UPDATE: Combining Multiple Ancestry Trees
Update:
11 Jun 2020
After working from the oldest entry toward the home person, I found that between six & eight generations (some of my oldest are back to the 1600s) the method no longer worked as easily.
So I began at the home person maternal line and worked toward the oldest. The tree I’m removing is extensive and will take some time. What I’ve learned is patience.
And, if you delete someone before you checked thoroughly, forgive yourself.
In the last 22 years of genealogy research, I created 4 Coffman-Livingston Family Trees on Ancestry.com. There were definite reasons for the creation of each which, I doubt, is of any interest to you the reader.
I *KNOW* I read an article about how you can improve your genealogy during quarantine within the last two months. And, of course, I can’t find it now. Besides the usual cleanup suggestions, one resonanted with me.
If you have multiple versions of the same family tree, both old & new:
You need to get rid of the old ones you no longer use.
» Find the pieces in them to keep.
» Add them to the current tree.
The goal is to get rid of all old UNUSED tree(s) in that lineage.
One of the four trees was created in 1998 when I first started to research my ancestors. While I hadn’t used this tree for YEARS, I found when I started looking at the individuals I had some unique information that was nowhere else. Maybe good (some actually were documented); some not–but still interesting.
How I’m Attacking This Mess
And it is a mess. Trying to pull good info from an old tree into a current tree is work. Plain ole work. But by the time I could delete that first old tree, I’ve figured out the best (at least, for me).
Note that my current Coffman-Livingston tree on Ancestry has made a change in both name and purpose. It was “My C-L Direct Ancestors” and now is “RESEARCH Tree for COFFMAN-LIVINGSTON“. It had stopped being just direct ancestors two years ago. But working THIS project, it now is truly a Research Tree.
- Work from the oldest ancestor to the newest in that line.
- Do children of the ancestor BEFORE the ancestor itself.
- Interesting pseudo “facts” can be added to NOTES. [I use the “Notes” in the Tags on Ancestry which are moved to the Notes of that person in Family Tree Maker 2019 when transferred. Add to the note where it came from.]
- You can save a documented fact from the old tree into current tree. [I find it’s easiest to do if the person is already in the current tree. But it works either way.]
- I’ve sometimes ended up with TWO entries for the same person in my current tree when doing this. Easy fix. Merge. BUT I often find that document for the fact on the current tree and add it.
- Once all data has been transferred about an individual in old tree, delete that person from the old tree. Which is why you have to work the children BEFORE the parent.
- Do NOT get in a hurry. You’ll end up with messes in both trees.
- Don’t beat yourself up if you accidentally delete someone too early. It is what it is. Just remember Forest Gump.
I’m currently working the second “old” tree. I’m finding gems in this one too.