converting description fields from Ancestry to FH

LittleMissP · Post by **LittleMissP** » 06 Oct 2007 03:01

Hi, I've had the worst sinking feeling this evening- after updating my records with the BMD references on ancestry and now downloading the whole lot to FH, I've found I can't find the field where I saved the references to. When I'm on ancestry I don't seem to be able to attach a birth, marriage or death record (unless they come up with a hint, which is rare), so instead I put the reference in the description field. But it isn't picked up in FH from what I can see! I've spent weeks sourcing references for all the people in my tree and I'm going to cry if it was all for nothing! Please tell me this isn't just a really hard lesson to be learnt...

ID:2542

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 06 Oct 2007 09:39

If you open your downloaded GEDCOM file in Notepad, try text searching for your entered references, if they are in the file you downloaded then it's possible they can be recovered.

If they are not in the file at all, then I would try contacting Ancestry asking why.

LittleMissP · Post by **LittleMissP** » 06 Oct 2007 13:05

Some references are in the file when opened with Notepad. The birth description field is classed as uncategorised data, the marriage data is completely missing and the death description field (where I put the ref) is classed as the cause of death. What I've done is download again from ancestry and when opening in FH, have told FH not to automatically correct any errors. This (obviously!) has made no difference, though I can tell now from the FH exception report that FH is not recognising the data and so is excluding it. I have no idea how to sort this out [frown] and would really appreciate any thoughts. I might print the data file and then manually re-enter it to FH and never go near ancestry again.

I'm going to contact ancestry anyway. From now on I will do everything from FH to websites, as you suggested to me the other day!

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 06 Oct 2007 13:47

If you can post a sample of how the references are attached in the RAW gedcom file it may be possible to look at the data and correct the lines in the gedcom file.

Just post the reference line and 5 or 6 lines either side of it.

jmurphy · Post by **jmurphy** » 06 Oct 2007 18:41

Just wanted to mention that I use a Notepad drop-in replacement called Metapad -- it is freeware, available at:

http://www.liquidninja.com/metapad/

I find it to be more friendly than Notepad, so if editing your GEDCOM in Notepad causes problems, give Metapad a try.

Also, I wonder if another GEDCOM utility such as the ones which put the data into a spreadsheet might help -- with a spreadsheet it might be easier to find all the data which is not in its proper field.

LittleMissP, if you have to do your work all over again, don't despair -- look on it as an opportunity to review your previous work, which we all should do anyway.

I merged some files recently and discovered I had two people cross-linked -- both men have the same name (one is dad, one is 'junior') and between them there are three wives. When you only have a marriage record with the groom's name and the bride's name and no ages, it is easy to slip up and link the marriage to the wrong one.

For some reason I was unable to unlink everyone and re-establish the proper relationships, so I decided to start over with the transcription of the family Bible, go over the material I had already gathered from Ancestry, and source that Bible transcription all over again.

It is tedious work, but I am finding I missed some things the first time through (not recording small details in the census such as the child count because it matched what we knew from the Bible). But since these details are important in letting one know the identification is correct, it was stupid of me to leave them out.

How I wish there were more alternatives to using Ancestry -- I think their way of doing things leads many people into developing sloppy research habits. I have found 'corrections' to the index where the computer-generated name was correct, people attached to the wrong family in the census, etc. While you can post a 'correction' of your own, no one on the Ancestry staff looks at those corrections, which I find reprehensible.

Good luck getting everything straightened out.

Jan

LittleMissP · Post by **LittleMissP** » 11 Oct 2007 13:20

Here are a few lines from the raw file:

Record Type=Individual Id=P2598493949
l.223 - EXCLUDED: invalid line : '1 BIRT Q4 v2c p321'
l.224 - EXCLUDED BRANCH LINE: : '2 DATE 1877'
l.225 - EXCLUDED BRANCH LINE: : '2 PLAC Wallingford, Berkshire, England'
l.226 - EXCLUDED BRANCH LINE: : '2 SOUR @S2618975976@'
l.227 - EXCLUDED BRANCH LINE: : '3 PAGE Class: RG11; Piece: 1293; Folio: 12; Page: 17; Line: ; GSU roll: 1341314.'
l.228 - EXCLUDED BRANCH LINE: : '3 NOTE http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/ss ... &indiv=try'
l.229 - EXCLUDED BRANCH LINE: : '3 DATA '
l.230 - EXCLUDED BRANCH LINE: : '4 TEXT Name: Emily Ferris'
l.231 - EXCLUDED BRANCH LINE: : '5 CONT Birth Date: abt 1878'
l.232 - EXCLUDED BRANCH LINE: : '5 CONT Birth Place: Didcot, Berkshire, England'

Thanks for everyones help and advice.
Paula

JonAxtell · Post by **JonAxtell** » 11 Oct 2007 13:43

The problem is with the 'Q4 v2c p321' after the BIRT. The specification for Gedcom says that nothing should appear after BIRT except a Y (which is used to indicate that the birth happened but no date/place is known). Since FH is 100% gedcom compatible it rejects any deviations. The fault is with Ancestry in how it exports Gedcoms. The only way to fix this problem is to tell Ancestry that they are wrong in their interpretation of the Gedcom spec. I doubt anything will happen though, bit like turning around an oil-tanker!

One way to ensure that you keep all your references is to edit the file manually in Notepad/Metapad and make a new line starting with 2 NOTE immediately after the BIRT line and copy the reference from the BIRT line to the new NOTE line. You'll then have all your references as a note for the event and they will be visible when you view the events in the events tab of the property dialog.

HTH

LittleMissP · Post by **LittleMissP** » 11 Oct 2007 13:53

Jon, you are a life saver, thank you!!

Do you mean a line like:

BIRT 2 NOTE Q4 v2c p321

How about the syntax for marriages and deaths?

Thanks again,
Paula

JonAxtell · Post by **JonAxtell** » 11 Oct 2007 14:05

No, more like 2 NOTE Q4 v2c p321

Same for marriages and deaths.

As you'll notice when you start editing, all lines start with a number. The number for the NOTE must be one higher than the event BIRT/MARR/DEAT.

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