Ancestry's Index Panel: I'm Trekking Through the 1850 Census Faster Than Ever

Census records are a goldmine of information. As I've mentioned before, I like to mine all the details. This takes time. For a big family, it can be quite a bit of time. Often, I find myself zipping past census hints, in favor of something I can work on more quickly. 

Recently, I decided to set out on the task of getting through some of those census records. They're important, and I need to stop glossing over them. I'm starting with the 1850 census. Using the Ancestry Hints By Specific Record Collection I previously wrote about, I'm able to see all the hints I'll be working with - only those hints (so I'm not tempted to bypass them). My only current goal is to make it through all the 1850 census hints I have. Then, I'll move on to 1860. Wash, rinse, repeat. 

I'm not worrying about how many other hints this is adding on my main hints page. I'm simply plugging away at a concrete goal I've set for myself. While I'm making progress, I haven't been spending as much time checking out new features, updates, tools or websites. However, I was reminded recently about a handy feature on Ancestry I either never really paid much attention to, or forgot about - and it's a big time saver for my census journey. Let me explain the backstory...

I use a spreadsheet to transfer all the data from a given family on a census record. I like a standard way of formatting (using the concatenate function to string data together). Then I copy this data into a document before I begin updating each person in Ancestry. It leaves me with a list of all the facts I need to add, and a full summary to paste into my transcription field in the citation for each person. This is the simplified version. I have a few other steps in the process to get it to work just so, but you get the idea. I'm more than a little OCD about how I work with a census record. Certainly not everyone would want to go through my whole process, but I'm betting some of you have a process you like to follow.

In order for my spreadsheet to do its magic, I need to list each family member in their own column, not rows as a census is presented. I can't tell you how much time I've spent diligently transferring the contents of each row into the necessary columns (flipping back and forth endlessly between tabs as I entered the data in columns). And here's where I can't believe I've dedicated (but not wasted) so much time I didn't need to! 

If you open the image of the census record, at the bottom of the screen is a little toolbar. We've probably all used the filmstrip view at some point. And I'd imagine everyone has used the arrows on the sides of the image to move forward and backward through pages....but how often do you use the index panel? Here's where to find it:

You might recall, I work on a small screen, so this next screenshot is not all the data. But it gives you the general idea of the format you'll see. Each line of the census is already transcribed!

The hard work is already done! Because I already have all the headings for each field in my spreadsheet, I just need to highlight, copy and paste all the family members into my spreadsheet. I do spot check fields like occupation, attended school, etc, just to be sure all the data is there - but most of the time it's very complete. I occasionally find a name transcribed incorrectly like "Susah" instead of "Sarah", but all in all, this saves me a ton of transcription time.

Now, if you've followed along this far, you might say..."Uh, Doris, you said you put each person in a column. You just copied rows." And you'd be right! I plop the copied data in my spreadsheet below where I want it. Then I right-click and copy it from within my spreadsheet, navigate to the first column for the data, and I paste-special (Excel) transposing rows and columns. This gives me exactly the layout I want to make my spreadsheet provide the specific formatting I use - all without having to do any (or very little) transcription myself. I'm going to hazard a guess and say this is saving me at least 50% of the time I spend working with census records. 

I won't bore you with any more of the details on my personal process. But if you'd like to see a little more on how to grab all this information, I found this video very helpful. (I've added it to my Genealogy Toolbox under "Articles, Tips/Tricks, Guides". 

While I still have to tweak a little for my own process, this is a huge timesaver! And as always, verifying is important. This isn't a substitute for making sure the transcription is correct (but it sure makes it a lot faster and easier to do). This feature is available on other images as well. And while I can't say for certain if every record set is as detailed as census records, you can be sure I'm going to start checking....right after I've finished my 1850 census project (and hopefully a few more years as well). Let me know if you already use this feature, or if you think it's going to help you in your own research. 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

American Ancestors: Perks Well Worth the Cost

Disclaimer: All thoughts & opinions are my own. I do not receive compensation or consideration for posts. 

I've subscribed to AmericanAncestors for several years. I've found there are some great benefits to being a member. I do all of my research online, so having extra resources beyond those found on the big 4 websites (Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, FindMyPast) always interests me. 

Ho-hum perks of being a member: They offer the ability to build your tree on the site, But, I didn't find the interface to be anything special - certainly not as good as Ancestry. They also offer a quarterly magazine, but I'm not a big fan of magazines (digital or otherwise) so this wasn't a big factor for me. They also feature additional publications and tools you might be interested in checking out. I haven't used these myself, but they are on the site.

The perks I DO really like are:

• Access to 10 billion searchable names and records in the AmericanAncestors database
• Free access to partner databases

Let's break it down a little. As far as the searchable records on the site, they offer access to hundreds of databases. The search screen shows they currently have 507 databases. Some of these are not necessarily different from databases you may already have access to via the big 4 sites. But 224 are touted as being unique to AmericanAncestors. They also have a Digital Library & Archives containing digitized materials from three repositories: the Wyner Family Jewish Heritage Center (highlighting records for New England's Jewish community) R. Stanton Avery Special Collections (including family bibles and genealogies among other select records), and the Brim-DeForest Library (a book collection including family and local histories as well as other books). Not all of these collections will be of interest to every family researcher, but certainly these additional repositories could be beneficial to some.

And then there's the magic of partner databases! 

Let's start with a site currently experiencing some issues. NewspaperArchive is normally about $140 per year (I used to subscribe, but stopped when the National Genealogical Society offered it as a free perk of their membership.) I noticed today AmericanAncestors also offers access with their membership. Currently the site is recovering from a service disruption, but hopefully it will be back online soon. Is this newspaper site better than Newspapers.com, OldNews or GenealogyBank? It's hard to give a solid answer. Your research needs may be different than mine, and newspaper coverage can vary widely by site and area. I haven't had the best luck with NewspaperArchive, but I like having the option to search at no additional cost! 

In the past, I also subscribed to Genealogical to access their eBooks in the Genealogical Publishing Company (GPC) eBook Collection. Their current subscription rate is $135 per year. Their digital collection is fully searchable, both within titles and text. You can now access this collection for free with an AmericanAncestors subscription! This is an absolutely awesome perk! I had been waiting to renew until I needed to use the collection, so this was a fantastic surprise.

Additional third party partner databases include:

• Archives Unbound
• Gale OneFile: Diversity Studies 
• The Gale OneFile: Fine Arts & Music Collection 
• Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
• Informe Academico
• Irish Newspaper Archives
• HistoryGeo.com
• The HistoryMakerss
• 19th Century U.S. Newspapers
• Early American Newspapers Series 1
• The New York Times
• Parchemin Notarial Database
• Genealogy Quebec

I haven't added up the value of having all these databases available, but certainly, the value far exceeds the cost of membership to AmericanAncestors.

I used to pay for an individual membership at AmericanAncestors at a cost of $99.95 per year. This level also includes (in addition to the features listed above) free admission to American Ancestors in Boston, discounts on programs and services, and exclusive offers - including 10% off a Tier 1 membership to GEDmatch (the value of this is about $12). If you live in the area and want to access in person, it's still a very good deal. But I don't live nearby and am not planning on visiting - so I didn't really need the bells and whistles. When it came time to renew this year, I was on the fence. I was cutting back a little on my subscriptions and I was just going to let this one lapse until I needed it. And then I received the email there was a subscription level I didn't see displayed anywhere when browsing the site...

It's a digital subscription only. For only $49.95 per year, I replaced 2 subscriptions - NewspaperArchive AND GPC library (worth $275 if I subscribed direct) AND I still have access to all the other partner databases. It was a no brainer for me. I did lose the free in person access (though passes are available at $20 per day if needed), the discounts on programs and services and the exclusive offers (but the GEDmatch discount wasn't terribly substantial anyway).

So, if you like to have a lot of other database options, for $49.95 per year AmericanAncestors is truly a fantastic value. If you aren't yet convinced, you can sign up for a free guest membership to access a limited number of databases, and get a feel for whether you'd like to upgrade to a digital or individual membership. I believe the digital membership is by far the best value if you do the majority of your research online.

Image by klimkin from Pixabay

Detailed Instructions for Using RootsMagic to Create a Minimal GEDCOM

 I like to have my tree on multiple sites. A few times a year, I've been creating a GEDCOM from either Ancestry or Family Tree Maker (FTM) and uploading it to MyHeritage and Findmypast. These are simply the sites I choose to use. If and where to upload GEDCOMs is a personal preference, depending on your specific needs.

There  are numerous other sites and software where GEDCOMS are accepted. Reasons one might want to upload could include:

• My #1 reason - having easy access to hinting from the sites I subscribe to
• Keeping multiple online backups
• Searching for more DNA matches
• Collaborating with relatives and family groups
• Utilizing specific research tools provided by software or websites

GEDCOM files generally contain a lot of information, most often including citations and facts, and potentially media depending on the program used to create the file. I've long wanted to be able to create a minimal GEDCOM, since all I'm interested in is hinting. I wanted a GEDCOM with only name, birth date/location, death date/location, marriage/location and divorce/location. I only want the basics...just enough to provide sufficient data to prompt the algorithms for hints. 

My preferred desktop software is FTM. I can absolutely export a GEDCOM, but the options for filtering the contents are slim. Ancestry provides a one-size-fits-all download solution, no editing options there. GEDCOMs can be manually edited, but it's simply not a viable option for trees with large amounts of people and data. At one point, I found a website where they used to offer a program with the ability create exactly the file I was after (called The Complete Genealogy Builder). Sadly, the software has been discontinued and is no longer available for purchase. I didn't want to have to buy (or learn) new software specifically for creating these GEDCOMs. With a little persistence, I found a way to do it reasonably easily with RootsMagic. While not my preferred software, I do have the most recent paid version (RM11). According to Google, you very may be able to do this process with the free version, RootsMagic Essentials, as well. It does take a few minutes of setup each time you want to create this type of GEDCOM, but it's by far the easiest way I've found to do it. Here's are the detailed steps.

First, export your GEDCOM from your preferred software, or download from your preferred site, such as Ancestry. (Note: If you're a RootsMagic user, I'd still recommend exporting and working with the GEDCOM separate from your main research tree. If anything goes wrong or you make an error, you don't want to risk messing up all your hard work!) Since the main sites I upload to already privatize living people, I don't worry about doing it in my GEDCOM. But it's important to double check how the uploaded file is handled on each site. As an example, GEDmatch requires you to privatize your own file. Be sure you check each site's requirements so you don't encounter any unexpected surprises or problems.

Once you have your initial GEDCOM, import it into RootsMagic by selecting File > Create a New RootsMagic File > Import > GEDCOM > and select the location of your GEDCOM file.

Then, open your newly created file and select Tools > Fact Tools > Add or Modify Fact Types. Then Run the Selected Tool. You should have a screen like this:

Next is the most time consuming part. You'll need to edit each fact you don't want in the GEDCOM. Select the Fact Type and click Edit. You'll want to UNCHECK Include When Exporting GEDCOM Files. Then click OK. (Facts have this box checked by default). 

For facts you are keeping in the GEDCOM (especially if you use custom facts) be sure to check each one to determine if Use Description Field is included by default or not. You may wish to make adjustments to include or exclude them, depending on the purpose of your GEDCOM, and the information you're entering in the field. As an example, I have custom Marriage and Divorce fields to record timeline events for additional spouses I'm not researching or including in my tree. These facts are set up as individual person facts (not family or shared facts as the standard Marriage and Divorce facts are). In these cases, I include the name of the additional spouse in my description. Even on a minimal GEDCOM, I want to have the names visible when I upload to another site, so I must ensure those facts are using the Description.

You'll have to go thru every fact type one by one. When you're done excluding all the facts you don't want, and verifying the description use on the fields you do want, click OK on the bottom of the Fact Types screen. 

This is where I wish there was an option to save, but unfortunately, there is not. You'll have to repeat this process each time you want to create a minimal GEDCOM. CAUTION: Your fact changes will be lost after you exit the file you're working with, regardless of whether you save it or not.  It's critical you do the GEDCOM export prior to closing the file you're working with. The good news? Now, you're ready to export your modified GEDCOM! 

Click on File > Export Data > GEDCOM

From here, you can specify where you want the file exported. I recommend reimporting the file into RootsMagic (or your preferred software) to double check and make sure everything looks just as you want it. Once you've verified, you're ready to upload to the sites or software where you want to use this GEDCOM. 

Here are links on how to import GEDCOMs to the major websites:

• Ancestry - Uploading a Family Tree
• MyHeritage - How do I upload (import) a GEDCOM file to my family site on MyHeritage?
• Findmypast - How to import your family tree using a GEDCOM file
• FamilySearch - How do I upload my GEDCOM file?
• GEDmatch - Uploading a GEDCOM File on GEDmatch - Genetic Genealogy Research (VIDEO)

I've also updated my Genealogy Toolbox to include these links, under GEDCOMs, in case you'd like to reference them in the future.

There are any number of reasons you might want to create a minimal GEDCOM. The facts you wish to include may be completely different than those I use. But the creation process is the same! It only takes 1/2 hour or so to create a minimal GEDCOM using RootsMagic. Perhaps in the future more software or websites will offer easier ways to do this, but this process accomplishes the goal without the need for time consuming manual editing or purchasing additional software. If you've long wanted a way to do this, or if you've found other easier ways to do it, let me know!