Need help adding from a GEDCOM

Question

I've been through all the suggestions in my GEDCOM and now all the not matched people have an add button.  However the instructions say not to use that for family members.  What?  They are all family members, hundreds of them. If I do as instructed and add them from my profile, I have to add all the info by hand.  That's insane.  It took me weeks to put all that into the Ancestry tree. When I did matches to existing tree members, all that data was imported.  In fact it brought in stuff I had to delete.  I think I'm missing something here.  PLEASE help.

Comments

I’m new here and I uploaded my gedcom. Matched 800 plus people. Why are they not on my tree? I’m so confused. Who has access to my gedcom but I don’t. I don’t understand this ...

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Hi Melissa and welcome to WikiTree.

WikiTree does not automatically create or auto-populate your part of the WikiTree One Global Tree.  You have to add them individually to reduce the possibility of a Duplicate Profile.  WikiTree is open, but has one strict rule: One Name, One Profile.

Take a look at the grey box in this G2G Question.  There you will find info on what to do when loading a GECOM file to WikiTree.  Use the link in that box GEDCOM File Primer.  There you will find the information you need.  If still unsure, please come back to the G2G Forum and post a new question so we can help.  In the Tags area, make sure you add GEDCOM and GEDCOMPARE as your tags.  This insures a quicker response.

Answer 1

Hi Ward and welcome to the Tree.

Not sure where you saw that you are not supposed to use the Add Button. The Add Button is the way you Add names from your GEDCOM file that did not have an Accepted Suggested Match. You might want to take a look at this page also as it has some tips, hints and links to WikiTree Help pages to assist you in transitioning your GEDCOM file to WikiTree. Especially useful for the newer user of GEDCOMpare.

GEDCOM File Use Primer

You should be able to find your answer there and the answers to a few questions you haven't gotten to yet.  Wink, wink.

I also suggest you take a look at various existing WikiTree Profiles to get a feel of what we are trying to accomplish here.  WikiTree is bit different in how information is presented than other sites or programs.  There is a link to Examples of Good Profiles on that page.

Comments

Thanks very much for the info LJ.  Very helpful.

Ward

Answer 2

Could you point us to where exactly it says not to use add for family members? That doesn't sound right.

It sounds like you are ready to work through your list and import new people to Wikitree by using the 'add' button for each of them. The trick is to make sure you add them in an order that means each new person is connected to someone already in the tree, otherwise relationships (especially marriages) can get dropped. For example, if you're working out from your own profile, add your parents before trying to add a sibling or grandparent.

Comments

Hi Suzanna

Thanks very much for the info. Turns out that this is rarely an issue. Most of the time the system recognizes who the added person is related to and it does not say this. When it does say this I continue with the add and then attach the person on their edit page.  Here is what shows up if the system does not recognize a relationship.

Add an Unrelated Person

If you're adding a family member it's better to add them as a parent, sibling, spouse, or child from your profile or from someone else in your family tree or Watchlist instead of using this form. This form is for adding people without a known family connection to anyone else on WikiTree.

Thanks again
Ward Hindman

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OK Ward, that's an easy one, sort of.

Notice in the first column of your list you will see P1 in the first row, P2 in the 2nd, P3 in the 3rd and so on.  This is part of an internal linking system in a GEDCOM file to insure links of family are maintained during transfer from one system to another, to an extent.

Say I add Jane Doe as the first person from my GEDCOMpare.  She is now the set point.  If I next add her mother or father or a sibling or her husband, the system will see a link and Edit Family of Jane Doe will show up.  But if I add her paternal grandfather next, before adding her father, you will get the Add an Unrelated Person.

So Parents are linked to their Parents and Siblings and their Children and Spouses.  Children are linked to the Parents and Siblings and then to their Spouse and Children.  Parents are not linked to Grandchildren and Children are not linked to Grandparents in a GEDCOM file. It's progressive. The best thing is to try to follow a linear generational timeline progression and you shouldn't see that anymore and you won't have to manually link up Profiles.

Since GEDCOMpare only permits the importation of one name at a time and not a total file dump, we have to maintain these links across the file.

See, easy. ;)