Family Tree Maker User

Friday, August 2, 2019

Social Security Death Index - Warning

As some of you know, I work off of Ancestry RECORD Hints, and find this works very well for me. I then will use the Web Merge feature of Family Tree Maker to get that data from the website, into my database. The REASON I do this is so that my database contains the exact information from that Record. Misspelling and all. When the Data is in my database, then I evaluate the information presented and mark the appropriate Fact as Preferred. Keep in mind, that I have already evaluated the Hint BEFORE I do the Web Merge, to make sure it is my person. This 2nd evaluation is to match this new information against the other information I already have.

Now, the reason for this blog post is to bring to your attention a problem that I have seen in a number of Records, but I will focus on ONE Record Group, the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) from Ancestry.

The issue: The Death Fact information.

I have seen this problem during the Web Merge of an SSDI Record, many times and have reported this as a Bug to Family Tree Maker. But, I wanted to see why the Web Merge was acting the way it was. The Root Cause of the problem (yes, I'll tell you in a minute), is the way that Ancestry handles this Record.

Here is a Hint, in my Ancestry Member Tree (AMT), for an Individual, for a SSDI Record:

This is a Quick Compare, in the AMT, with My information on the Right and the Record information on the Left. I only have the Year of the persons Death. The Record, in this Hint, had the Month and Date (all good) of the Death BUT is has a Death Location.

If I were to just accept that Hint, the Death Location would be Added to that Death Fact.

Here is the Issue:

If you Look at the RECORD, the Record has the Month and Year but NO Death Location. In this example, there is a Last Residence Fact, which is good, it includes the city, county, state, and Zip code. All good. BUT there is NO Death Location on that Record.

What information does the SSDI contain?

The SSDI contains the following information fields:ty number
Surname
Given Name
Date of Death
Date of Birth
Last Known Residence
Location of Last Benefit
Date and Place of Issuance

Note: the Date of Birth, nor the Date of Death items do NOT include the Location / Place. And, in the Web Merge, online or in Family Tree Maker, the Birth PLACE is not included. Only the Death Place (example in a minute)

My understand of the Last Know Residence and the Location of Last Benefit, is the last place someone lived, according to Social Security and where the Last Benefit was sent. Neither of them are noting the Place of Death.

In the Web Merge, in Family Tree Maker, as it the AMT Save Hint we see:

I will NOT accept that Place Name for the Death Fact, I must manually delete the Death Fact PLACE for an SSDI.

I caught this issue a while ago, but chose now to blog about it, when the SSDI claimed that my Grandfather Died in New Jersey. He did not, but the Last Benefit was sent to New Jersey.

My mothers SSDI claimed her last residence correctly, but the Last Benefit was sent to the same Place Name, but a different Zip Code. In this specific case, and the reason why I enter those other Fact Names into my database, (deleting the Place of Death) is that it gave me a clue as to why my mother's estate did not include any Social Security benefits. It must have been sent to the Long Term Care facility, as part of their Contact. It IS useful information.

It is my opinion, that this is a BUG for Ancestry.com to resolve as well as Family Tree Maker to resolve.

IF the RECORD does NOT Contain the Place of Death, it should NOT be included in the AMT Merge, nor the Family Tree Maker Web Merge Feature.

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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

Friday, April 5, 2019

User Question: Duplicate Sources

Response to a User Question:

Here is the question:

I want to create a custom report that would show me if I have duplicates of a specific source attached to individuals (i.e. I want a list of all individuals who have duplicate 1900 United States Federal Census)

What is a Duplicate Source?

The quick answer is the Sources Usage Report, in the Publish Workspace.

How do you know that you have a person has a "duplicate" 1900 United States Federal Census?

I can only guess that YOU entered these duplicate Census Records can Created a Source (Source Group) in Family Tree Maker.

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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

Monday, February 18, 2019

User Question: Blurry Media and Google+ Going away

Here is a question from a reader of this blog:

I tried attaching a media file but it came out blurry under my individual media tab. Image is clear. Is image supposed to be in two different locations since I want to be able to see image when off-line and not logged in to Ancestry?

I am new to FTM 2017 and have found your blog to be most useful. Since Google + is shutting down April 2, 2019, which blog do you recommend me joining.

The answer to your media file being blurry depends on how you obtained that image. Most of the pictures that I have are clear, some, not so much. The not so much items are ones that were handed down to me in various formats. Every time you OPEN a JPG file, and save it, it will become more compressed or blutty.

I ALWAYS keep my scanned images or digital images in their original folder on my computer. AND when I use that media file, I ALWAYS use the COPY option, when adding that image to my file.

Google+ is going away. So what. That has nothing to do with this Blog.

Now, I had a Google+ Genealogy community on Google+ and it IS going away. BUT I was able to capture all of the content from that community and created another blog with all of the content already there.

cousinrusscommunity.blogspot.com

Russ

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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

Monday, February 11, 2019

User Question: Multiple / Duplicate Birth, Marriage, Death Facts

A question from a Blog Reader:

Thank you for your Knowledge Base series. They are a great resource.

Sometimes one or more B/M/D facts have two dates and, no matter how hard
you research the problem, you just can not figure out which is correct.

I had the problem with a birth date and kept the two Birth fact entries.
FTM's error checking routines did not like this and kept flagging the
two Birth entries as an error.

So, what to do? It finally hit me, the solution to duplicate facts is to
eliminate the duplication. I kept the original Birth fact and added a
second "Birth - ALT" fact to hold the alternate fact. The same could be
done by creating "Death - ALT" and "Marriage - ALT" facts.

If I ever manage to resolve the conflict, all I have to do is put the
correct date and citation(s) in "Birth" and delete "Birth - ALT."

If needed you can create a custom Report to keep track of these
additional facts by filtering in "xxx - ALT" as "Is Not Blank."

Thought this might give you an idea for one of your video demos.

First, I am sure I have done more than one video on this topic and a number of written blog posts as well.

But, I'll try to answer your questions here.

In this example. there are six (6) Birth Facts and three (3) Death Facts. You will note that the 3rd item down, birth fact, has 24 Citations. You might say, well that MUST be it.

Same with the Death Fact. The 3rd from the bottom, on the right, has 24 Citations. BUT, in evaluating the Citations, I have made the determination as to which Birth and Death Fact is PREFERRED.

Usually, the preferred fact will be the most complete set of information.

You did NOT tell me what error messages Family Tree Maker was providing. A HINT, however, IF the error you are talking about is from the Data Error Report, try selecting Preferred ONLY.

I submit to you that these are NOT Duplicate Facts !!!!! They are ALT Facts. To be "duplicate" facts ALL of the Fields in that Fact MUST be Exact. Alt Facts are see above, where a couple of Citations will give the Year only. (BMD Facts I ALWAYS use Abt. YYYY). There are a couple facts that had the full date, but not Place Name.

Bottom line: (for me)

I record what I see on the Record and Cite the source. So, when it comes time to Evaluate my data, to make that Preferred Fact determination, I can do that very quickly.

My preferred facts change all of the time, until I get what my "current thinking" is about that Fact or event.

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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

Monday, February 4, 2019

User Question: How do I batch delete unused Place Names ?

Here is the Question

I am in the midst of a major tree cleanup, moving large amounts of people into other files or deleting them. I am also doing general cleanup of the database. I am finding a lot of place names that no longer have anyone linked to them. I am assuming that the people originally attached to these places are no longer in the database. Is there a method of searching for "orphan" place names and doing a batch delete?

Quick Answer: You Can't BULK Delete Place Names without a Fact linked to that place.

My suggestion is to put the Place Names in the FLAT View, then use your down arrow on your keyboard and look in the Right Hand Panel.

I suggest that, rather than using a report, base you can Delete the Unused Place name tight here.

Yes, there is manual clean up work after you do clean up.

Also, BACK UP BEFORE you do any of this, then do a Compact and Back Up when you are done. You don't have to do that ALL at the same time. I suggest making a note as to the Letter of the alphabet that you have completed, so you can pick up where you left off.

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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ