To import GEDCOM or not?

Question

I'm not sure whether to upload my current GEDCOM file or just start adding profiles. I'm relatively new to this but I'm also reasonably confident that my research is correct on most levels. This site is definitely different and I feel a little apprehensive about what to do. Is it easier to create profiles for my tree using the information I have rather than have to trawl through and clean up the GEDCOM created ones?

Answer 1

I find it easier to create them from scratch. I started with just 50 in a GEDCOM and it was quite a pain to go back and redo everything. One big benefit in going slowly and redoing is that I've had to re-evaluate my sources and look for new ones that aren't behind a wall that requires a subscription. So many people here are unable to access part or all of the subscription sites. It has been illuminating how sloppy I had become! :D

Comments

Thank you! I was thinking that starting from scratch would be preferable. All my sources on that file would be from a subscription site. Is it enough to say I've viewed the file either on a subscription site or through the General Records office where I've viewed the original document but do not have a physical copy.

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For subscription sites I look for an alternative. I've found FamilySearch immensely helpful here. For certificates from the GRO I quite often use the GRO reference i.e. Country, District, Year, Quarter, Volume & Page and then reference a picture of the index available through FreeBMD. For Australian certs I use the index references that are available on the State run BMD sites.
When you viewed the original did you transcribe it? You can reference your own transcription as a privately held source along with the citation of the index to point people to where the original can be found.

Does this help any? The less you can reference a subscription site the better although sometimes that's all you can do.

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I haven't transcribed any but I would be happy to as I did record all the information. I'm in Northern Ireland so I'm not too sure where I could do that!

Answer 2

I agree with Rosemary.  I have been on this site for a month and I uploaded a gedcom of 65 people.  The main problem with a gedcom is that your sources will not attach in a way that is useful to the community.  There will be information that is only known to the program that created the gedcom; or there will be links that take you to a paid site (which can't be used if you don't subscribe).  What is useful is the family group connections but I don't think that outweighs the problems with a large import.  You will have some clean up to do as well as correct citing of sources, so be prepared.

If you do decide to upload, I would only do 3 generations because 1) it's manageable; and 2) somewhere in that generation you will connect to the One Tree then you can start collaborating if needed.  Just my 2 cents.

Welcome, have fun and don't hesitate to ask,

Kathleen

Comments

It's taken me at least 20 different people through marriages & what-not to connect to the tree. This is what happens if you aren't from the US.

Answer 3

I also agree with Rosemary and Kathleen. I just joined here the 17th of March and uploaded a GEDCOM that had approximately 300+ people. Then I discovered the G2G discussions on your question. A lot of responses is that they would start the GEDCOM and then delete that and start from scratch or wish that they had.

Which is what I did during the decision time of the GEDCOM review. Deleted the GEDCOM before I wasted their time or mine and started from scratch.

Answer 4

I would recommend ensuring the people and relationships in whatever application you use are correct BEFORE importing the Gedcom to mimimize corrections afterwards. I find working on one branch at a time and resisting the temptation to import too early helps.Only import people in wikitree when

a> You are confident all the details are right

b> You have found all the sources you can, even if using a subscription site like Ancestry it doesnt prevent you adding links and citations for any source you like so add them once and they will come through when you import into wiiktree.

Editing in wikitree is fiddly an error prone because its not wysiwyg so you want to minmimize the amount of editing you do in wikitree.

The gedcom import doesnt do a great job either so you should edit the gedcom file after export and before import to remove any cruft. For example I exported from FamilyTreeMaker only to find the Gedcom had links to all files local to my computer that are not accessible to anyone else, so it is best to remove these first.