In the GEDCOM arena, I'm stuck and drowning--Is there help? What to do?

Question

I started years ago in ancestry.com to create a tree based on 1) a DNA TEST at ftdna.com that showed my undiscovered Jewish ancestry (origin Lithuania) and 2) my visits to meet two parts of one family who lived near both coasts of the USA. The younger of the three DNA cousins I met gave me access to her tree, so I could follow the trails. My missing paternal GF might be in there. 

I added members she didn't have and omitted many, always checking with her. Ultimately I ran a Gedcom and began cutting out those who did not belong. Now I'm ending the second hiatus from working on it, about to expire (not sure). The easy part of this is first, is my gedcom use still active, i.e., does it exist? and Where is it, i.e., How do I get back to my gedcom check to eliminate the "extras"? 

But: I pushed a wrong set of computer keys on leaving this gedcom the second time and it suddenly and automatically added many people I've never heard of. How do I eliminate them? 

And: How do I connect my Jewish tree to my English, AmericanPioneer, Scottish and German tree or do I just place it separately as a new WT tree, with explanations in the biography?  Do I just junk the gedcom and transfer my Jewish family one member at a time, using "Unknown Unnamed" for his place holder? 

And:  I'm 79 and my memory slowly gets worse.   (This man is my_first_paternal_GF_(UNKNOWN_First_Name_and_surname)

Answer 1

Hello Roberta,

Your gedcom file should be visible from your contributions list or your changes list at the date you sent it for upload.

In looking at your contribution list I cannot see any recent profile creations. When did you add from your gedcom?

If your are struggling with the gedcom approach then I would suggest that you either cut it down into small branches to work with or just drop the gedcom and add profiles manually so that you feel in control of what you are doing. After trying out one small gedcom with about 30 people I went back to manual addition of individual profiles.

When you are ready to add your Jewish branches just add the appropriate profiles, after checking to see if they already exist, then make the relationship connection to join them to the relevant person. There is only one Wikitree, so you would not be creating a separate tree, just adding more people.

Comments

Susan, Thanks for the best answer star. I hope that others will also offer their help to Roberta. There are many that know much more about using gedcompare than I do, as I only tried it once on a small file.

Answer 2

Hi Roberta, Yep, sometimes loading gedcom files can be fun. That is if your idea of fun is walking across hot coals.  But I jest.

I see you loaded Balkan to US Family Tree.ged on January 14 of this year and made no Profiles nor edited any Profiles from that file.  After 60 days, all uploaded gedcom files are removed from the system therefore your gedcom file should be gone and you would need to reload it.

I am not sure, but I believe the names you saw on the list where the Suggested Matches that will appear in your GEDCOMpare Report List when viewed.  This is a standard occurrence and part of the GEDCOMpare Process.  These names appear when WikiTree finds an Existing Profile on the system it believes may be a duplicate of the name you are attempting to add.  Let's just say that during this search by the GEDCOMpare Process, it uses a very liberal interpretation of like names. Very liberal.

I suggest you look at this page to get a feel of the GEDCOMpare Process GEDCOMpare Primer This is list of pages to help you understand loading gedcom files to WikiTree and the Process of adding your names to WikiTree.

If you have only about 100 names or so, I would strongly suggest adding them manually.  By the time you jump through all the hoops to learn GEDCOMpare and upload the file again, you would probably spend as much time and effort and probably end up with Profiles you would really like to leave for the future.

Just keep plugging away Roberta and always ask for help here on the G2G Forum.  Very friendly folks here.

Comments

Thanks to Lynda and LJ who both went to creating the individuals one by one on their tree. That tells me that something must be done about our "relationship with and needs for" a simple way to start to do a GEDCOM. 

The way I read about GEDCOM use, it was a "must do this" and not something we could do without difficulty. Alas, Even the people with more or most genealogical knowledge seem to have avoided trying to use the complexities of the Gedcom file.  

I will do the same. But How do I decide when "Unnamed Jewish Male"  as a place-holder for my Jewish lines can be left off?  I'm imagining for no reason that two space holders for the unnamed paternal GF and his father would be enough. The Bermans (my Jewish relatives) are a 3rd cousin or greater. So would the 3rd chart position after my father be the beginning of a named Berman in my chart who fits the generational pattern that I'd be creating? And here's the scary part: What do I do with all the others who are related to the ones in my Balkan records but aren't being shown to the eye?

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OH gosh Roberta, I do not dislike GEDCOMpare,  Actually I love it and I have used it to load many names onto WikiTree. I don't believe it as easy to use when first starting out, but after use, GEDCOMpare gets easier and easier. And I am not sure where you got the idea that GEDCOMpare was a must do.  It's use is a personal choice.  I like it, some hate it.  Like noses, every one has an opinion.

Given your questions regarding Unnamed persons, I believe it would be better to add manually then a gedcom file. Loading gedcom files lack a certain finesse I think you may require. I would post a new question that specifically deals with those questions about who and when to add or not add.  That is a more genealogical question than a gedcom question which is more technical.  I would post it under the category Tree House or the category Policy and Style and you will have a wider readership of those more qualified than I to answer those questions.

All the best Roberta. and keep asking your questions till you are happy with what you are doing and why.  Folks here on WikiTree are the most helpful of people.

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I too don't know where I bought in to the "must do" it this way with Gedcom. I've just finished going through the matches listings of my Gedcom, which were really ridiculous suggestions.

I think its strange that one Unnamed Unknown doesn't actually lead to a whole line-up of them, but it doesn't. 

Yes, I agree with your comments praising Wikitree collaborators. We are a good group, withal.

Thanks a bunch for your notes today--they feel like Old Friends.