[or-roots] Merged files

[Eugene Barnes]

I have FTM and DO NOT LIKE it so I stick with the one
who sold them their menu, Ancestral Quest.  It is so much
easier to work with.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: CKlooster at aol.com 
  To: or-roots at sosinet.sos.state.or.us 
  Sent: Monday, October 25, 2004 3:31 PM
  Subject: Re: [or-roots] Merged files


  I find myself half-way between Les and Gary on this issue.  I'm passionate about historical and genealogical accuracy, but I've also downloaded family files from the Internet and found a wealth of information.  I always treat these as "third-hand" sources though...kind of a roadmap of possibilities.  I use FTM and make a note stating my source and my confidence level in the source. When I find errors or make corrections, I note that too.  I do this also when I'm given verbal information by a family member.  My first excursion into computerized family files was using Family Roots on the old Apple IIe.  When I was led to PAF by a Mormon friend, it was such an improvement that I was ecstatic.  Then I found Family Tree Maker and really fell in love with that format.  But, like Les, I find the limitations of the program frustrating.  While I understand that it is better not to merge, than to merge the wrong two people, the fact that this program won't merge if there are multiple exact matches makes me want to scream and shout.  I also use the program to work on a tribal enrollment project for the Indian tribe I work for.  There are two of us working on this project on our own computers and we decided that the best way to appoach the project was to do periodic merges of our individual files.  The number of manual merges of individuals needed to keep these records up to date is astounding.  Aside from the multiple marriages and children that result from merges, I'm also frustrated by the limitations in extracting family lines from a large file.  If I want to send someone only a single family line, it takes several operations to get the whole family line segregated from the larger file.  On the other hand, it beats the old 3" x 5" card method!

  Carla
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