Census Records - Extra People in Household

What do you do, when the Census Record has people listed, that may not be family?

This is a 1940 U.S. Federal Census Record, where Raymond Lane and Donald Dutton are both listed in the Household. Since this is a 1940 Census Record which indicates that they both are Hired Hands.

I have spend a couple of days thinking and seeing if it is important to capture this information. That is, add these two people to the database. So, I played around with this to see if there was any benefit.

When I enter a Census Record, I Copy what Ancestry provides in the Transcription and Paste it into the Residence Fact NOTES.

You will notice, that these two "extra" people are in Bold. That is the indication to me, that I have entered them into my database, as Unrelated People. The Data Error Report will show them with that they have No Spouse, No Children, No Parents. I can deal with that.

But, what about later, I find that person again, in another record. I wanted to be able to see, that in a Census Record, there were in a Census Record, but NOT related to the Head of Household. So, I created a Fact called "How Related", where I enter the Census Year, Head of Household, and what the relationship is. Here is what Donald looks like, with the Data Error Report and the How Related Facts appear.

He is unrelated, and will appear in the Data Error Report, but when I run that report, I filter OUT everyone who has a Data Error Report Fact. Meaning, I KNOW about that error.

Why the Extra Work?

I found this one person, Relation to Head of Household as Boarder. A throw-away, right ? Wrong.

As it turns out, the Head of Household would become his Mother In Law.

Here she is in the 1900, 1920, 1930, and 1940 Census (haven't gotten to the 1910 census yet)

1900 she is Head of household where I found my person as a boarder. 1920, 1930, and 1940, she is the Mother-in-Law to the Head of Household. (don't jump to conclusions please).

Those are the Residence facts as recorded, but look at the How Related Fact looks.

The 1940 Census record shows that she had moved into another Daughter's home. Because the 1940 has the reference to 1935, showing Same House, I can now pin point as to WHEN show moved from on daughter's house to another, and in a different state.

My records indicate that the "mother in law" was widowed about 1911. I have not yet found a reason why she might have moved back to Pennsylvania, only that the "son in law" and her daughter had 6 children in the 1920 Census and the second daughter, the one in Philadelphia, only had 1 daughter.

I have added this to my new Best Practices: Add seemingly Unrelated Individuals to the Database.

The secret to this is the Bolding of the Name, in the Residence Fact Note, when you Add that "Unrelated" person to the database.

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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

And a Citation to the rescue !!!

And a Citation to the rescue !!!

In Family Tree Maker, when you do a Web Merge (probably the Real Reason, I rely on that feature. When you do that, you get a Web Address for the Record. But there is also a "View Source Online"

I went to one of the Fact, so that I could click on the Globe on the Right, to look at the Record, from the Sources Workspace. JAW Dropped, not globe, no link.

I then went to the Source Workspace to see what was going one. There was a link in the Citation just above I was looking at and there was a Link, so I clicked on it. Something is wrong. It looked like I have not merged every one.

But, half of the family was on one of the citations and the other have on the 2nd one. Then I looked at the Citation.

Sheet 14A Lines 38 - 40 and Sheet 14B, Lines 41 - 43.

HeadSlap: The family was on two pages, so I was NOT missing a link after all.

Since what we see on the Record from Ancestry, it's one Link, and I use the Head of Household for ALL census record, Copy/Paste the Link in the 2nd Citation.

Citation to the Rescue

1940 U.S. census, population schedule, Delaware, New Castle County, Delaware City,S.D. No. 1, E.D. No. 243, Sheet No. 14B, lines 41 - 43, 312 Fifth Street, House Visited No. 35, Fouracre, R. Roger household; NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 546; digital image, Ancestry (https://ancestry.com : accessed 11 November 2017).

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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

Reader Question: One Photo, Many People

Here is the question:

DEAR ALL

I HAVE SEVERAL PHOTOS WITH UP TO FIFTY PEOPLE ON THEM AND WOULD LIKE TO IDENTIFY THE PEOPLE IN THEM BY SOME METHOD SO THAT THEY CAN BE EASILY CROSS REFERENCED TO A LIST OF NAMES. IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED THAT I MAKE A GHOST OR OUTLINE PICTURE THAT I COULD NUMBER THE INDIVIDUALS SO THAT THEY COULD BE IDENTIFIED ON THE LIST , BUT I AM NOT SURE HOW TO DO THIS .

I WOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR ANY HELP YOU CAN OFFER MANY THANKS PATRICK

(first, please don't use all caps, it's difficult to read -- Thank you)

Actually, FTM2019 added a New feature, which I will have to blog about, where you can use ONE Image, and use that one image to be the Person Profile picture in Family Tree Maker. There may be a limitation as to how many you can do that for, my Max, so far, is 4. I have a photo of my grandmother, and 3 of her siblings, as young children.

I used that one photo, and selected each of the four children, and made a profile picture for them. Not additional photos are in the Media file.

You can do as you suggest. I have a FlipPal, which allows my to scan an image, then make a 2nd scan, and write a number of a name on that image.

https://worthy2be.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/flip-pal-mobile-scanner-sketch/

You still need to know who is in that photo.

The issue that you did not mention, is How and Where are you going to present or show that picture with 40 people in it.

The other option, probably an easier solution is to use the Media Description field in the Media Workspace, where you type in the Names by Row.

Back Row, Left to Right

Name 1, Name 2, Name 3.

Just like you would on the Back of that photo, in the good old days.

Russ
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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

No Ancestry Hints -- What's up with that ????

I created an Active filter, while working on a project. I was looking for Ancestry Hints for some specific profiles, as created in the Filter.

No Hints from Ancestry, but most had Hints that there are Profiles on FamilySearch for most of them. I like that option, because it tells me that my data may be correct. I have blogged about how I use the FamilySearch match feature before.

But WHY no Ancestry Hints.

I went to the Plan Workspace, because I thought this file was uploaded and sync'ed to Ancestry and that I have been working on my 5,000 hints from this file before.

No Connection ???

But, there is a link to the Ancestry Member Tree.

What is going on here ?

Then I looked in the upper Right Corner of the Plan Workspace to find the answer.

I was no longer looked it.

This is not a bug, this is not a problem, it was a change in the interface between Family Tree Maker and Ancestry.

Easy fix ... Log In.

AND I have the 2-Step Verification turned on. All part of helping keeping our information safe.
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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

What? No Citations? Update 1

The first step, for me, is to Identify, with a FACT, everyone in the database that does NOT have a Citation. In this case, everyone.

But, in reviewing each profile, other things are looked at. For example, Place Names. I can fix many of them, as I go.

I have all Birth, Marriage, and Death dates, where I only have a Year in the database, I change that to ABT. To make sure I have done that, I use a Saved Report to review the work that I have done.

This is an example of this process.




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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

What? No Citations ?

I have a Family Tree Maker file that I had researched 10 to 15 years ago. Many versions of the program ago, but a friend asked me for some information from that file.

I had opened it several times over the years, but was very disheartened to notice that ALL of my Citations were gone. ALL of them. I went to my oldest back up, same deal.

I did have an external drive crash, had recovered it, but still no back up's with Citations.

This is one reason why I recommend "testing" your back ups.

So, what do I do ? I have this very important person asking me questions about folks in this database. I, of course, wanted to be able to say yes or no to questions, but be able to provide Source Information.

After some dialog, mostly that I didn't have answers to the questions, I thought about what I should do, This database has about 1250 profiles, with some good information. Some Dates, some places, many relationships, but no Citations.

I should mention, that this line has some stories that I know about, and have a cousin connection, in my Master File, but that cousin connection also happens to be in THIS FILE. That is one of the reasons that I had looked at this file some time ago. I need to get this file, up to my standards.

Here is my PLAN:

Get this file Online to see IF what I have, will generate HINTS from Ancestry?

7,039 Hints
5,595 RECORD Hints

The data that I have, Names, Dates, Places AND Relationships are doing what they should be doing, Generating Hints.

I totally use these hints for all of my research, that I can Online, to gather enough information to know what I need to look for, and where, when a visit to a repository / archive it required.

I did a couple of Web Merges, to make sure that I would get the expected results, that is GOOD Hints. The one's I have tried, all were accurate, presented no conflicting information (so far). So the theory that the file and linked Ancestry Member Tree would give me good hints.

As I said earlier, I have created my standards for my file (now files). How I do things, manage Filenames, Citations, Place Names (historic and current), Research Log and ToDo Lists.

My first step is to Marks ALL Profiles with a Fact that I will use to show me that this Profile is NOT Documented. I use the Undocumented Fact Report on a routine bases (usually daily). That would be of no use on this file. So, ALL profiles will have this Fact, so when I run the Undocumented Fact Report, I can Filter OUT, all profiles that have this Fact. When all of the Facts for each profile is documented, I can Remove that Fact and run that report again.

While I am Adding that Fact to each profile, I am looking at the profile, mostly for Place Names. This file is so old, that we did NOT have a Resolve Place Name utility, so place names were not in the proper format. So while I am looking at the Profile, I will resolve those Place Names that I am able to (quickly). For example, I had 341 Unresolved Place Names and now am down to 224. Still a lot, but most of those unresolved place names will require a RECORD to correct the place name. There are many that are involved with Virginia / West Virginia historic place names. As I have posted before, I will double enter those place names to include the historic place name and the current place name for the Map feature.

Also, there are many place names from England and Ireland. I am not even trying to address those place names until I look at the records. Many of the 224 Place names all into that category.

ALL of my Birth, Marriage, and Death Dates, that only have the Year, I change to "Abt. YYYY". So, that clean up is being done. I have also deleted a number of Birth, Marriage, and Death Dates where I might have the Year, AND another entry for complete data and place name. I'll delete that Year only entry.

I have already run the Data Error Report with ALL Profiles what appear in that report are Marked with a Fact with that name AND a ToDo item for that profile. I know that the only way I will resolve most of those errors, is with a Record. They are ALL Marked and will resolve them when I am looking at records.

When I finish marking all of the Profiles as being not documented, I will invite this researcher to this Ancestry Member Tree to allow them to look at my data themselves. I have a "File Note" profile, in my database and in the AMT, where I add all of the information on how I handle this file. Why I do "stuff" in the file. Why did I do THAT ??? see the File Notes.

I already have a number of "stories" about the people in this File. I have visited a number of place where this "line" traveled through or to. One of the stories, that I have documented, is this line had an encounter with George Washington and his brother, as the family were neighbors of the Washington's.

I can't forget my Cousin Connection from my Master file, NOR can I forget the connection to my Mother's family, that may have a connection. I had forgotten that connection until I started to look at the file.

Finally, I am writing this blog post, as one of the things I am tracking, is how good or bad are the Hints we get from our online trees, from Ancestry. I have done this study several times in the past, and in the past I have experienced a high rate of success (90% - 95%). With all of the changes in Family Tree Maker and how we receive our Hints, I want to see how the hinting system is working today.

Lesson Learned:

1) Test your Back Up's

2) Don't Delete your "old" Back Up's.


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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

Reader Question: How to Compare "Trees"

A Question from a reader:

Updating an FTM Tree with updates made to a separate FTM Tree. I started my FTM tree from a GEDCOM file of family member but have not kept the tree up to date. I now want to update my tree with additions my family member made to their tree but do not want to replace my tree since I have added a lot of data. Other than comparing trees person by person and adding the additions manually is there a way to compare the tree and select the items to be added (e.g., merge only the additions).

First, let me clarify something. A TREE is Online a FILE is on our computer.

So, I am guessing that you are asking about Comparing TWO or more Family Tree Maker FILES. So, rephrasing your question:

Is there a way to Compare two FTM FILES in Family Tree Maker (version doesn't matter in this case).

Short answer is NO. BUT

You can have two FILES open at the Same Time, as we have a File, Open in New Window option. Yes, it's all manual.

I just did a project like this myself, and I created both FILES. It took a month to clean up the Merge. I didn't even have to compare the two files, I knew I wanted the two files combined

"Merge only the Additions" would really mean Merge, ONE Profile at a time OR you can create a List in FTM2019 and merge the List from the "other file" into your Master file.

I will be postings how to do that in the future.

From what you have described, I would manually enter the data from the "other file" into my Master File, Citations and all. I am very picky in how I enter my data.

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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

FTM2019 - People - Ignored Hints

What ?? Ignoring Hints ?? Yes, I Ignore some, very specific Hints offered by Ancestry.com

I have chosen to Ignore Certain Record Group Hints from Ancestry.com. I hope to explain why, and what I can do IF I run out of hints for a person whose hints I have ignored.


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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

Reader Question: FTM2019 and FamillySearch Images

Here is a Question from one a blog Reader

How do you attach documents in family search to a person in FTM 2019?

The easy answer, the same way you do from Any website, like Ancestry, The Web Merge feature. I have many blog posts on that.

I may do another blog post, specifically now that we had the FamilySearch 2.0 features. (upcoming blog posts on that as well.)

In the meantime, in the Help Menu, select Companion Guide, and go to page 145 for the details.

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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ

Reader Question: How to open Old Files

Here a question I received from a reader:

I have several old versions of my ancestry trees of over 3000 individual's going back to the late 1400s, that I can't open in current operating systems. I never learned and have no help to convert them to Geodom(sp?).

So this is my question: can Family Treemaker open and preserve all this work completed by an older relative who left it to me, and myself???

If it can't be saved, it will be lost for good, which seems a shame.

And the Good News is,FTM2019  will open all previous versions of the Family Tree Maker program.

And, if you don't remember where those files are, on your computer, the New, Tree Browser, will find them for you.

I did a blog post on that one.

https://ftmuser.blogspot.com/2019/10/ftm2019-plan-workspace-tree-browser.html

and, the Tree Browser will find files on any external hard drive connected to your computer.

The one that is high lighted in on an external drive and I haven't touched it for 15 years.
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Copyright © 2019 by Cousin Russ