet gone to Crista's AMT.

My next place to research would be on Find-A-Grave. Those surnames, at least in my line, would have been Quaker. In a message to Crista on Facebook, she mentioned that her ancestors were Quaker, but didn't know IF there was a Quaker Burial Ground near the Meeting.

So, I looked and found the Friends Burial Ground, but it's listed in Tuckerton, Ocean County. Doing a little research on the history of Little Egg Harbor, this is the right place, found a website with some history on Little Egg Harbor and the address for the Quaker Meeting House.

Before I get into the car, to go visit, I wanted to see who might be there. 

 

There are 350 internments, on Find-A-Grave.com, looking at my list above, there are 16 names, in my database buried in that Cemetery 

Now, before I jump to any conclusions here, I went to Crista's Ancestry Member Tree. I don't want her tree, but I want to check the relationships that she has, against the relationships that I have. I don't want to copy her research, but I may, if we have some common ancestors want to collaborate with her, in the research. I am not yet even checking IF she has her file sourced or not. Not there yet. Just want to see if there are any matches.

Here is a what I saw:

 

A Richard Ridgeway with a Son Richard.

I looked at my AMT, and I found Richard Ridgeway, my connection of Thomas Ridgeway and HIS Brother Richard. So, our common ancestor, comparing these two trees is my 8th Great Grandfather, Richard Ridgeway.  Not ready to go down Crista's line yet, but I do want to go to that Burial Ground. (the result of that visit will be in Part 2)

 

I did find a book that was written in 1963, that is now out of print, "History of Little Egg Harbor' by Leah Blackman. 

I wanted to see where I received my information from, and also is from a book "Ancestors and Descendants of James and Ann Willits of Little Egg Harbor, NJ" (1898), Alfred C. Willits. 

Willits, wow, that's one of the names in that Burial Ground. In my Surname List there were 16.

The first book is out of print and haven't found it yet. It's on my Shopping list when I go down to Little Egg Harbor. But I, for some unknown reason, searched for it on Ancestry.com. It's online at Ancestry.

Hopefully, Crista will check this blog post, so that we can begin collaboration on this part of our family. It will be interesting to see her connection to my 8th Great Grandfather.

So who says, you can't make connections using an Ancestry Member Tree.

I see a road trip in the very near future.

(1) The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606–1968", John P. Snyder, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 93 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlington_County,_New_Jersey

(2) Snyder, John P. The Story of New Jersey's Civil Boundaries: 1606-1968, Bureau of Geology and Topography; Trenton, New Jersey; 1969. p. 201. Accessed January 21, 2013.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_County,_New_Jersey

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Copyright © 2013 by H R Worthington