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When you begin using FamilySearch.org's Family Tree program, except for a link to the Get Help menu in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, there are no evident rules or other guidelines for using the program. The very first time you log into the program, you may get a video orientation about the use, but unfortunately no guidance about how to enter information into the Family Tree. In fact the Getting Started video tells you, you do not have to worry about those "pesky pedigree charts." It also says to "look for the green arrows." It looks like they are still stuck in the New.FamilySearch.org mode of looking at the data.
The guide book called, Using the FamilySearch Family Tree: A Reference Guide is dated back on 18 October 2013 and there is no direct link to the Guide available in the Get Help menu. A careful reading of the Guide will reveal a few general guidelines for entering information into the program. But I thought it would be a good idea to summarize the specific provisions. Here is a list of some of the information I found with a page number where the specific provision is located in the Guide beginning at page 44.
- To enter names, enter the person's main name, i.e. the complete name he or she was given at birth.
- Enter nicknames into the Alternative Names section of the Details page.
- All females should be entered with her maiden name, if available.
- It is optional to enter suffixes such as Jr., Sr. or other words that appear after a name, but do not include them in the main name fields.
- If you do not know a mother’s or wife’s name, enter the husband’s last name. Do not enter a first name. Do not enter “Miss” or “Mrs” in any of the name fields.
- For a husband with an unknown name or a child who died without receiving aname, enter only the father’s last name. Do not enter a first name. Do not enter Mr., Miss, son, or daughter. Be sure that the gender is correctly entered as male or female if you know it.
- Do not put any other words, other than the names, in the name fields.
- Place names should be entered in order from the smallest jurisdiction to the largest, i.e. city or town, county, state, United States.
- All place names should be entered as they existed at the time of the event recorded. This is contrary to the Guide that says to use the standardized place even if the system does not have a standardized place-name for the place that you enter. Generally accepting genealogical practice requires the place name as it was at the time of the event. Place names should be entered, if possible, in the language of the place where the event occurred.
- If there is a matching standardized place name, use the standard name. If the name of the place has changed, do not use the standardized place name, use the name of the place at the time of the event.
- Dates should be recorded as day, month spelled out completely, year.
- All dates should be standardized if known.
- Do not use any abbreviations for any entered information.
- When entering notes or sources, use complete sentences so that future researchers can understand what you are saying.
Standardized dates and places are designed to help the find feature of the program. They are not necessarily designed to preserve the correct place names as they appear in the historical record. The list of standardized places is being augmented over time, where possible and when it will not change the original place name, you should use the standardized place names.
Thanks! I saved the PDF right away. Although I've used the tree since it went public, I did not know about this guide.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Do you have any idea about the LDS' opinion on removing 'sources' that just point to profiles on Ancestry? Most of those are unsourced, and with my subscription running out in a week, I can't check every 'source' that I encounter anymore. LDS members can always access these for free, but most non members can't. IMO, even cleaning references to sourced Ancestry profiles is good, because those profiles are not available to FS members that don't have the funds, and should preferably be replaced by references to indexed sources and images FS itself, or source (box) entries with adequate data on the FS site itself.
Reason to ask is that previous cleaning on another site got me banned there,
That's an interesting question, Enno.
DeleteWhen you look at a linked profile in Ancestry, does it include sources and pictures and documents that aren't in the FamilySearch entry? If so, I'd leave the link.
If a link leads to a basic Ancestry entry with no additional information, I'd be less inclined to leave it; considering it to be the equivalent of someone citing "my PAF." (Real story.)
But if I were to delete a content- and source-free link, I'd give a thorough explanation and probably even copy the link into my explanation for the reason for detaching the source, so anyone looking at the action can easily confirm that it's a useless entry, and won't conclude that you're messing things up.
Of course this assumes that you can see an Ancestry entry. If you can't see the contents of a link, best to leave it as is, even if it looks messier than you'd prefer.
As you imply, basic guidelines for data entry in Family Tree are sparse and hard to find. You have listed a nice summary, but that basic information leaves out some critical explanations that really need to be included. I would like to share information that I have discovered through discussions on the feedback boards and personal experimentation that, when understood, prevent all sorts of frustration with Family Tree and reveal some of the great power and flexibility built into the program.
ReplyDeleteThis is how I would write the manual: (to be continued)
Thank you so much for your analysis. Your efforts are greatly appreciated. Would you mind if I shared this information in a blog post? I would certain attribute the whole process to you. I realized that there was something going on here, but didn't spend the time, like you did, to figure it all out.
DeleteDate information in Family Tree is stored as two separate pieces of information, the display date and the “standard” or sort date. The display date is for other researchers to read and evaluate. It can be entered in many different ways and can be tailored to fit nearly any situation. The sort date, located in the green standard box, is only visible when the date edit box is open. It is for computer use only, to give the program a completely unambiguous date so that the Family Tree program knows exactly the date of the event. The sort date must be set to qualify for ordinances; for children to sort by birthdate in the Family Members listing and pedigree charts; and for the Search and Find routine to function properly.
ReplyDeleteWhen a date is first entered, a quick-entry list will appear. When the date you are entering appears on the list, you can complete the entry by clicking on the date in the quick-entry list. This will set both the display date and the sort date to the same value. If you desire the date to appear in a different format than what appears in the quick-entry list, finish typing in your entry. Then click outside the text entry box or press tab. Do not press the Save button. The sort date will then be set to the first entry on the quick-entry list. If this is not the correct sort date, click in the green box to choose the correct sort date. After both the display date and the green sort date are set correctly, click the Save button or proceed to enter the event’s place name.
Examples of Display Dates:
3 October 1830
Oct. 3, 1830
Sunday, October 3, 1830
1830-10-03
3. oktober 1830
17. søndag etter Treenighetssøndag [3 October] 1830
The 3rd day of October in the Year of our Lord 1830
These will all trigger the green sort date to be 3 October 1830.
Thank you so much for this explanation. I did not understand this process, since no one explained it to me in this way before. What I still see as a problem is that people will "replace" the display entry with the "standard" entry and lose the display date information.
DeletePlace information in Family Tree is also stored as two independent pieces of information, the display place name and the “standard” or keyword/search place name.The display place name is for other researchers to read and evaluate. It should be as genealogically accurate as possible, following any acceptable guidelines for recording place names. It can be tailored to fit nearly any situation. The keyword/search place name, located in the green standard box, is only visible when the place name edit box is open. It is for computer use only, to give the program a completely unambiguous place name so that the Family Tree program knows exactly the unique spot of ground on the earth where the event took place. The keyword/search place is typically the modern name for a place, although many historical names are included in the available choices. The keyword/search place must be set to qualify for ordinances and for the Search and Find routine to function properly.
ReplyDeleteWhen a place name is first entered, a quick-entry list will appear. When the place name you are entering appears on the list, you can complete the entry by clicking on the place name in the quick-entry list. This will set both the display place name and the keyword/search place name to the same value. If you desire the place name to appear in a different format than what appears in the quick-entry list, finish typing in your entry. This will most commonly be the case when you are entering a name for a location whose name has changed frequently though history. You will want to enter the most accurate historical name for the time period of the event. After completely typing in the place name, click outside the text entry box or press tab. Do not press the Save button. The keyword/search place will then be set to the first entry on the quick-entry list. If this is not the correct place name, click in the green box to choose the correct place name from the list that opens. After both the display place and the green keyword/search place are set correctly, click the Save button.
Examples of Display Places:
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States
Great Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, United States
Great Salt Lake City, Territory of Deseret, United States
The Avenues, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States
105 North 2nd West, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States
In the red barn five miles directly north of Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States
These will all trigger the green keyword/search place to be Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States.
Thanks again for your comments. This certainly clarifies the process. It is too bad that the Reference Guide fails to have either of these explanations. Why hasn't this been explained before? I also question how many people can understand this process and the reason for it.
DeletePlease feel free to use this information any way you want, no attribution is necessary. Please also reformat it any way possible to make it as understandable as possible. Most people I’ve discussed this with do catch on quickly to the concept of two different values and the reasons for them once it was explained. I really wish there were instructions that presented it clearly and were easily available to Family Tree users. On a very regular basis, the Family Tree feedback boards have two complaints:
ReplyDeleteWhy won’t the children in this family appear in birth order? They are listed randomly! Why is your stupid program broken?
2) Why do I have to use a standard name? They are wrong! There was no (fill in place name of choice) in (fill in year of choice)!
If people could see right from the start how the data entry works, these would never be an issue.
Personally, I almost alway use the speed-entry date so I don’t have to worry about mis-spelling “May” and set the green value that way. The exception is with some Norwegian parish records of the 1700’s where there is not a date to be found. All the christenings, weddings, and funerals were held on named Sundays and other feast days and recorded as such. I like being able to enter the date as it stands in the record, such as Dominica 4. Adventus, with my conversion in editorial square brackets so other people can immediately see the date as given in the record and evaluate for themselves if my conversion is correct.
I rarely use the speed-entry place name because currently I’m working with residences that are Norwegian farms. I include the farm name such as Tveit, Stord, Hordaland, Norway. There is no “standard” for that name. My choices for the green name are Tveit, Hordaland, Norway or Stord, Hordaland, Norway. I pick the second one for the green name so when the match routine searches for duplicates or other records, it sticks to the same parish. The trouble with the first, is that there are about thirty farms by the name of Tveit scattered around Hordaland so the match routine would be pulling up names from dozens of different parishes.
I am not a great fan of the term “standard,” as used in Family Tree as you can probably tell. There are people who have gotten the impression that “standard” means “most correct,” even when it obviously is not and have tossed out valuable displayed data, as you mentioned you could see as a problem. I really wish the programmers would replace “Standard Date” with my preference of “Sort Date” and “Standard Place” with something like “Search Term” or “Search Keyword.”
Thank you, thank you, thank you. You don't know how many times I have asked this question. FamilySearch many not even know the answer. Great job. I will explain what you say more than once.
DeleteDo you know why all the duplicate names are being added by FamilySearch? The names are the exact same as in the Name field. thanks.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do know. Basically, the reason involves the fact that Family Tree is still using the New.FamilySearch.org database and FamilySearch and others are still working on transferring all of the data and making necessary changes. It gets fairly complicated after that short explanation. The problem should stop whenever NFS is cut off completely.
Delete