Wednesday, February 19, 2014

FTM2014 - Update Patch

FTM2014 has a new patch to Product Version 22.0.0.1260 for me 64 bit computer.

Before I accept the patch, I do a Tools, Compact File, including creating a Back Up, then click on the Help Menu, select Check Updates and follow the screens for the update.

You will note that the Software Registration screen will automatically appear, and you should follow those instructions. Once updated, Family Tree Maker will close and automatically re-open to where you left off.

Clicking on the Help Menu, then About Family Tree Maker you will see the Product Version number.


NOTE: About this update

This update contains important improvements to Family Tree Maker 2014 (64-bit).

This important update includes the following in response to reported issues:

1. TreeSync improvements
2. General bug fixes

It is important to install this update.
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Copyright © 2014 by H R Worthington

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

FTM2014 - One Hint at a Time

I recently did a blog post FTM2014 - Managing Shaky Leaves / Hints - ToDo List. To follow up on that post I started with a female with a 1940 US Census Record. As I mentioned, I usually follow them first to help identify families and their relationships.

The first person with a 1940 Census was Maude H Lamar, with the Census in Kansas City, Missouri. Right of, I wasn't sure, as the family stayed pretty close to New Jersey, but I needed to follow this hint.


This record doesn't look right, as Lamar was Maude's birth Surname and this record showed a Married Surname. I had enough information in my file, (on the left) what indicated that she married a Williams, first name not known. Not going to do anything to this hint yet.

The next hint was a Church Record. This is close for the Birth year, but looking at the Parents, not the right person. Again, not going to do anything with this hint either.


No, I do have the option to Ignore these two hints, which I did in both cases. Clicking on that ICON will indicate that I looked at these two records and have determined that it's not the right record.

Back to the ToDo / Task List I want to make a note that I looked at these to hints, but am not going to do anything with them at this time.


I put a check mark in the completed check box, but did NOT make the Priority Low, as I may still want to look at these two records in the future, as more information becomes available.

I do update the Research Log for this person. This is in the Notes Tab, but the 2nd ICON that says Research Log. I dated the entry with two notes.


18 Feb 2014
HINT: Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records - Location appears to be right, but Parents Names: A C Lamar and Mary C do not appear to be correct

HINT: 1940 United States Federal Census - Does not appear to be the right Maude H Lamar - Married Name and Birth Location not consistent

Remembering that the Church Record was in the right place at about the right time, I looked to see if I have another Maude in my database, and I do. She too has Hints, but no church related hints. Then I looked at her parents names and I see A C Lamar and Mary C Strang. That looks right.


I return to the Web Search Workspace, for the Maude H Lamar and select the other Maude Lamar from the Index.

This will move this 2nd Maude into the Lower Left box (my information) so that I can compare my information with that of Ancestry.com

This is the right Maude. The spelling of her name is without an "e" in the Church Record and has a middle name of Helena. This makes some sense, as Maude H Lamar and Maude Helena Lamar are 1st cousins.

I merge the records. That is the Church Record to Maude Lamar, now Maud Helena Lamar. In the first Merge Screen, I selected the Ancestry name as the Preferred Name, but keeping Maude Lamar as an Alternate name, properly cited.


The other merge screens were followed and the Media file, the image of that page in the church record were included in the merge.

I now can go back to the Maude H Lamar with the Hint, show it complete, and change the priority to Low, as I have completed that hint.


I updated the Research log to:

18 Feb 2014
The Church Record below, actually belongs to Maude Lamar, daughter of Alonzo  Cordovia Lamar and Mary C Strang
HINT: Pennsylvania, Church and Town Records - Location appears to be right, but Parents Names: A C Lamar and Mary C do not appear to be correct
HINT: 1940 United States Federal Census - Does not appear to be the right Maude H Lamar - Married Name and Birth Location not consistent
I also added a new ToDo / Task to Maud Helena Lamar to clarify her correct Name. I was given Maude Lamar but the Church Record shows Maud Helena Lamar. Will need to resolve that "conflict".

Still have not completed or resolved that 1940 Census Record.
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Copyright © 2014 by H R Worthington

FTM2014 - Managing Shaky Leaves / Hints - ToDo List

I have been trying to determine how to Manage the many Hints that I see in my family files. Those shaky leaves keep growing as I enter new information into my Family File. They can become overwhelming. I thought I would share the way that I am currently managing them.

It my be important to understand how I generally do research. If I am trying to re-create a Family Group or the relationships between people within my file, I generally start with Census Records; then go to Find-A-Grave, as there are dates, and perhaps relationships, and places where these people may have resided. Then I go to Military Records, Obituaries, and Newspaper articles to round out my order of records.

Starting in the People Workspace, Tree View, I see (below) 4 generations back from the Home Person.

When looking at shaky leaves, I want to capture the hints so that I can create a Research Plan for those records. Also, for the most part, I only try to capture those hints in my direct line. I have found that I can become distracted but ALL of the hints that may appear.


I have blurred the names, but this is a direct line from the home person. 4 of the people have the Shaky Leaves, so they are the people that I want to track.

Selecting the top person, in the 3rd generation, I see this:


Hovering over the Shaky Leaf, I see that there is 1 Ancestry hint found, on one Source Record. Clicking on that link, I am taken from the People Workspace, Tree View, to the Web Search Workspace.

This happens to be a 1900 United States Federal Census Record. I selected it, NOT to look at the record, but to just compare MY information, in the Lower Left part of the screen, to what Ancestry has, for this person in that Census Record.


A quick glance shows that this is my person. I do NOT go any further I am just trying to develop a research plan.

I copy, by hi-lighting, the Record name and CTRL+C (to copy) that record name, then return to the People Workspace, Person View, where I see this persons Facts.

I select Tasks in the menu bar below the facts, and New, where the New Task window appears.


I then Paste (CTRL+V) that Record into the Description field. I created a Hints Category for this work, so I selected that in the "Edit" menu and leave the Priority to be Medium. and click OK.

So this person has one Task or ToDo item below the Facts.



The Categories help organize the ToDo list in the Plan Workspace for sorting and filtering.

I use High Priority for File Notes, Medium Priority for Person Tasks, and Low Priority for Completed Tasks.


This list can be Sorted by clicking on the Task Description. The above example has a series of Census Records that I want to look at, sorted by Census Year, because I did that Copy / Paste from the Web Search Workspace.

Once I have completed the ToDo / Task List, I will work down from any 1940 US Census Records down to the 1850 Census Records. Then I'll move on to any Find-A-Grave, Military, Newspaper hints as I find them. But will stick to Direct Line Ancestors.

This specific family file has a number of City Directory Hints, which I will probably work on after the Census Records.

There is another reason that I have found that is very helpful. Working with record groups makes using the Source Template feature easier for me. That is, the data entry of Citations for that type of record easier. Once that first record is entered, as a Source Template, then completing the Citation Detail and Citation Text, the next entries become easier.

If I ever run out of hints, I can then look at hints from other people in the tree.

I should point out, that I do all of this within FTM2014. That includes the Web Merging, from those hints, the clean up after that, which I have discussed before, making sure that the Sources are using the Template feature, that I have Fact Notes, captured all of the data I want from the record group, and that the Media files have citations, as described in other posts.
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Copyright © 2014 by H R Worthington

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