Thank you for this video. I didn't even know there were filters you could turn on and off! I am slowly correcting my mistakes/duplicates/alternate facts. I found that I was too excited when I started and clicked on far too many green leaves! It took me ages to get rid of the extra info. My advice is always to go slow when you start! One thing I did was to choose my way of showing names from the start, as I noticed some people used all capitals for surnames. I found it didn't look right. I always saved in the same format and I'm so glad I did. I don't mind which format people use, but my advice is to be consistent.
I picked up the habit of using all caps for first and last names for people who are direct line ancestors. It sure helps when looking at the tree and try to find your direct branch.
I thought I was pretty good at using Ancestry but I sure learned a lot from this video. I am now going to start reviewing my ancestor’s pages and clean them up. Thank you for you time and effort in putting together wonderful videos like this.
I totally agree. I really appreciate the hint about right clicking to open a tab for other persons! That will really save me time and reduce confusion (I hope!!).
How did I not know about that filter. LOL Love finding a new trick to use. Been working on going through my tree, and correcting mistakes. This will be a big help. Thank you!
Wouldn't it be neat if you could drag & drop to perform associations & merges? Examples: • Drag one fact on top of another and a dialog pops up "Do you want to merge these facts and their sources?" • Drag a source on top of a fact to connect it, instead of having to edit the fact or source item.
Another new feature in trulines when working on dna matches, click on the common ancestor and click on the trulines and it will take you to a line up for each of you and your match. It doesn’t solve it immediately, but has helped me in solving the dna match person’s link to me. Pretty cool feature
Yes that has been there for a while. Just make sure you verify the connections. The other cool think is it will show dashed lines for those who are not in your tree. You can then "evaluate" (button) those not in your trees to determine if you want to add them.
Another excellent video! I picked up a few more clean-up tricks today. I’m recently started my genealogy journey, and your videos are my #1 source of training. I’m learning that keeping that Facts column cleaned up as I go is a great habit. Thank you!--Sheila
Often the name of the records you are trying to associate to an event are named similarly. I find the associate facts link on the record much easier to work with as you have less choices. You can then click on the event to see if you have duplicates
Great info! I noticed you did something I used to do, until I baffled myself to death. When you looked through the list for duplicate John Henley’s, you only searched the first 10 displayed. You have to click the right arrow to go to the next 10, etc.
Thanks, Connie this was great. Going back to the video I had multiple duplicates (entries) + (documents) and duplicate people, so my question is how to get rid of them? I was able to clean it up thanks to this video but not the people in the timeline (likely duplicates once in my tree). Any advice would be helpful🙂
Really helpful. I have several ancestors with duplicate info that I want to get rid of, now I know how. Now I need to know how to fix duplicate spouse listings. I made the mistake of using someone else's data.
Connie, there seems to be a school of thought that surnames should be in upper case and bold so they stand out. This is the default in articles in the quarterly newsletter from my family history society here in England. Personally I don’t use this on my Ancestry tree, like you I am getting rid of capitalised surnames. Any thoughts? Love your helpful videos
It’s an old school way of doing things so you could skim an article for your surnames in printed publications. These days we can use search to find the same surnames.
About the undated records you’re leaving at the bottom after death and burial - isn’t it better to put a date when you’re editing so they are up in the timeline at the appropriate time? Even using Abt. to show an approximation? Also do you keep a notepad handy to write out a To do list? I have one in Excel but I tend to rush along forgetting to add items.
I do try to date most items, but I do so in my research notes kept offline. The source citation has when I found a document or evidence. Regarding the to do list, that is a research plan and yes, especially if I’m going on a research trip.
Thank you for showing these great tricks. I need to clean up my tree and this will help a lot. Also, I was taught to use capitals for the surname so there is no confusion if it could also be a forename. Why is this now bad habit?
I guess given that there are separate fields for first and last name, I'm not concerned about getting confused. Also, if I don't have one of the names, I put 5 underscores in that field so it shows up as "_____ Jones", which also helps clarify between first name and last name.
Good question. It could yes... especially if someone else has imported it as a record to their tree that Ancestry suspects is the same ancestor you're researching. If it does, click ignore, and it likely will not come back.
Love the video. I've learned a LOT watching your videos. Thank you. You talk about a marriage bond. I have a great great grandmother that is a dead end. Her probable fathers are Jesse Perkins and Michael Perkins (brothers). Most trees I have seen have Jesse posted, a few have Michael. No birth records, no death records. NOTHING showing her parents. All I have is a marriage BOND signed by Michael. Would that mean he IS her father, or could it mean her uncle just signed the bond (put up the money)? Would you consider the marriage bond documentation Michael WAS her father? Either way, I was able to find ancestors of the Perkins line, but would like to research her mother as well. (Jesse's wife had Mayflower ancestry and royalty in her background. Found both through other ancestors, but I have been looking to break down that brick wall. This is my only clue.)
A marriage bond is an intent to marry. There is no proof that they married and it definitely is not proof of fatherhood. Capture an image of that signature and compare to other records you may find in the future. Go to the county where the bride was, that is where they likely married. You have some research to do. Consider researching the descendants of both men and the DNA cousins you have with each of them. That's a start.
I noticed that when you were searching for duplicate John Henley names in the search column on the right hand side, you did not pursue the fact that there was more than one page of names listed there. Was that because there were no more "John" Henley's in the list, or would it have made sense to go to the next page to continue looking for duplicates? I just didn't want people to miss out on the fact that there might be another page of information. Thanks for all you do.
How do you make and then keep accurate a private and a public tree on Ancestry? Or is it better to just give access to a private tree to specific individuals?
If you go to your tree settings, you can make it private. There is also a second check box to make it unsearchable. If you don't check that, people can search for ancestors that you might have in your tree, then they would need to reach out to you for access through the messaging system. As far as accuracy goes, that's up to you. No one can edit your tree unless you give them editor rights when/if you share it.
Some sources, such as a census, show connections to people who are not included on the census record. The connection is not shown on the other person's profile page. Is there a way to correct/remove the connection without deleting the source and re-entering it? Hope you can help.
I would move it to a weblink in the source column and title it something like "possible marriage record" or whatever your need is. This way you can remove its connection to the fact without losing the record. Before removing it, copy the URL to the record, then go to the top of the source column, click on "Add" > Weblink and enter the name and URL and save. Then you'll find it at the bottom of the Source column where it says Web Links.
It’s an old way of doing it back when everything was in print. It made finding surnames faster when reading through manuscripts and documents, it’s still a holdover.
I have children in s a few pages in the left had column that say birth of half sister and half brother. And deaths say the same. But they aren't. They're regular brothers and sisters. How can I change that?
Extended Family typically means a family that extends beyond the nuclear family, including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other relatives, who all live nearby or in one household. Personally a second marriage and children (IMHO) would be part of the nuclear or immediate family.
Connie, I’m hoping you can give me a few research tips that will encourage me not to give up on a family line I’ve been researching for nearly 35 years. Census records and oral history state my 3rd-great-grandfather, James Long, was born in Maryland approximately 1785. By 1820 he was in Washington Co., Georgia and next in Crawford Co., GA until his death in 1869 at age 85. Other than the census records stating Georgia as his birth state, nothing early is confirmed, but it is believed by many James may be connected to a Samuel Long (1645-1695) born Virginia, and living in Somerset Co., Maryland. I have constructed a separate tree documenting Samuel Long and of 3 or generations, most of the information being extracted from a large study compiled by Matthew M. Wise, titled The Long Family of Maryland. Sorry for the long intro here, Connie, but my problem is compounded by lack and loss of records, working with a common surname, plus the strength of DNA connections going back that many generations. I have corresponded with many researchers (some dedicated workers and many, many “guessers”) and most seem to be at the same brick wall. I feel if I can find James’ father that I could make this connection to Maryland......and if I could do that, I would die a happy woman. What am I not thinking of in the way of tricks or techniques that might be of help? Thank you for all you do to help all in our efforts. Donna Holland Akansas P.S. Sorry this was so long and maybe not appropriate to this post.
Donna. I feel your pain. Here is a list of things I would look at in case you haven't looked here. Search on FamilySearch.org for the same family... and if you find him, look at all records for all immediate family members. Go to this link and work every link on the right side where it says Record Types www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Maryland,_United_States_Genealogy Work each of those links (if it makes sense) opening each page in a new tab and explore, then close each tab when you're done with each page. Do the same for Georgia by going to www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Main_Page and drill down to the state level. Repeat the process. Hopefully something will pop up for you.
I still need help, now that I've signed up for a membership thru Patron, to find where i can access the free handouts. I know Connie's a very busy lady, so if Anyone that can help me please reply. TY
Cheryl. I sent you a message in Patreon. Just go to the posts there at Patreon.com/GenealogyTV and you can scroll through the past posts. Going forward you will get them emailed to you as they come out.
Is there any way to set the country to remove it. I know my countries & dates. It makes me crazy that people put United States, USA, etc, on dates going back to 1500 before there was a United States after the civil war in 1866. Or the United Kingdom on dates going back to the 1100 when it was not established until 1922. Right now I edit them off all my entries. I want only accurate info on my trees.
That's a great question. I've already reached out to Ancestry about what standardization they recommend before statehood. I'm waiting on a reply. You're not the first to ask.
I noticed the same thing. What I do when entering a place, I manually type in what it should be, then either backspace to remove what ancestry automatically puts in, or in my case on my iPad I just click on a blank space and it does what I want, usually
@@GenealogyTV That's a really great point. I'm in Australia, and have no First Nations ancestors, so every single tree branch had someone immigrating. Our States weren't all separate States for a start, they were Colonies, and some like my state of Queensland started out as part of the Colony of New South Wales. Federation was not until 1901. I entered lots of things as if they happened in modern times without realising how inaccurate that was. It's really quite tricky to get things right.
If you go to RU-vid and type in "ancestry place names" , the first two videos that come up (at this time) are one from Crista Cowan and one from family History Fanatics discussing the issues of place name standards.
Some family history sites standardise to place names as at a specific date. So yes, they may be inaccurate for other dates. For my situation - I know there was no Australia prior to Federation (1901) but I still add Australia to earlier dates, mainly because it helps bring up more Australian based results when I search.
The Residence source showed his death date of 18 Feb 1854. It seems prudent to at least put that date on the Citation Detail to place it in correct chronological order. Seems odd to show it after the death and burial dates (unless, of course, that is a method you use to call attention to it for future research). Personally I like to use the emoji ⚠ when I have info that is questionable, needs verification or further research.
@@GenealogyTV Yes RU-vid. I saw your article on correcting facts. The Bell on an ancestry profile page, where the facts and hints are located, came about some weeks ago. I hate it and would rather not even see its presence. I did hit the subscribe button if that is what you were asking about.
@@alanwhiteman1929 I'm trying to train myself to ignore the bell because it is not usually info I want to work on at the time. I am sure there is no way to remove it. It is an Ancestry feature.
Do you ever add information that you have, that is not found online, to notes or comments? Occasionally I read the source, pick out details and add a sentence to a rather bland fact listing. Example: who was living at home, age, and what they we doing during a census. Should I bother?
