Uploading Ancestry family tree - WT only load matches?

Question

Thank you for  checking on us newbies.

My Ancestry.com family tree has ~ 4000 members & I am sure, many, many errors. How does WT handle the upload exceptions? I don't want to build a huge mess that causes me more anxiety.

Comments

You must acquire certification to create or gedcom upload pre-1700 people.

Answer 1

Welcome to WikiTree, Judy!

If your Ancestry tree has 4000 people and you're not confident that the entries are accurate, I recommend that you enter your family into WikiTree manually--first your parents, then their parents, etc. And that you enter your sources as you go, checking to make sure everything you add is accurate. Hopefully you'll soon connect up to your ancestors who have already been entered in WikiTree. Then compare what is here to what your Ancestry tree says, adding and improving as you go. In the long run I think you'll find that much more satisfying than adding 4000 profiles, many with problems, to WikiTree. And then having to go back later to fix all the problems.

Answer 2

Create smaller duplicate trees of particular branches in Ancestry then upload them in small batches. The Ancestry help section states "While it is currently not possible to split family trees on Ancestry, there are two alternatives that can be used to produce similar results: duplicating your tree, and saving people from one tree to another.

 

Duplicate your tree

 

To create a duplicate tree on Ancestry, download the tree you wish to duplicate, then upload it again as a separate tree. After creating a duplicate tree, you can delete the people that you do not wish to include in the new tree.

When you download a tree from Ancestry, it comes in the form of a GEDCOM file. GEDCOM files are text-only, which means that any media attached to your original tree will not be included in the second tree. Media items will need to be added to the duplicate tree from the original. Facts, notes, and sources are usually retained by a file in GEDCOM format after conversion.

If you plan to alter both trees after creating the duplicate tree, we recommend keeping your original tree as a backup and downloading two copies."

Answer 3

Hi Judy, I too am in the process of moving over 10,000 names from Ancestry to WikiTree.  I found the best thing to do is to create all new Trees following specific branches of my main Trees.  For example, I started at myself and work up through my maternal grandmothers father back as far as I could go.  The nice thing about Ancestry is the Ancestry Member Tree hints can be used as a cheat to fill in siblings, spouses, etc.  Now this only fills in names and dates and birth and death locations.  But that is what is important to the Ancestry Hint Search. Just be sure to only select your Tree as the Ancestry Member Tree Source as you are sure that data is good.  Don't trust other Ancestry Member Tree Hints.  I then go back and refill each persons records and sources using the hints. You always have your original tree to go back and check things.  This is where you can fix any errors you think you may have and also if the person is someone you haven't worked on for awhile, there is probably new data for you to add.  A bonus there.

When it starts to get around 400 names. I pick a family member as a stop point and end that tree with them.  I then download the gedcom and load the new and re-verified tree to WikiTree.  Then I start at the previously mentioned family member I used as a stop point and go on from there and create a new tree.  I am doing this for each branch.  Stopping in the middle of a branch is ok, you can pick up where you left off.

Sounds time consuming, but it really isn't overall and you get to revisit some family you may have not seen for awhile and correct any possible errors..  And the time saved when you load to WikiTree is well worth the time spent here..Just the possible error correction is worth it. Your new gedcom file is cleaner and more efficient.  (Just remove the Ancestry Member Tree Hint as in the Source area for each name as it isn't really a source,  more of a cheat.)  LOL

The only real problem with this method is that you will find new data and you may want to start chasing that trail.  If you can refrain from that and just stick to making your tree for a gedcom upload, time goes fast.  Save those new trails for later additions.  Sadly, I am an addict to new trails and I can't follow my own advice.  LOL

Any questions, please contact me or just reply to this answer and I'll be notified.

Lee Russell