Family Historian User Group

Sorry, that's a rubbish thread title but I couldn't get it into a nutshell.

I have started working with Ancestral Sources to correct and improve the sources and citations that I have from previously using Family Tree Maker linked to Ancestry. I know what I am trying to achieve but I can't work out a smooth flow of steps to achieve it in the most labour efficient way.

At the moment I have a lot of Method 2 sources eg '1851 Census' which I want to transfer into Method 1 sources eg '1851 census Farnham, Surrey Fred Bloggs head'. I also want to attach downloads of the original census entries to each source.

So, I am comfortable with AS now and have adjusted the title structure to suit my preferences but the process I am using seems very long winded...

Open FH and find 1851 census in the sources list.
Use View Record Links to find names and make a Named List ("1851 entries that need fixing!")
Select a name from that list and open that individuals Property Box
Open Ancestry in a separate window and find that person, open the 1851 census and download the image to a folder on my desktop.
Open AS and create a new Census Entry using the Citation details from Ancestry.
Attach the image
Complete the Census entry in AS and save.
Go back to FH and work through the individual and others in the family that now have a new census entry so that I can delete all the lumped Method 2 sources for 1851 census (this is the most tedious bit ).
Go back to the named list and individually delete all those people if I can remember which ones they were.

Go back to the list, pick the next name and start again.

I have hundreds of lumped sources to fix and delete. Is there an easier and more efficient way? I am aware that I have hardly scratched the surface of what these two packages can do and I still have lots to learn so hoping for some advice from the experienced.

Sorry that's a bit long but hope it makes sense.

That is a reasonably good work flow.

Regarding your comment "this is the most tedious bit" there is a simpler solution.
Wait until you have completed all the 1851 Census updates using AS.
Then delete the Method 2 Source record 1851 Census and that will automatically delete all its Citations in one go.

Regarding the Named List, it might be easier to only list the Head of household for each Census schedule. Then it is easy to work through the list deleting one person at a time. The other members of the household will automatically get included when using AS, and with the above method for deleting Citations you don't need to track who they are.

The only alternative work flow is to traverse branches of the tree updating all the facts of one person at a time and tracking them in a Named List. Also see how_to:create_work_in_progress_or_research_to_do_lists|> Planning and Tracking Your Research for other ideas.

Thanks, Mike

tatewise wrote: ↑

24 Aug 2020 11:20

Regarding the Named List, it might be easier to only list the Head of household for each Census schedule. Then it is easy to work through the list deleting one person at a time. The other members of the household will automatically get included when using AS, and with the above method for deleting Citations you don't need to track who they are.

Not sure that I know how to do that but I've found it in the Knowledge Base so I'll go and work through it.

Back with more questions later I'm sure

No, sorry, I can't find out how to do that. How do I list just the Head of Households?

Instead of using View > Record Links run the Where Used Record Links Plugin on the 1851 Census source.
Then sort by Where within Source or Text From Source whichever identifies the Census page/schedule.
Among the Record Where Used Individuals for the same Census page/schedule it should be possible to identify the Head of the family.

That sounds way more complicated than I am ready for! I'll plod on as I am for now until I feel confident enough to tackle that.

It is not difficult to run the Plugin and sort into Census page/schedule order.
Copy the Record Where Used Individuals to the Named List and they should be in family groups that will make them easier to manage than the View > Record Links list which always appears to be in reverse Record Id order.

My experience of doing this conversion is that there are really two separate processes going on. The mechanical repetition of converting all the lumped sources to separate ones while maintaining citations and image files can be handled by either a dedicated FH plugin or some other technique to process the GEDCOM file directly. However, that does not automatically add the extra detail available in FH census entries, namely age and address.

My approach was to do an automatic bulk source conversion early on, and gradually tweak the individual sources and citations as I worked on a family. However, I tend to take a minimalist approach with the census, and generally don’t cite it for events like birth, occupation or residence.