How many facts do you add to your Ancestry tree?

I'm sort of proud of the family tree I've been creating on Ancestry.com.  As I've written about before, I'm taking baby steps to ensure that I document and source as much information as possible.  In contrast to my tree on WorldConnect, which contains my entire GEDCOM database, with this tree I've just put out a "skeleton" of the family tree.  


Right now, I've been focusing on my maternal line, working with my grandparents and great-grandparents to be sure that I have all facts listed with source citations, and have been adding some photos and other media.  My intent is to slowly move back through each generation and add source information.  I understand this is Genealogy 101 but when you find yourself going back and re-examining your work with fresh eyes you begin to see things you've missed.


Question for those who use public trees on Ancestry, how many facts do you add to your trees?  Besides the birth, death, marriage and census information, do you add the "miscellaneous" facts such as draft registration, mentions in the newspaper, etc?  


I've finding that there is much information I either don't have sources for in my Rootsmagic database, or the sources are derivative and I need to seek out the original sources.  Too many items I thought I had scanned, I'm realizing that I hadn't, so that adds to my list of things to do.  Such fun!

Making progress

I updated my GEDCOM today at Rootsweb, as part of an attempt to maintain a backup of my data.  Sometimes I forget to update that database at least once per month.


Yesterday, I spent the evening sorting through a pile of genealogy notes that I had stuffed into a manilla file folder.  The file folder was bursting at the seems because there were so many pages.  A lot of these were print outs of emails, websites, etc. that I had visited as far back as 2007!  As I started reading them and extracting the information into my Rootsmagic database, I was embarrassed to discover that some information I had recently been looking for had already been in my hands for 3 years.  Bad genealogist!  


Making progress is like eating an elephant, you have to do it "one bite at a time".

With A Little Help From My Friends

Thanks to the encouragement of my friends Earline from Ancestral Notes and Apple from Apple's Tree, I've added a GEDCOM to my user ID at Ancestry.com.  Hopefully others who may be researching my lines will find the information useful, and I can make even more connections. 

I decided to use a GEDCOM that includes not only my daughter's ancestry, but my stepdaughters' as well.  Hopefully, that will generate more 'hits' of potential new information and collaboration with other researchers. This tree contains more 'sourced' information than the tree I have at World Connect, which contains the whole database.

I haven't added any photographs to this tree yet, although I may in the future.  As I understand it, if I upload a replacement GEDCOM, I will lose the attached information previously added.

As my genea-blogging friends pointed out, you can never have too many places to share your tree and make connections.

© 2010, copyright Travis J. LeMaster http://tjlgenes.blogspot.com

Where was Mary (Heck) Shaw born?

I was contacted by another fellow researcher who found my database at WorldConnect and questioned why I had stated that my ancestor, Mary (Heck) Shaw, was born in Ohio and not Bracken County, Kentucky, as had been stated by other researchers. Receiving this email made go back and take a look at the information that I had regarding Mary, and I found that I had gaps to fill.

My source for her birthplace as Ohio was an email from a third researcher - a source, but obviously not a primary source. Because I didn't know where this researcher had received their information, I began to look at what I did have on Mary.

According to my database, Mary was the daughter of Godfrey & Elizabeth (Kimmer) Heck, and had married William Shaw on August 29, 1822 in Brown County, Ohio. William died in Madison County, Indiana in 1849 and Mary died August 12, 1890 in Madison County, Indiana. Both William and Mary are buried in the Prewitt Cemetery in Pipe Creek Township, Madison County, Indiana. I have been to their graves and have posted photographs at FindAGrave for both of them.

Ok, so far I had a source for Mary's death date and birth date - her tombstone states that she died August 12, 1890 aged 87 years, 4 months and 27 days. If this age is correct, then subtracting backwards would give her a birth date of March 16, 1803. However, that doesn't give me the birthplace.

Noticing that I didn't have the 1850 census record sourced for Mary, I began browsing through the records until I found her - in Jackson Township, Madison County, Indiana. There I found her listed as a farmer with a real estate valued at $1500, born in Kentucky. All of the known children were living with her, exact for oldest daughter, Elizabeth, who had married Daniel King and was living right next door.

Ok, so now at least I had a source - whether or not this is the best source remains to be seen, but it is a starting point. I'll need to check other census records, etc. to see if I can collaborate the birthplace of Kentucky. Notice that daughter Elizabeth (Shaw) King is listed as being born in Tennessee because the census taker made a 'ditto' hash mark - under the Tennessee birthplace given for her husband, Daniel. This opens a whole other can of worms because I've seen other records for Daniel that place his birthplace as either Ohio or Indiana.

Consistency in Place Names

One of the things that I've been doing recently with my database is trying to structure my place name list in a more consistent manner. In the past, I've always used the two character postal codes used here in the U.S. for state names, such as IN for Indiana. However, I've recently decided that I like the look and feel of writing out my place names : Indiana, USA. So, I've been working for several weeks off and on behind the scenes to update my place names in RootsMagic.

Most of my database is from the United States, and the lines that do stretch into Europe are not fleshed out enough to be of any consequence. By writing out the place names, I will avoid the confusion of such abbreviations as AK (is it Arkansas or Alaska?) and possibly make it easier for search engines to find my data. Once I've updated them all, I will resubmit a new GEDCOM to WorldConnect to see how the database looks.

I have used the country abbreviation, USA, for all events that have taken place in the United States since it was formed, in areas that have always been part of the country. For example, events that occurred in the 13 original colonies or in those states that later became part of the Confederacy, I have just left as they are : Virginia or New York. Later, I hope to be able to go back and look at key facts in these places and on an individual basis give them more detail, i.e. Massachusetts Bay Colony or New Sweden, dependant on the historical time frame.

RootsMagic gives you the option of placing longitude and latitude for each place name. Eventually, I may give that information for places that are used repeatedly in my data. RootsMagic also gives you plenty of room to write a descriptive field about the place, which will come in handy to give the details of the history of how counties, states, etc. were formed.

Perhaps this is just my fancy, but how do others handle their place names?

Haunting Errors of World Family Tree

Back when I first started putting my genealogy data into Family Tree Maker, I made the novice mistake of importing data from the World Family Tree files that came along with the software. While this data provided many clues for further research, so much of it was not sourced that it is practically useless and full of errors. I have attempted to slowly and methodically eliminate any traces of this imported data from my database, but unfortunately some still remains.

Case in point is a recent WorldConnect post-em regarding a marriage record of Thomas Swafford and Nellie Howard. I have the date as 1800 in Bledsoe Co., TN with a source of WFT. However, as the poster pointed out, Bledsoe Co., TN was not even formed until 1801, so the location is wrong.

World Connect Postem : Crockett Family

I received a couple of updates to my data on WorldConnect through their post-em options; one for David Crockett b. February 1853 who married Elizabeth Jernigan. They had a son named William.

It's always nice to get updates to family data and to share this way.

Jumping Back into the WorldConnect Waters

I've decided to jump back into the WorldConnect waters and post a database at their site again. My database is TJLGenes. Right now this database is my line of descent from Abraham Lemaster (c1636/39-1722) of St. Mary's & Charles Co., MD.

I previously had posted a database at WorldConnect, and may expand this database in the future. There are numerous errors throughout WorldConnect, but at least it does offer a starting point, and a point of contact among researchers. My hope is that someone will find some connection in my database, and they in turn can help me.

As I continue to update my FamilyTree Maker database with source materials, I will upload periodically to WorldConnect. Currently I am working on census images that I obtained through my subscription to the Godfrey library before they lost Heritage Quest.