Legacy News

Legacy tip: how to isolate and send just a branch of the family tree in an email

Question from Jerry,

"I wish to email my cousin one branch of my family history. How do I isolate the one branch and send in an email?"

Our answer:

Good question Jerry. First you would need to decide what specifically you want to send to your cousin. Do you want to:

• send a GEDCOM file so they can import the data into their genealogy computer program
• create some kind of report that only shows the branch they are interested in

I'm guessing that you want to send a GEDCOM. The easiest way to do this is to create a Focus Group. Please follow these instructions....

Creating the Focus Group and GEDCOM file

1. Go to File > Export to > GEDCOM file.
2. Click on the Record Selection button in the lower left.
3. Click in the circle next to "Selected records contained in the Focus Group", then click on the View/Select Focus Group button.
4. Using the 6 buttons at the bottom of this screen, add the desired individuals to the focus group. When you are done, click OK.
5. The "View/Select Focus Group" button's text should now be red. Click Close. The phrase to the right of the Record Selection button should now read "Focus Group records".
6. Click on the "Select File Name and Start Export" button in the upper right.
7. Type the desired name of the GEDCOM, and navigate to the folder in which you want to save the GEDCOM. (Remember where you save this so you can attach it to an email later.) Click Save.
8. Enter the compiler information and click OK.

Now, using your email software, write your message and attach the GEDCOM file (the file will end with the .ged extension). Happy hunting!

Legacy tip: editing a location

Question from Tami:

"Is there a way to search & replace locations? I have several places where I did not include a county, and would like to insert it, but with a huge file, I hate to have to just go through the index looking at places one at a time. I love Legacy, but haven't been able to figure this question out."

Answer from Millennia:

Dear Tami and others - you are going to love our answer - Yes! And it's really quite simple once you understand the purpose of the Master Location List.

The Master Location List is a listing of all locations that you have entered into your Legacy family file. Each location is listed only once, although a location could be linked to hundreds of individuals. In other words, when you click on a location in the Master Location List, it will automatically display all individuals who are linked to that location in any way. Each location in this list can be edited. So, if you make a change to the location (such as adding the county name), this change is updated for everyone. Follow these steps to update a location:

1. Open the Master Location List by going to View > Master Lists > Location.
2. Click on the location that you want to update, then click on the Edit button.
3. Make the change, and click Save.
4. This question will appear: "This change will affect all records using this location. Do you want to save the change?" Click Yes.

I guess you could still go one-by-one, to everyone in your database to update their places, but I'll bet you will prefer the method above. :)

Legacy tip: special codes to customize your report titles

Question from a Legacy user,

I love your reports, but have a question about the title at the top of the page for each report. When I print a Family Group Record, the title is:

Family Group Record for John Smith

Since John Smith could have married more than once, I would rather have the title read:

Family Group Record for John Smith and Sally Jones

Is this possible?

Answer from Millennia:

Yes, this is certainly possible. The title of the Family Group Record, as well as any other report, can be customized to your liking. The image below shows the Family Group Record screen (Reports icon > Family tab). Notice at the end of the title is the [FullName] code. This is there by default. You do not need to touch this unless you want to customize the title.

   

You could replace the code with the actual names of the couple that you want to display in title. I would not recommend this however, because when you go to print a Family Group Record for a different family, the same couple name will still be there. Rather, just add the [CoupleNames] code and preview/print the report.

When the title is entered this way...

Family Group Record for [CoupleNames]

...it appears like this at the top of the report:

Family Group Record for John Smith and Sally Jones

I personally like to also include each person's lifespan next to their name:

Family Group Record for [CoupleNames, Lifespan]

Using these codes, the title will appear like this:

Family Group Record for John Smith (1850-1923) and Sally Jones (1852-1931)

The great thing about using these kind of codes in the title field is that the next time you create the same report, the title will retain your customization, so you'll always get a title you like.

Of course, using these codes is completely optional, and if you are a beginner, you might just want to leave everything how it is. But for those who like a little more flexibility, Legacy has a whole list of codes you can embed in the title field. They are listed in Legacy's help file, but we will republish them here for your convenience:

[Fullname] - The name of the current individual in given name-surname order. Use for individual type reports.

[Name] - Same as Fullname

[Firstname] - The first given name of the current individual or the quoted name if the Use Quoted Name option is selected.

[Givennames] - The given names of the current individual.

[Surname] - The surname of the current individual.

[HisHer] - "his" or "her" depending on the gender of the current individual.

[~HisHer] - "His" or "Her" depending on the gender of the current individual.

[HisHers] - "his" or "hers" depending on the gender of the current individual.

[~HisHers] - "His" or "Hers" depending on the gender of the current individual.

[Lifespan] - The life span years for the current individual. For example: (1812-1963)

[HLifespan] - The life span years for the current husband.

[WLifespan] - The life span years for the current wife.

[CR] - Inserts a carriage return in the title to assure it prints on multiple lines.

Use the following fields when doing marriage-type reports.

[HusbFullname] - The name of the husband in given name-surname order. Use for marriage type reports. For example: John A. Berdan

[HusbSurname] - The surname of the husband.

[HusbGivenNames] - The given names of the husband.

[HusbFirstName] - The first word in the Given Names field of the husband.

[HusbSurname, Given] - The husband's name in Surname, Given order.

[HusbPrefix] - The title prefix for the husband.

[HusbSuffix] - The title suffix for the husband.

[HusbRIN] - The record ID number for the husband. For example: -173

[HLifespan] - The life span years for the current husband.

[HusbUID] - The User ID# for the husband.

[WifeFullname] - The name of the wife in given name-surname order.

[WifeSurname] - The surname of the wife.

[WifeGivenNames] - The given names of the wife.

[WifeFirstName] - The first word in the Given Names field of the wife.

[WifeSurname, Given] - The wife's name in Surname, Given order.

[WifePrefix] - The title prefix for the wife.

[WifeSuffix] - The title suffix for the wife.

[WifeRIN] - The record ID number for the wife. For example: -173

[WLifespan] - The life span years for the current wife.

[WifeUID] - The User ID# for the wife.

[MRIN] - The record ID number for the marriage.

[CoupleNames] - The husband and wife names together. For example: Albert Berdan and Susannah Secord.

[CoupleNames, Lifespan] - The husband and wife names together with their life span years after each name. For example: Albert Berdan (1753-1818) and Susannah Secord (1759- ).

[GenNumber] - The generation number when printing Ancestor or Descendant reports. For example: Descendants of [Fullname][CR]Generation: [GenNumber]

 

Happy report title customizing!

How to get your family excited about genealogy

I met and proposed to my wife in a Family History Center (two separate days). Naturally, I thought we would spend a life together researching each other's roots. I later found out that she was just there for the student employment (the Family History Center was in a library of a university) and had little interest in genealogy.

We still got married, and I am still trying to convince her to love genealogy as much as I do.

Over the years I have learned a few dos and don'ts for "persuading" my family that genealogy is fun. In fact, Legacy Family Tree has many tools that has made this task easier for me. I am working on an article to be used for a conference syllabus which explains some of these ideas. I hope you will read it and publish your comments here regarding what has worked for you.

Click here to download the article (891kb, pdf).

How to identify your end-of-line ancestors

End-of-line ancestors. We all have them. We think about them. We study them. We even dream about them. Once we find their parents, we do a quick Genealogy Happy Dance, and then it starts over again - we now have new end-of-line ancestors.

Who are your end-of-line ancestors? Let Legacy Family Tree identify them for you using one of the two following methods.

Special Search List

1. First, in the Family View, navigate to yourself.
2. Click on Search > Find > Miscellaneous tab.
3. Select the "Direct-line ancestors with no parents" option and click on Create List.

The resulting Search List displays each of your direct-line ancestors who do not have parents. In other words, these are your end-of-line ancestors.

Now select one of them and see if Legacy can find their parents:

1. Click on Internet > Search Internet for Current Person.
2. Select one of the listed websites, and click on the Search button.

Fan Chart

Using Legacy Charting, you can creating a Fan Chart which provides a graphical perspective of viewing your end-of-line ancestors. Follow these instructions:

1. Launch Legacy Charting by clicking on its icon in the main toolbar (or go to Reports > Legacy Charting).
2. Select one of the 4 Fan Chart styles, and click Select.
3. On the Home tab, increase the number of generations until the Fan Chart starts displaying the "holes" in the outer rings.

See the Fan Chart below. Notice where the end-of-line ancestors are? Makes it pretty easy to see where the "holes" are, doesn't it? Happy hunting!

Ireland Civil Registration Indexes 1845-1958 now online

This news makes me wish I had more Irish ancestors.

This past weekend, FamilySearch published a new database containing an index of Ireland civil registration including:

• Births (1864-1958)
• Marriages (1845-1958)
• Deaths (1864-1958)

Searching the database is simple. Just enter the name, select the life event (birth/christening, marriage, death/burial), enter a year and place and click the Search button. While the results are not linked to actual images of the certificates, they do provide clues (such as estimated birth year, age at death for a death record index) so you can order the actual certificate.

Once you have obtained the index information from the database, you will want to look at the original record. FamilySearch's new Research Wiki explains how to do this. Click here for the article.

To search this new database, click here.

Thanks to the 150,000+ FamilySearch Indexing volunteers who made this new database possible. This was actually one of the first record groups I helped with when I became a FamilySearch Indexing volunteer. To view a list of current and future projects, or to volunteer, click here.

How to cite this database using Legacy Family Tree's SourceWriter

If you find new information from this database, also be sure to add the citation in Legacy. Follow these steps:

1. After adding the new information into the individual's information screen, click on the Source icon.
2. Click on the Add a New Source button if you haven't previously added this database to your master source list. If you have already created this source, just click on the Cite a Master Source button and proceed.
3. Because this is an online database, select this template: "Add a Generic Source here > Online database" and click Go to Step 2 (see image below).
4. Fill in the source details (see image below).

The citation is now formatted using the genealogy industry standards as explained in Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained.

Sample from step 3 above. Click to enlarge:

 

Sample from step 4 above. Click to enlarge:

 

How to cite the 1911 England/Wales census

It has now been two days since the online release of the 1911 England and Wales census. From your comments, it sounds like many of you have found success, while others have faced challenges with their search engine and pricing. With time these things will surely be enhanced.

We have heard your requests for us to create a specific SourceWriter template for this new census and we are now ready to give it to you. It has been really fun ;) trying to interpret and properly identify the citation information that accompanies each downloaded image and make it easy for you to enter it into Legacy. This is part of the file name of the image when downloaded, and it is all supposed to mean something:

RG14PN28112 RG78PN1606 RD511 SD5 ED3 SN40

In creating the new template, it was not as easy as simply modifying an existing SourceWriter template to create this new one. The records have new identifiers and appear to be catalogued differently than previous censuses. So we have done the hard work so it will be a piece of cake for you. We have now come up with a standard for citing this census which, for an online image will provide the following formatted citations:

Footnote/Endnote Citation:
     1911 census of England, Yorkshire, Tingle Bridge Hemingfield near Barnsley, Tom Hague household; digital images, Findmypast.com, 1911census.co.uk (http://www.1911census.co.uk); citing RG 78 PN 1606, RG 14 PN 28112, registration district (RD) 511, sub district (SD) 5, enumeration district (ED) 3, schedule number (SN) 40.

Subsequent Citation:
     1911 census of England, Yorkshire, Single Bridge Flemingfield near Barnsley, Tom Hague household.

Bibliography:
England. Yorkshire. 1911 census of England. Digital images. Findmypast.com.
     1911census.co.uk. http://www.1911census.co.uk : 2009.

The good thing about all of this is that you do not have to know what pieces go where for the citations. Legacy's award-winning (I just couldn't resist advertising that award...) SourceWriter does it all for you. You just fill in the blanks! We have created 20 new templates which will cover each type of media (online images, online database, microfilm, etc.) for England, Wales, Channel Islands, and Isle of Man.

How to get the update
Our programmers are actually in the middle of a big project (for the future) and so we cannot yet release an "official" free update. We did not want to wait for the next free update to give you this new template. So, if you want this new template, you will need to download a special file which will replace the existing Legacy10.dbm file which resides in your Legacy folder. Here's how to do it:

1. Make sure Legacy is closed.
2. Click here to download the Legacy10.zip file. I recommend saving this "zipped" file to your desktop so you remember where you saved it. (You can delete the .zip file after step 4.)
3. Because this is a "zipped" file, it needs to be extracted. This is super easy in Windows XP or Vista. Simply double-click on the file and follow the prompts. The resulting Legacy10.dbm file needs to be extracted to replace your existing Legacy10.dbm file which currently resides in your c:\Legacy folder.
4. Open Legacy and the new templates are ready to use.

Let us know (by commenting below) about your experiences with using the new 1911 census.

Legacy tip: Searching and the Marriage List

With the birth of my new daughter (6 days old now) I've put my non-living relatives on hold for a little while. But this morning I got an email from a potential relative and I just couldn't wait any longer....

The potential relative asked if I was related to a Jens Rasmussen, born 1811 in Denmark. He was married to a Maren Larsdatter. The names sounded familiar to me, but then most Danish patronymic names sound alike. Using Legacy Family Tree's search capabilities, it was easy to search for a possible connection.

Marriage List

One method is to:

1. Open the Marriage List by clicking on its button in the main toolbar (upper left of Legacy). All marriages are listed here, sorted by the husband's surname.
2. In the husband field, type the name of the surname, followed by a comma, followed by the husband's given name. For example, Rasmussen, Jens.
3. In my case, there were 10 Jens Rasmussens listed. Glancing in the wife column, I saw that there were not any Maren Larsdatters.

Searching

Another method is to perform a search in your family file. Follow these steps:

1. Click on the Search button in the main toolbar.
2. Fill in the fields as shown in the image below and click on Create List. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

 

The resulting Search List will display all persons who match the search criteria. In my case, there were no Jens Rasmussens married to anyone with the surname of Larsdatter. Darn - would have been a great way to start my week by locating a fellow family researcher. However, my week has already started beautifully - baby Kaitlyn gave us a great sleep last night.

World's newest Legacy user is born

I just couldn't help myself. I had to write this little article.... :)

Late last night, the world's newest Legacy user joined our family. Kaitlyn Elizabeth Rasmussen, my first daughter, was born. She weighed in at 7 lbs 12 oz, 19 inches long. Her three older brothers are proud to have a sister to take care of.

Sure was fun adding her to my Legacy family file this morning.

1. Click on Add > Daughter > Add a New Person.
2. Fill in the details and click Save.

There, now this article can be categorized under Legacy tips. :)

Here's Kaitlyn at 3 hours and 14 minutes old:

 

Welcome to our family Kaitlyn.

Legacy 7 videos - download to CD

As you may know, our website has free Legacy 7 videos:

• What's New in Legacy 7
• Legacy for Beginners

Until now, these videos were only available to view from our web site, which meant that you had to be online to watch them.

Many of you have requested that the videos be published to CD so you can show it to your local genealogy group or to a friend who does not have an Internet connection. Follow these steps to download the video files....

What's New in Legacy 7 video

1. Download the compressed video files from http://www.legacyfamilytree.net/videos/7new.zip (15mb). Save this file anywhere on your hard drive.
2. Extract/unzip this file (this usually means just double-clicking on it, or you may need to use WinZip. The result will be several files.
3. Burn these extracted files to your CD.

Legacy for Beginners video

1. Download the compressed video files from http://www.legacyfamilytree.net/videos/7beg.zip (31mb). Save this file anywhere on your hard drive.
2. Extract/unzip this file (this usually means just double-clicking on it, or you may need to use WinZip. The result will be several files.
3. Burn these extracted files to your CD.

This beginner's video is also included on the Legacy 7.0 installation CD if you already have that.

As long as your computer has the free Flash viewer (most computers these days do), you will be able to view the videos.

If you're not sure how to download, extract, and burn these files, feel free to view the videos online by clicking here.