Legacy News

Legacy Tip - Same Couple, married 4 times

Robert asked a great question in our Legacy User Group mailing list today:

How do you properly indicate in Legacy that the same couple married each other FOUR times? Just do this?

• Married Jun 10, 1934
• Divorced Oct 2, 1941
• Married Jan 15, 1943
• Divorced Feb 20, 1946
• Married Mar 13, 1948
• Divorced April 23, 1953 (husband left wife, and wife thought husband had died)
• Married July 10, 1955
• Husband died Oct 12, 1960
• Wife died Dec 19, 1974

Couldn't make up their minds, eh? This is a new one for me, Robert, but this would be my suggestion.

The image below (click to enlarge) is the Marriage Information screen for John Smith and Mary Jones (a ficticious couple I just created to demonstrate this example). In the Marriage Date field, I entered the date of their first marriage. Typically, when a couple divorces, I add "Divorced" to the status field and add the date to the Status Date field. However, in this case, I entered the three divorces and three remarriages as events by clicking on the Add button. When you look at the updated Chronology View for each individual, these events are displayed there too.

Without having faced this situation previously, I can't really think of any downsides, or even any other good alternatives to this method of recording. If anyone else has any ideas, I'd love to hear from you in the comments below.

Free webinar now online - "Watch Geoff Live: Adding an Obituary"

Today's webinar, Watch Geoff Live: Adding an Obituary, presented by Legacy's Geoff Rasmussen (...that's me...) is now available in our webinar archives. The webinar turned out to be much more than just learning what to do with an obituary. Attendees learned about the Source Clipboard, custom events, AKAs, relationships, 1/2 siblings, adding unknown spouses, Research Notes, GenealogyBank.com, Geo Location Database, date calculator, timelines, and much more.

View the recording

If you could not make it to the live event, the 1 hour 51 minute recording of Watch Geoff Live: Adding an Obituary is now available to view in our webinar archives. Visit www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/webinars.asp to watch. It is available for free until July 11, 2011.

Pre-order the webinar-on-CD

Own your own copy of Watch Geoff Live: Adding an Obituary by purchasing the webinar-on-CD for just $9.95. It includes the recording of the class and the Q/A session. Click here for more information or to purchase. Or purchase the Watch Geoff Live 3-pack for almost 5 hours of Legacy instruction:

• Adding a Death Certificate
• Adding a Marriage Record
• Adding an Obituary

Special discount coupon

The special discount coupon of obituary that was announced during the webinar is valid for 15% off anything in our online store through Monday, July 4, 2011.

Viewers' comments

• These webinars are excellent. You learn so much more than just how to enter an obituary.
• This was awesome -- the live entries make a tremendous difference, and to have Geoff including questions and comments from participants as he goes along is a real bonus. They are often questions that have been going through my mind, and if they haven't, then they are "oh, right, why didn't I think of that", as the would have occurred to me later when the chance was gone. Keep up the great work!
• I have learned more from these webinars than I could learn from books in a year.
• Please keep these "Geoff Live Webinars" coming. Geoff is great and learning how someone else uses Legacy has been very helpful for me. I have gotten some great ideas and some I am implementing!
• Loved hearing about the different short cuts on the data page.
• It is so informative-the way Geoff shares his entries. Each move gives me confidence to work on my genealogy. He takes away the fear of doing something wrong. I can relax a bit-I won't wreck everything with the touch of a key.
• I loved today's webinar! I'm a visual learner and need to see it being done to understand how to use all the wonderful feature's of Legacy. Please have more of these impromptu sessions and I'll be there!
• Geoff covered so many tips and tricks about Legacy that I did not know.
• While manuals can provide information on how to use the software, it is always better to see it used in the real world.

Register for our upcoming webinars (free)

• Leveraging the Power of "We": a Watershed Event in Discovering Where to Find Your Ancestors with FamilySearch's Michael Ritchey - Wednesday, July 6, 2011
• The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships with Ugo Perego - Wednesday, July 13, 2011
• Google Images and Beyond with Maureen Taylor - Wednesday, July 20, 2011
• Organizing for Success with Karen Clifford - Wednesday, August 3, 2011
• Newspapers for Genealogists with Tom Kemp - Wednesday, August 17, 2011
• Best Internet Resources for African American Genealogy with Angela Walton-Raji - Wednesday, August 31, 2011
• Facebook for Genealogists with Thomas MacEntee - Wednesday, September 14, 2011
• Researching Your Connecticut Ancestors with Marian Pierre-Louis - Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Click here to register.

Legacy Tip: How to Display Conflicting Information

I've just discovered a great new tool - in Legacy Family Tree - to help me with conflicting information. Well, I've always known about the tool, but I had a new idea about how to use it today.

But first, have you ever discovered information in a document that conflicts with information you already know about an ancestor? One of my ancestors, John Williams, was born in 1845, 1851, 1852, 1853, or 1854, depending on which document I look at. Just today, as I was evaluating a different ancestor, I remembered that Clarinda Williams was thought to be born in either Boston, Massachusetts or in New Hampshire. However, I often forget about the New Hampshire possibility because when viewing her information in the Family View, it only shows me the main birth information. See below (click on image to enlarge):

I guess this is one reason why using the Chronology View is so much more valuable when analyzing an ancestor. However, because the five labels (Born, Chr, Died, Buried, DthCau) in the Family View are customizable, we can make our analysis a bit easier, even when you are in the Family View. If you follow these steps, you can view the conflicting data:

1. Click on one of the 5 labels.
2. Click on one of the buttons with the three dots to replace the current field name (I selected the Christening Date/Place in this example), and select the "Event..." field.
3. Next, select the "Alt. Birth" event and click Select.
4. Click Close.

See the difference:

We are now able to see the main birth event of "abt 1853 in Boston..." AND we can see the conflicting birth event of "abt 1852 in New Hampshire". This aids as a simple reminder that there is more than one place I could be looking for evidence of her birth.

The conflicting information will only appear as I've described above if you actually record the conflicting data as an "Alt. Birth" event. I've written about this a couple of times in past articles: click here and here for the instructions.

So while locating conflicting information will never go away, Legacy Family Tree provides tools to help us with it all.

 

Legacy tip: how to auto-add "United States" or "USA" to the end of locations

Question from Mary:

"PAF PAL enables you to add United States or USA globally to all appropriate place names at once to a PAF file. Does Legacy provide this feature for my Legacy file?"

Yes. (By the way, I remember using PAF PAL back in the day for things like this....) Follow these steps to have Legacy automatically add United States or USA to the end of US locations that don't already have the country:

1. Go to your Master Location List at View > Master Lists > Location
2. Click on Options > Expand/Contract Location Parts
3. Make sure there is a checkmark next to Add ", United States"
4. Click Continue.

United States will then be added to all appropriate locations.

Free webinar now online - "Watch Geoff Live: Adding a Marriage Record"

"I have been using Legacy for the past four years and learned more in this 60 minutes than ever before" is what one viewer commented about last night's live webinar. The recording of Watch Geoff Live: Adding a Marriage Record is now available in our webinar archives.

The 1 hour 45 minute video was much more than just typing in a marriage record. Another viewer agreed:

"Although it's focused on adding a single type of record, the steps involved cover many things: master source lists, research notes, adding relationships, clipboard, etc. The webinars make everything fall in place because Geoff explains his thought process & reasons for the steps. It's great we can ask questions & add comments live."

View the recording

If you could not make it to the live event, the recording of Watch Geoff Live: Adding a Marriage Record is now available to view in our webinar archives. Visit www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/webinars.asp to watch.

Pre-order the webinar-on-CD

Own your own copy of Watch Geoff Live: Adding a Marriage Record by purchasing the webinar-on-CD for just $9.95. Click here for more information or to purchase.

Viewers' comments

• A great session - exciting, informative, interactive. Geoff is a wonderful presenter. It's so useful to hear him deliberate about information puzzles and sources and 'think out loud' about the data entry process.
• Absolutely brilliant Geoff. So many light-bulb moments for me and the additional questions I had in my mind as you progressed were resolved for me by student's  questions.
• Great webinar! Love seeing real-life situations and learning how I can apply the techniques to my own work.
• Great Webinar! Learn a lot just watching Geoff or other presenters "do" in action. Instills ideas of how some collateral things can be done differently - Picture folders, organization of Sources, etc. Very easy to watch and hold attention. Kudoes to Geoff for doing new things, live.
• I loved the presentation and I learned so much. I watched the webinar on adding a death certificate just prior to this one; it, too, was excellent. I am just beginning to use Legacy software, and I am so grateful for the training CDs and webinars. I have watched the training CDs more than once, and these webinars are great help in reinforcing and developing the techniques. Thank you!
• I really appreciate the informal presentation - learn so many things beyond adding a marriage record.
• Although it's focused on adding a single type of record, the steps involved cover many things: master source lists, research notes, adding relationships, clipboard, etc. The webinars make everything fall in place because Geoff explains his thought process & reasons for the steps. It's great we can ask questions & add comments live.
• This type of presentation is invaluable.  Its great to see someone actually enter their data to learn the process of getting the most out of the information included in documents as well as utilizing Legacy Family Tree to the utmost!
• Wow ... this was EXCELLENT INFO.  I have been using Legacy for the past four years and learned more in this 60 minutes than ever before.

Register for our upcoming webinars (free)

• Google Forms for Genealogists with Thomas MacEntee - Wednesday, June 1, 2011.
• Cruising with Legacy Family Tree in 2012 - Friday, June 3, 2011.
• Ready, Set, Write! Share Your Family's Story with Lisa Alzo - Wednesday, June 29, 2011
• The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships with Ugo Perego - Wednesday, July 13, 2011
• Google Images and Beyond with Maureen Taylor - Wednesday, July 20, 2011
• Organizing for Success with Karen Clifford - Wednesday, August 3, 2011
• Newspapers for Genealogists with Tom Kemp - Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Click here to register.

New webinar CD in the online store - Watch Geoff Live: Adding a Death Certificate

By popular demand, "Watch Geoff Live: Adding a Death Certificate" is now available in our webinar-on-CD collection. One viewer said, "this live presentation is the most powerful learning tool you have provided."

Click here to purchase the webinar CD for just $9.95.

Webinar description

In this webinar Legacy's Geoff Rasmussen will demonstrate what to do with a death certificate as he adds the information to his real, personal Legacy family file.

This class was presented live and unscripted, giving attendees a first-hand look at how a professional genealogist analyzes and records information from a death certificate. You will get the insider's perspective of using the Source Clipboard, custom events, what to do with conflicting information, the To Do List, and much more. The complete Question and Answer session is also included.

This class was presented to a live webinar (online seminar) audience on May 6, 2011. 1 hour 23 minutes.

Viewers' comments:

• Enjoyed watching you work. It helped build my confidence in how I'm using Legacy, and I learned a few new tricks.
• Watching you go through the steps you use and commenting as you do each one showed me so much more than just how to add a death certificate.
• Very helpful to use real source (death certificate) and real family - and address all the problems that arise and watch the way you use Legacy and set up your files.
• Excellent-citing the sources properly is one area where I am always questioning whether I am doing it properly. There were lots of tips today that I didn't know previously, so I am excited about trying some new things.Thank you!!!
• I REALLY enjoyed this one more than almost all of the other ones.  I learned more about how to input information (and what all information I have not been inputting that I should have) today than I have from any other source - videos, webinars, books, etc.
• It was very good. I think the things that didn't go so smoothly made it seem a lot more realistic than if it had been canned.
• THANK YOU, I have been hesitant to use the source writer. You explained it beautifully. I will be able to add sources now. This was a very informative webinar. I hope you will do more like this!
• This was a GREAT Webinar. I have the training CD's and watch them often. However, this live presentation is the most powerful learning tool you have provided.
• This was a great webinar. I picked up a couple of tips that I didn't know. I will certainly forward the link to the recording to our local Legacy User Group as I am sure they would surely benefit for the "Reality Show".

New, lower shipping prices

We've now lowered our shipping prices by $3 when all you purchase is between 1 and 2 webinar CDs (applies to U.S. and Canada orders only). Our flat-rate shipping prices still apply for everything else - you can add as many items to your cart and the shipping stays the same.

Watch Geoff Live: adding a marriage record

Remember our Flash Webinar on entering death records into Legacy a couple of weeks ago (when I gave you just three hours notice)? I've had hundreds of you write in requesting similar webinars for other types of records - marriage, census, obituaries and more. Well, you've got a little more advance notice for this one, and I can hardly wait until next Wednesday to enter these marriage records into my personal family file (they have so many wonderful things - brand new maiden names, parents' names, marriage dates and more). I will wait until then though so you can all join me as I do it live.

You are invited to watch live as Geoff (that's me) adds the information to his real, personal Legacy family file. In this live, unscripted session, Geoff will talk his way through adding a marriage record to his ancestor, giving you ideas on how to use various aspects of Legacy Family Tree (linking pictures, using the source clipboard, the To Do List, and likely much more).

The live webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, May 25, 2011, so register today to reserve your virtual seat. Registration is free.

 

In preparation for the webinar:

1. Download and print the marriage records so you can follow along.
2. If you haven't yet viewed it, watch "Watch Geoff Live: Adding a Death Certificate" in our webinar archives prior to this webinar (but not required).

Webinar time

The webinar will be live on Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at:

• 9pm Eastern (U.S.)
• 8pm Central
• 7pm Mountain
• 6pm Pacific/Arizona
• 1am GMT on Thursday, May 26

Or use this Time Zone Converter.

Here's how to attend:

1. Register at www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/webinars.asp today. It's free!
2. You will receive a confirmation email containing a link to the webinar.
3. You will receive a reminder email during the week prior to the webinar.
4. Calculate your time zone by clicking here.
5. Click on the webinar link (found in confirmation and reminder emails) prior to the start of the webinar. Arrive early as the room size is limited to the first 1,000 arrivals that day.
6. Listen via headset (USB headsets work best), your computer speakers, or by phone.

We look forward to seeing you all there!

Other upcoming webinars

Wednesday, June 1, 2011. Google Forms for Genealogists with Thomas MacEntee. Register here.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011. Ready, Set, Write! Share Your Family's Story with Lisa Alzo. Register here.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011. The Power of DNA in Unlocking Family Relationships with Ugo Perego. Register here.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011. Google Images and Beyond with Maureen Taylor. Register here.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011. Organizing for Success with Karen Clifford. Register here.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011. Newspapers for Genealogists with Tom Kemp. Register here.

View past webinars

Our webinars are available in the archives at www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/webinars.asp for at least 10 days. Select webinars are now available to purchase on CD for $9.95 each:

• Google for Genealogists by Thomas MacEntee, 1 hour 28 minutes, 4 pages of handouts.
• Sharing Genealogy Electronically by Geoff Rasmussen, 1 hour 49 minutes, 4 pages of handouts.
• Chasing Women: Finding Your Female Ancestors, by Leland Meitzler, 1 hour 21 minutes, 4 pages of handouts.
• Blogging for Beginners with DearMYRTLE, 1 hour 30 minutes, 4 pages of handouts.
• MORE Blogging for Beginners with DearMYRTLE, 1 hour 30 minutes, 4 pages of handouts.
• Backing Up Your Genealogy Data, 1 hour 30 minutes, 6 pages of handouts.
• Mapping Software for Genealogists, by Geoff Rasmussen. 1 hour 4 minutes, 4 pages of handouts.
• Building a Research Toolbox, by Thomas MacEntee. 1 hour 28 minutes, 5 pages of handouts.
• Dropbox for Genealogists, by Thomas MacEntee. 1 hour 30 minutes, 18 pages of handouts.
• Preserving Family Photographs, by Maureen Taylor. 1 hour 30 minutes.
• Google Docs for Genealogists, by Thomas MacEntee. 1 hour 29 minutes, 9 pages of handouts.

Legacy Tip - how to locate your recently-modified records

Louise asked a good question in our Legacy User Group mailing list. She asked:

Can I bring up a list of my most recently modified records?

Here's how:

1. Go to Search > Find > Detailed Search tab
2. Fill in the first condition (click on the image below for what to fill in) and click on the Create List button.

That's it! The resulting Search List is a list of all individuals who have been modified since, in this example, March 1, 2011.

Legacy Tip: How to change the wording for a non-marriage

If an ancestral couple had children, but were not married, you certainly do not want your books and reports to use the default wording of "John married Mary...". Here's the work-around.

Open the Marriage Information screen. There's a few fields and checkboxes here that you can adjust such as the Status field and the This couple did not marry checkbox. You can even modify each person's married name in the Married Names section.

To modify the wording of the husband/wife and married phrases, click on the Wording Options tab in the upper left.

 

In the example above, you can change the Family View labels from Husband and Wife to something that might make more sense for this couple. Change them to Father and Mother. Now, in the Family View (and maybe other places too) they will be listed as Father and Mother instead of Husband and Wife.

In the Report Phrases section, you can change the "married" phrase to something more appropriate such as:

• was really good friends with
• knew
• had children with

That's the power of Legacy - you make the decision. Note - when you change the wording for this couple, it only changes the wording for this couple - not for anyone else. See below for the changes to the Husband/wife labels in the Family View.

 

New software tool will change the way we work with online data

This tiny, little symbol is beginning to revolutionize the way genealogists look at online data - starting first with the data at new.familysearch.org:

 

And it is now available exclusively as part of Legacy Family Tree's FamilySearch toolset.

GIGO

FamilySearch databases with patron-contributed data, such as the Ancestral File, Pedigree Resource File, and parts of the International Genealogical Index (IGI) have always had a cloud hanging over them. Before mentioning the problems, however, these databases have always been "partly-sunny", meaning, that there are plenty of good genealogies, clues, and accurate information too.

But we've seen plenty of problems with the data - a person who died before they were born, a christening before birth, a child born 70 years after their parents were married, and so on. The major reason why this data is bad is because of the GIGO theory - garbage in, garbage out. When we have inaccurate data in our personal family files and then we choose to share it with online databases, that same bad data appears online - imagine that.

Often it is difficult to separate the good from the not-so-good. Until now.

In the example below, Legacy's FamilySearch tool compares what I have in Legacy about Martha Wilde with what New FamilySearch has about her. Notice that there are lots of different opinions about the facts in her life. These opinions have been contributed by many different researchers, and it looks like there are a few variations in the spellings of the places.

 

The real problem is not immediately obvious without the new red warning symbol next to the marriage information. This symbol is an indicator that there is a potential problem with this event. Hover your mouse over the symbol and the problem is described:

 

Looking closer at her birth information, it appears that there are three different opinions:

• June 15, 1889
• abt 1890
• June 15, 1899

Notice that the 1899 event is bold. This indicates that this is the summary event, or the event that has been chosen to be the primary event. Clicking on the Edit Summary button, it appears that someone by the contributor-name of "taytay" changed the birth summary on April 19, 2010 to June 15, 1899.

 

It's quite likely that "taytay" had a typo when they contributed this information, but this turns into a real problem when other researchers view Martha's summary and casually copy its information. Although other researchers cannot change taytay's submission (only the contributor can change or delete their information) they can change this person's summary information. After doing this, it now looks like this:

 

The result of my fixing this is:

1) other researchers who view Martha Wilde at new.familysearch.org will now see the corrected birth year as the main/summary information,

2) the red warning symbol is now gone

Had that red warning symbol not been there it would be simple to overlook the problem.

These red warning symbols will change the way casual researchers view and use data online. When we see one of these symbols, we are now more careful about the information we choose to download into our Legacy files (of course we should just use online data as clues and then verify it).

These red warning symbols also appear next to our Legacy data if there is a potential problem (click to enlarge):

 

In this example, Della Williams has a warning next to her birth information. Hovering the cursor over the symbol provides the explanation that she was born more than 20 years after the marriage of the parents:

 

While this may not be a problem, it cautions the researcher - it gets them to double-check their work. Now, before the researcher uploads any information to FamilySearch, if they see a red warning symbol, they are more cautious. These red warning symbols will prevent bad data from multiplying like it has in the past. Because of this new tool, we will be more careful about spreading the diseases of bad data.

You can change which potential problems are displayed. Just go to Tools > Potential Problems Options.

Warnings tab:

 

Problems tab:

 

Standardization tab:

 

If you see a red warning symbol and you would like to try to correct the problem, there are some options. In fact, I taught an hour-long class this past weekend on what can be corrected and how to do it. Click here to view "Improving Your Use of FamilySearch: Data Cleanup Strategies" and download its handouts.

This new tool of analyzing online data is currently only available in Legacy Family Tree. It is changing the way we analyze and view online data. Because it is so powerful I suspect that other vendors will soon adopt it. I hope so. I encourage the FamilySearch developers to consider adding these red warning symbols to FamilySearch databases online. Maybe these small red warning symbols will be adopted in all online databases.

Our company's motto is "Changing the world of genealogy..." I think we've done it, again.