I am just entering the realm of genealogy. I have family histories for 2 branches of my family on paper. Done on a typewriter in the 70s. If I scan and OCR these documents, is it possible somehow to import them, or will I have to manually enter all the data? Example of formatting:
1. Thomas Dunn b 30 July 1881 d 14 Feb 1945 at Raton, NM m 24 Oct 1909 at Lyndon, KS Catherine Thomas b 9 Feb 886 at Montgomershire, Wales dau of ? Hughes and ? Thomas. Catherine d 0 Oct 1967 at Raton, NM.
AA Lucille b 23 Aug 1910 Osagfe City, KS m 28 May 1933 Ralph Wagner Tindall b 19 June 1900 Pueblo, CO d 27 Nov 1969 at Denver, CO
AA1 Kathlyn Ann b 28 Aug 1938 Raton, MN m 15 Mar 1957 Donald Lee McClanahan b 22 Sept 1933
AA1a Michael Ralph ....
* Starting from a Printed Document
- tatewise
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Re: Starting from a Printed Document
Welcome to the FHUG and the world of genealogy.
Sorry, but I doubt if there is any software that would automatically import data with that structure.
However, an OCR scan may provide text fragments that can be copied & pasted more quickly than typing from scratch.
i.e. Copy Thomas Dunn to Name field, 30 July 1881 to Birth Date, 14 Feb 1945 to Death Date, Raton, NM to Death Place, etc.
If new to genealogy then study research:getting_started|> Getting Started with Genealogy Research.
Among other things, that explains the importance of Source Citations of documents such as Birth/Marriage/Death Certificates that justify the facts, and your example format has no such citations, so those will need to be entered manually.
Please take note of how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers.
If you need any more advice, and I suspect you will, then do just ask.
Sorry, but I doubt if there is any software that would automatically import data with that structure.
However, an OCR scan may provide text fragments that can be copied & pasted more quickly than typing from scratch.
i.e. Copy Thomas Dunn to Name field, 30 July 1881 to Birth Date, 14 Feb 1945 to Death Date, Raton, NM to Death Place, etc.
If new to genealogy then study research:getting_started|> Getting Started with Genealogy Research.
Among other things, that explains the importance of Source Citations of documents such as Birth/Marriage/Death Certificates that justify the facts, and your example format has no such citations, so those will need to be entered manually.
Please take note of how_to:key_features_for_newcomers|> Key Features for Newcomers.
If you need any more advice, and I suspect you will, then do just ask.
Mike Tate ~ researching the Tate and Scott family history ~ tatewise ancestry
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Re: Starting from a Printed Document
Hi rpuleio,
You are starting from the same place I did many moons ago....
I had 2 'family tree' documents. The 1st was an A3 sized print showing THE FAMILY TREE - mainly names, mostly dated, nick names etc. The 2nd was a excel work book with mostly the same information - but with additional info on existing names and a lot of new family members. Some I knew - a lot I didn't.
What I did was to very carefully transcribe the A3 sheet into the Excel workbook and then put a grid reference over both. I then used this as the basis for starting my research.
As I created each person in FTM (which I was using at the time), I created a citation that referred to the Excel workbook (NAME, Printout Transcription Grid Ref C6 Excel Sheet Grid Ref K22 etc etc ). I then added a text note explaining what I understood the information to convey. I then used this to research Births, Deaths & Marriages and prove or dis-prove the validity of the information, but mainly building on the foundation that the unknown source had put together.
One of the big benefits is with family nick names. Whenever I look at an individual in my current tree and see a nickname, I can see that the citation associated with it leads me back to the HOURS of work I did 10 years ago! Which is nice.
The benefit of not just scanning the info in, was that I had to make an objective decision about how valid the original info was. You may find yourself looking at it in future thinking, "wells its in black and white, but is it true, and what makes them say that!" - which is why creating a citation is so important.
good luck
mark
You are starting from the same place I did many moons ago....
I had 2 'family tree' documents. The 1st was an A3 sized print showing THE FAMILY TREE - mainly names, mostly dated, nick names etc. The 2nd was a excel work book with mostly the same information - but with additional info on existing names and a lot of new family members. Some I knew - a lot I didn't.
What I did was to very carefully transcribe the A3 sheet into the Excel workbook and then put a grid reference over both. I then used this as the basis for starting my research.
As I created each person in FTM (which I was using at the time), I created a citation that referred to the Excel workbook (NAME, Printout Transcription Grid Ref C6 Excel Sheet Grid Ref K22 etc etc ). I then added a text note explaining what I understood the information to convey. I then used this to research Births, Deaths & Marriages and prove or dis-prove the validity of the information, but mainly building on the foundation that the unknown source had put together.
One of the big benefits is with family nick names. Whenever I look at an individual in my current tree and see a nickname, I can see that the citation associated with it leads me back to the HOURS of work I did 10 years ago! Which is nice.
The benefit of not just scanning the info in, was that I had to make an objective decision about how valid the original info was. You may find yourself looking at it in future thinking, "wells its in black and white, but is it true, and what makes them say that!" - which is why creating a citation is so important.
good luck
mark