Legacy News

How to best prepare for Legacy 7.5 and the FamilySearch interface - Post #3

This article is the third in a series of articles which will help you prepare your family file for better use with the upcoming Legacy 7.5 and its interface with FamilySearch. Even if you do not plan on synchronizing your data with FamilySearch, these articles will provide valuable insights on cleaning up and standardizing your data. Click here for the first article. Click here for the second article.

Goal: Reduce duplication

One of FamilySearch's goals is to help reduce duplication both in original research and in LDS ordinance submissions. Its new software at http://new.familysearch.org incorporates tools to check for duplicates. Clicking on the new Possible Duplicates tab checks to see if the current individual is listed elsewhere in their databases. The user then has the choice to combine any duplicates.

Before working with new FamilySearch

When Legacy 7.5 is available, users will be able to backup, search and optionally synchronize their Legacy family file with information at FamilySearch. The benefits are numerous, but the information at FamilySearch is only as good as the information that is submitted by the researcher. Therefore, treat the information online as a good starting point and as a means of collaborating with other researchers.

Therefore, before working with FamilySearch, cleaning up and standardizing your Legacy family file is important. Searching your family file for duplicate individuals is an important part of maintaining a well-kept family file. You may have duplicate individuals in your family file for many reasons. Using Legacy's Merge tool, you can easily identify and combine duplicates. Here's how....

1) With your family file open, go to Tools > Merge > Find Duplicates.

 

2)   It's a great idea to make a backup of your family file before merging. After clicking on the Backup button, come back to this screen and click Continue:

 

3)   Now you see the Merge Options screen. Most of the time, just leave everything the way it is and click on the Continue button. If you just want to see a report of potential duplicates, click on the Print button.

4)  Below is the Merge screen. At the far bottom left it shows the number of sets of potential duplicates and which number you are currently viewing. In this case, there are four sets of potential duplicates, and we are viewing the first set.

Now, compare the person on the left with the person on the right. The top part of the screen shows the basic information about each person. The bottom half of the screen shows any differences between the two. In this example, the left person's given name is Asa Clark and the right person's given name is Asa. Using the radio buttons, you can select one or the other, but I usually opt to keep both. To keep both, just click on the small black box to the left of the Given Name label where I can choose to copy the right person's name to the notes or to an alternate name field.

If you decide that the two individuals are the same, click on the Merge Right Individual into Left Individual button. Legacy then displays the next set of potential duplicates.

If, after comparing the two, you decide that they are NOT the same person, click on the small button in the lower right with the crossed-out circle. This will add this set to the Not Duplicates List, and they will not appear in future Match/Merge sessions.

If you need to pause your merge session because you need to sleep or eat (don't those two things always get in the way of our genealogy time?) just click on the Close button. Legacy will save your place in the merge session. The next time you start Legacy, it will ask you if you want to continue merging.

Now that your family file's duplicates are cleaned up, you are better prepared to work with FamilySearch or any other database.

How to create a 2010 birthday / anniversary calendar using Legacy Family Tree

With the new year approaching, why not resolve to be a better relative by remembering family birthdays and anniversaries? Two features of Legacy Family Tree makes this easy to do:

• Legacy's birthday and anniversary reminders described here.
• Legacy's Calendar Creator.

Legacy can create a birthday calendar, an anniversary calendar, or a combination of the two. There are options to include a cover picture, picture pages above each calendar month, and complete control over color, layout, shadows, fonts, page size, and more. The calendars can be blank or include the birthdates and anniversaries of the people already entered in your family file.

That's right! Because the information (birthdays and anniversaries) is already in your Legacy family file, Legacy will automatically add this to the calendar pages. With the who to include options, you can customize the calendar so only certain family lines are included. You even have the option to skip the anniversaries of divorced couples.

Get Started

To begin, make sure that you have installed Legacy Family Tree Deluxe Edition available here. Then follow these steps:

1. With Legacy open, click on the Reports icon in the main toolbar.
2. Click on the Books/Other tab, and click on the Calendar Creator button.
3. Using the options on the six tabs, customize the calendar to your preferences.
4. Print, and enjoy being the person in your family that never misses a birthday or anniversary!

Click on the picture below for an example:

Standardization of Locations - a follow-up

This is a quick follow-up on last week's Location Standardization article which discussed the need to standardize your locations in Legacy.

While testing the new FamilySearch feature in the forthcoming Legacy 7.5, I randomly picked an ancestor, Hannah Hall, to see if the FamilySearch database had any more information than I had. It sure does. In the image below, the information I have about Hannah is in the "My Legacy Person" section. The information from FamilySearch is in the "FamilySearch Person" section.

FamilySearch has 41 different opinions of when/where Hannah was born. Some have sources. Some do not. That's just the nature of published information. These opinions were published by various researchers over the years. Most of the opinions are identical except for the spelling of the location. In this case, Taunton has 30 different spelling variations. Some are abbreviated. Some are misspelled. Some include the name of the country at the end. I suspect that most of this information was published to earlier FamilySearch databases, before the Standard Finder was implemented.

If, decades ago, when we started doing data entry of our locations, we had a standardization tool that everyone in the world had access to, we probably would not see many people with 30 spelling variations of the same place. And while the new Standard Finder, in its infancy, still has its limitations, it is laying the foundation for us to be more consistent in our data entry efforts.

You can begin now by cleaning up your own Master Location List. Watch this video for step-by-step instructions.

(Click on image to enlarge)

What Happens When Cousins Marry?

Question from Earle:

I, like many (I assume), have ancestors who married first or second cousins. This causes havoc when trying to create reports because the same people show up in different lines creating an endless loop. Is there a simple solution?

Our answer:

Earle, I actually think you're the only one with this situation....Kidding....Sorry about that....

You're right, when cousins marry, and you're looking at a their child's pedigree, the same ancestors will appear in different parts of the chart. UNLESS, you turn on the "Don't Repeat Duplicate Lines" option.

Look at the pedigree chart below. The starting person, Jonathan Smith, was the child of two first cousins who married each other. Jonathan's parents had the same grandparents. The grandparents are highlighted in red. But take a closer look at Gertrude's grandparents. Below their names is the phrase "Duplicate line. See Chart 1, Pos 8/9)". Because I've turned on the "Don't Repeat Duplicate Lines", the pedigree chart will only follow the grandparents' line once.

To turn on this option, in the Pedigree Chart's Report Options, click on the Format tab and select "Don't Repeate Duplicate Lines".

(Click on the picture to enlarge.)

Legacy tip: how to print multiple Family Group Records at the same time

Question from Christine:

I'm trying to print several family group sheets for a family member who wants to put them in a notebook (she doesn't use a computer).

I have Legacy 7. Is there a way to print several at a time, rather than going in, opening each family and printing them one at a time?

I know there must be an easier way!

Our answer:

Great question Christine. The answer lies in the Record Selection button, found in the lower left of the Family Group Record report screen.

After clicking on the Record Selection button, you have six options of how to print multiple family group records:

1) Only the current family or individual. This is selected by default.

2) Focus Group records. This is the easiest to work with. Just select it and click on the Edit button. Here you can choose to:

• Add an individual
• Add a family
• Add the current search results
• Add an Individual and Ancestors
• Add an Individual and Descendants
• Add an Individual and Entire Family Line

Or you can use a combination of any of these choices so you can print whatever you want.

3) All individuals in the entire family file (with spouses)

4) All Marriages in the entire family file (sorted by MRIN)

5) Individuals by tag value

6) Marriages by tag value

Or Christine, you could convince your family member to use a computer for their genealogy so all you'd have to do is send them a backup of your Legacy family file! :) Anyways, hope this helps.

Legacy Tip: how to enter cause of death

Legacy's Family View displays five fields of information for the main person and their spouse. One of the default fields displays the person's Cause of Death. (See the image below.)

  

The person's Cause of Death will only display if you have already typed it into the Cause of Death field. This field is located in the Medical Notes. Just click on a person's Notes icon, and click on the Medical tab.

 

Whatever is entered in this Cause of Death field will appear in the Family View.

I've seen a lot of interesting causes of death in my ancestors' records. This ancestor's death record says he was "gored by a bull". That doesn't sound fun. Have you seen anything unique in your ancestors' records?

Bring your Legacy family file with you on a USB drive, cell phone, or PalmOS device

If you have a USB drive, Windows CE-powered cell phone, or a palm device, you can take your Legacy family file on the road.

So whether you're doing research in a library, a cemetery, or the subway, you can bring your genealogy with you. Here's how....

USB drive

Using Legacy's free add-on, GENViewer Lite, you can view your entire Legacy family file on any Windows computer that has a USB port. You'll first need to download/install GENViewer Lite, then copy your family file's GEDCOM to the USB drive. Follow these easy steps....

1. Download and install GENViewer Lite. Click here to start the download.
2. After you have installed GENViewer Lite, insert your USB drive into your computer and copy the gvlite.exe file from the c:\Program Files\MudCreek\GVLite directory to your USB drive.
3. Create a GEDCOM (File > Export to > GEDCOM) of your family file and then copy the file to your USB drive.

You can now insert your USB drive into any Windows computer's USB port and view your family file (by running the gvlite.exe file). GENViewer Lite lets you view the Individual and Family Views. The full GENViewer program (free for 15 days) lets you also see the following tabs: Pedigree, Descendants, List, Highlighted, Islands, Sources, Internet. If you already purchased GENViewer, just copy the GenviewerLegacy.exe file to your USB drive.

USB drive using MojoPac

Lots of Legacy users have had success running Legacy from a USB drive after installing MojoPac. I haven't personally experimented with it but it sounds quite promising. This has been discussed in our Legacy User Group mailing list. To learn more, you can search its archives by clicking here. Learn more about MojoPac by clicking here.

Windows Mobile based devices

I carry my cell phone with me nearly everywhere. Everywhere my cell phone goes, my Legacy family file goes too! I've installed the Legacy add-on, Pocket Genealogist, which directly imports and synchronizes my Legacy family file. In fact, Pocket Genealogist is the award winning leader in Genealogy software (PC Magazine winner 5 years in a row) for Windows Mobile based devices. This includes the PocketPC, PocketPC Phone Edition, Smartphones, Handheld PC/Pro and Handheld PC 2000.

Pocket Genealogist on your mobile device is more than just a viewing program. You can actually add the names/dates/places you find directly into the program. When you come home, it will synchronize with your Legacy family file on your computer, adding all the new information right where it's supposed to go.

For more information, or to purchase Pocket Genealogist, click here.

PalmOS handheld PDA or smartphones

GedStar Pro is the premier product for viewing your Legacy family file on your PalmOS handheld PDA or smartphone. It is optimized for the latest devices with color screens, fast processors, and increased storage space.

GedStar Pro will directly import data from your Legacy family file. In this way it can take advantage of most of your genealogy program's features to store and display virtually all of your important data. All events — primary and alternate, standard and custom — can be converted, along with their source citations, sureties, notes, and repositories. It will even include your research task to-do list.

The new GedStar Pro V3.0 has powerful a name-search feature with Soundex support, several new lists of resources, a data export function, and even an "On-This-Day" feature that shows events that occurred on a particular day of the year.

For more information, or to purchase GedStar Pro, click here.

Legacy tip: Which name should I record?

I think I'm about to shake up the family tree....

I located the birth record of my great-great-grandfather. Great! But the name listed in the birth record is not the name he used later in his life.

His name, Lauritz Marinus LARSEN, is printed in all the family books and even hangs on my office wall as part of the large, custom-framed wall chart of my ancestry. His death certificate even identifies him as Lauritz LARSEN.

His real name

I already had his family's genealogical information, but I wanted to verify it by locating the original documents. Legacy Family Tree's Research Guidance tool provided the link to the Denmark State Archives' parish register collection. After a little searching, I located the birth record of Laurits Marinus STEFENSEN, who was born on the same day and in the same place as my Lauritz Marinus LARSEN.

Laurits Marinus STEFENSEN, born 14 Sep 1869 in Elling, Hjørring, Denmark - birth record

Lauritz Marinus LARSEN, born 14 Sep 1869 in Elling, Hjørring, Denmark - family records

  

As Danish researchers well know, patronymic naming was the custom in Denmark where the child's surname was composed of the father's given name followed by the addition of the suffix of -sen (son) or -datter (daughter). Therefore, if patronymics were still used in 1869, we could usually assume that according to his birth record, Laurits' father's name was Stefen.

So where did the LARSEN surname come from? I don't yet have all these answers, but I do know that after the family emigrated to America, they used LARSEN as their surname.

How should this be recorded in Legacy?

I know that Laurits STEFENSEN and Lauritz LARSEN are the same person. But for as long as I have been doing genealogy, his name has been recorded in my family file with the LARSEN surname. Good researchers will record every name variant, nickname, and alias and add its proper documentation. These names can then optionally be printed when creating any lists or reports. Following this advice, we should use Legacy's Alternate Names form to record the newly-found name.

1. In the Individual's Information screen, click on the Alternate Names icon. (It's the first in the row of icons at the top, and just to the right of the surname field.)
2. Click on the Add button and fill in both the given name and surname. Click Save.
3. Finally, click on the newly-entered name to highlight it, and using the Source button, add its documentation.

So which of the two names should be his "primary" name? My rule of thumb is to:

use the name as it was earliest recorded.

So in this case, in the Alternate Names form, I would highlight the Laurits STEFENSEN name and click on the Swap Alternate Name with Main Name button. Doing this simply switches the highlighted alternate name with the name in the Individual's Information screen. Of course, there are always exceptions to this guideline - just use your best judgement.

 

The real problem

Now that I've updated his primary name in my Legacy family file, do I now reprint the family group records, books, and even the large wall chart in my office? Maybe I'll work on documenting the rest of the family first.

When an old man dies a library burns

This old African proverb, "when an old man dies a library burns," resonates with genealogists. If I could have just an hour more with my great-grandmother, I would have so many questions. Is there anyone in your life that you need to talk with before it is too late?

You need to know the best kind of questions to ask. For example, "how was your childhood" might get you the response of "it was okay." Interview done....

If you had the right set of thought-provoking questions you could get more out of the "library." Thanks to the interview experts of FamilyHistoryExpos.com, Legacy Family Tree 7.0's Interview Questions has all of the right questions and more.

In Legacy (Reports > Books/Other tab > Interview Questions) choose the subject of your interview...

• My Memories
• Your Memories
• Father Remembers
• Remembering Father
• Mother Remembers
• Remembering Mother
• Grandpa Remembers
• Remembering Grandpa
• Grandma Remembers
• Remembering Grandma
• Christmas Memories
• Family Folklore
• Life in Your Town

... and select which categories/questions you want to include, and you have everything you need to conduct a perfect interview.

You can even interview someone else about your mother/father/grandparent. For example, if you select the "Remembering Mother" interview, Legacy will give you the right questions to interview someone else about mother. Here are the questions from the "Family Time" category within this interview:

• How would you describe my mother's family life when she was growing up?
• When they worked together, what did they do?
• Tell me about some of their family excursions.
• What is one of your favorite, funny memories about my mother's family?

Notice that the questions are open-ended. You'll never get a Yes or No response to these.

You can select from the default questions, write your own questions, or even create your very own interview.

When you are ready, print the entire interview or save it as a text file, or even a .pdf that you can send in an email.

This "when an old man dies a library burns" quote was a good reminder to me to talk more with my "more experienced" relatives before it is too late. Now where did I put Grandma's telephone number....

Legacy Video Tip: Working with Locations

Question from Legacy user:

"Is there an easy way to create a list of everyone linked to a certain location? I know that in Legacy's Master Location List I can highlight a location and see the list of people. For example, if I click on Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts I get a list of everyone that ever lived there. But I want a list of everyone who ever lived/died/resided in Suffolk County."

Answer from Legacy:

This is such a great question and one that ALL researchers come across. We need to know who resided in a certain county, or in a certain state/province. To answer your question, below we've "extracted" a portion of the Mastering Legacy: Names, Dates & Places training video. Click on the Play button to watch. The transcript is also beneath the video if you want to read the instructions.

If you do not see the play button below, either 1) click on the yellow "allow" button in your browser above or 2) make sure you have installed Windows Media Player.

Here's the transcript:

The master location list is a powerful research tool. Quite often, you will want to create a report showing all individuals who lived in a certain locality. Once you’re in the master location list, highlight the desired locality, and on the right is the list of everyone who ever lived there. In this example, 14 individuals were found as having Minneapolis, Minnesota as a locality linked to them. Lorenzo Brown, for example, died and was buried in Minneapolis. This list can then be printed by clicking on the List Options button, and you have a custom report.

Now suppose that you want to create a list of all individuals who had resided in Hennepin County, Minnesota. One way to do this is to manually scroll through the long list of localities and select the ones that have Hennepin as the county. This is not very fast, however. It is better to sort this list in reverse order. To do this, click on the sort button.

Typically, the sorted order is city, county, state, and country. In this situation, move the state to the top, then move the county to position number 2, and move the city to the third position. This can be done by either clicking on the move arrows on the left, or just by dragging and dropping the appropriate fields. Now click on OK.

Now all of the Minnesota localities are sorted together, followed by the county, followed by the city. Now each of the localities in which Hennepin is a part can be selected. Then click on the Options button on the right, click on Show List, and a report of all individuals in Hennepin County will be presented.

Preview Mastering Legacy: Names, Dates & Places

The video above is an excerpt from Mastering Legacy: Names, Dates & Places, the second video in our "Learn Legacy" series. To preview the video, or for more information or to purchase the video, please click here.