More Examples of Cleaning Up the FamilySearch Family Tree

Other areas of the FamilySearch.org Family Tree that need attention are the Discussions and the Notes. In a previous post, I wrote about the names for Roxalana Ray PID #KWJ1-P1W. I now turn my attention to the Discussions and the Notes. Here is what I initially found:

What of this needs to be preserved and what is garbage? Before answering this question, it is important to understand where all this stuff came from and why it is still appearing in the Family Tree. One of the resources (databases) used to build the Family Tree is the Pedigree Resource File. This is described as follows by the FamilySearch.org Research Wiki:

Pedigree Resource File (PRF) is a collection of user submitted genealogies. It shows individuals’ names; family relationships; and dates and places of birth, marriage, and death. No merges, corrections, or additions are made to genealogies submitted to Pedigree Resource File. The most current version of the Pedigree Resource File (PRF) is available for free on the Internet as part of FamilySearch Genealogies.

Essentially, this is a collection of GEDCOM files from individuals who contributed the content of their Personal Ancestral File program and other programs. Some of the Notes shown above come directly from the content of these submitted files and contain error messages and any other notes that the users included in their uploaded files.

The Discussions section includes anything that was entered using the now abandoned new.FamilySearch.org program. Some of these Discussion items may still be relevant, some make no sense.

Cleaning up these entries involves deleting those Notes and Discussions that no longer seem to make sense or apply to the current entries. In this particular case, the Discussions imported are still relevant and valuable. However, the Notes are mostly superfluous. For example, the first Note says:

Line 2063 from GEDCOM File not recognizable or too long: DEAT PLAC Boat On Mississippi River Line 2066 from GEDCOM File not recognizable or too long: BURI PLAC In The Mississippi River

This limitation no longer exists and the entry in the Details portion of the page shows both how she died and that she was lost or buried in the Mississippi River after a steamboat accident. Here is another example:

!From the net . It has the same info but added the other children plus Roxanna's v.r.

This kind of Note may have had some significance to the person who entered it, but presently it has no meaning and contains no useful information. It turns out that several of the Notes and Discussions contain my own notes and comments.

Cleaning up this kind of entry helps to make the Family Tree more logical, accessible and accurate.