Donate to Remove ads

Got a credit card? use our Credit Card & Finance Calculators

Thanks to johnstevens77,Bhoddhisatva,scotia,Anonymous,Cornytiv34, for Donating to support the site

Help! I'm drowning in data!

Genealogy, Local, General
ten0rman
Lemon Slice
Posts: 525
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 9:16 pm
Been thanked: 169 times

Help! I'm drowning in data!

#394292

Postby ten0rman » March 10th, 2021, 2:20 pm

Hello people,

Off & on, I have been researching a man who may, and I stress may, be my wife’s grandfather. Nothing more needs to be said other than how I have done this research.

Starting in the 1st half of the 1900’s I have downloaded all the available census records, both transcripts & originals (to capture any missing data) together with all pertinent BMD (including baptism) records, from the mid 1900’s back to around 1800 for the man and his ancestors. This amounts to 108 separate files and about 66Mb. Although I have downloaded these records, I have not recorded the links between names and records. Nor have I recorded the information sources. In respect of the census records, I have saved them under date and then address. I have then produced a short index showing the census record name and the person(s) of interest therein.

I have also used Ancestry to produce an “ancestral” family tree chart, only to find that the software only allows six generations, which means that whilst I can include his putative children and grandchildren, I cannot include any further putative descendants (two further generations). This chart alone has 92 people in it. I cannot print this chart as it is far too large. In addition, the print only allows for five generations.

What I have done was to start with the man himself, add his siblings & their spouses but not his siblings children. I then added his parents, his parents siblings and spouses, but not their children. This was then repeated for his grandparents, great grandparents etc. So no cousins, second cousins etc.

I am concerned about the sheer mass of data I’m accumulating. Given that this is for one man, and I have another four branches, father & mother for myself and my wife, I am likely to accumulate a lot of data. I am also aware that my time on this earth will be limited, something my elder son has also mentioned and although he would have preferred paper, he now has a copy of my downloaded data along with access to Ancestry so that he can view the chart. I have produced a GEDCOM file which means that even if Ancestry goes “belly-up”, it will then be possible to resurrect the chart.

I would be interested to know what other people are doing: should I be using a “pedigree” chart instead of, or maybe in addition to the “ancestors” chart. Given that the trail using the census records is quite clear, is there any point in stating sources or recording links between names and sources. Plus of course, any other comments.

Regards,

ten0rman

XFool
The full Lemon
Posts: 12636
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 7:21 pm
Been thanked: 2608 times

Re: Help! I'm drowning in data!

#394305

Postby XFool » March 10th, 2021, 3:20 pm

...Ha, ha!

I know how you feel. Though it sounds worse for you than me. Following a question posted hereabouts on the matter of 'obtaining an Irish passport' (Brexit?!) I made a simple reply pointing out possible difficulties with Irish records, arising from the civil war. I provided a weblink for more information.

I then actually read the article myself that I had linked to... :roll: One thing led to another and I found myself suddenly looking at the 1911 Irish census forms filled in by my father's family. One thing led to another, and another, and another...

I now have a stack of printed out pages for the 1911 census, the 1901 census, plus pages of registrations of births, marriages and deaths. Of course the problem is, everybody has two parents and that includes your ancestors! In my case that is currently capped due to how far back the records have been indexed by the transcribers, emigration and loss of records - plus, on my mother's side, lack of basic information.

I am going to write up a list manually, old fashioned style, so cannot really help you with software.

XFool
The full Lemon
Posts: 12636
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 7:21 pm
Been thanked: 2608 times

Re: Help! I'm drowning in data!

#394340

Postby XFool » March 10th, 2021, 5:19 pm

I take it you have seen this thread?

viewtopic.php?p=382381#p382381

genou
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 1070
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 1:12 pm
Has thanked: 177 times
Been thanked: 370 times

Re: Help! I'm drowning in data!

#394578

Postby genou » March 11th, 2021, 12:03 pm

ten0rman wrote:I have also used Ancestry to produce an “ancestral” family tree chart, only to find that the software only allows six generations,

ten0rman


Is that a limitation of a free account ? My tree is deeper than that - at least 11 from memory.

GoSeigen
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 4351
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 11:14 pm
Has thanked: 1590 times
Been thanked: 1581 times

Re: Help! I'm drowning in data!

#394693

Postby GoSeigen » March 11th, 2021, 5:48 pm

genou wrote:
ten0rman wrote:I have also used Ancestry to produce an “ancestral” family tree chart, only to find that the software only allows six generations,

ten0rman


Is that a limitation of a free account ? My tree is deeper than that - at least 11 from memory.


No I don't think there is any limit. What tenorman is maybe mixed up about is that six generations are displayed in the chart he is trying to show. You can enter as many generations as you like: LOL, all the people who trace their lineage back to Joan of Arc and Julius Ceasar!

ten0rman, the beaty of ancestry GEDCOM export is that when you want to produce some kind of chart, you simply download the GEDCOM and import it to a specialist App which is good at producing family charts. I am not the right person to recommend one but others might know.

I do this sort of export for a different purpose: I have a growing number of people like you. Ancestry inevitably has limitations: it is not a database for example so you cannot manipulate the underlying data. So I import the GEDCOM to a more database-like App and then I have more powerful search, grouping and sort capabilities plus error checking and other useful things. I use this other app alongside Ancestry and they complement each other. So I think you can do similar with your printing/charts.

Regards the amount of data, don't worry about it. 66MB is peanuts. Less than a ten minute video I imagine. As long as it is kept in an accessible and flexible medium (like Ancestry + GEDCOM as you are doing) your successors will be fine.

GS

PhaseThree

Re: Help! I'm drowning in data!

#394701

Postby PhaseThree » March 11th, 2021, 6:05 pm

Just checked my tree on Ancestry
I have 17 levels. In the "pedigree" view these are all visible along one branch but not all branches are visible simultaneously. If I switch to the family view then the depth is restricted to 6. This is the free version of Ancestry.

ten0rman
Lemon Slice
Posts: 525
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 9:16 pm
Been thanked: 169 times

Re: Help! I'm drowning in data!

#394962

Postby ten0rman » March 12th, 2021, 3:22 pm

Hi all,
I suppose I don't really know what I'm doing as yet, and haven't really thought things out. Now obviously in the situation described I have 6 generations, but add in the putative grandchildren & Gt grandchildren & Gt.Gt. grandchildren and up it goes to 9 generations. Which do not all appear able to be shown simultaneously - they'ld be unreadable if they were, but that's something else.

What's really bugging me is how far sideways should I go? Cousins? 2nd Cousins? Cousins once removed? Etc. Plus of course their descendants. And for that matter, ascendants who are not part of this particular line. In effect, I don't know what I should be researching. I think I possibly need to set some personal limits.

I actually find it reasonably easy going back to the late 1790's/early 1800's. Except, of course, when I run into something I haven't seen before, eg as GS may remember, when I couldn't sort out Hannah/Ann, but I'm now wise to that along with families re-using names when the earlier child has suffered an early death. (Realised 2 days ago that I've found another of these in this particular tree.)

Some time ago, I talked to my son about all this - the one who said it should be on paper, and my wife's niece as being the only person on that side of my family who would be able to use this data. (I'm talking here about having computer storage capacity and display capacity.) But I'm now going to have to go back and say that the paper records and charts are going to be a no-no and does she still want to know?

I think gradually I'm beginning to move towards setting some sort of personal limits, and then saying that if you want to go further, that's up to you - this will give you a start.

Cheers, and thanks for the thoughts,

ten0rman

GoSeigen
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 4351
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 11:14 pm
Has thanked: 1590 times
Been thanked: 1581 times

Re: Help! I'm drowning in data!

#395093

Postby GoSeigen » March 12th, 2021, 11:31 pm

ten0rman wrote:What's really bugging me is how far sideways should I go? Cousins? 2nd Cousins? Cousins once removed? Etc. Plus of course their descendants. And for that matter, ascendants who are not part of this particular line. In effect, I don't know what I should be researching. I think I possibly need to set some personal limits.


It depends what you want to achieve really. Some people have a mystery or brick wall they want to solve. Some want to find all their living rellies. Some try to trace back to Adam and Eve. Some want to find a famous ancestor. Personally I don't see the point in going centuries back on one or two lines: everyone knows that everyone is descended from a royal.

My goal eventually is to complete entire generations going back. I'm only complete to great grandparents of my own generation so far after ten years of work, so not very impressive. When the great-great grandparents are done I'll be pretty satisfied, that is 16 people we're directly descended from. One more generation back and you inherit only 3% from each individual so it's close to meaningless. As I am working on the ancestors of a few relatives simultaneously my tree has lots of detail in a few dispersed branches.

Now when working on difficult individuals I find that collecting information about siblings, uncles, cousins etc can often help to resolve an impasse. Sometimes the most subtle clues bring a breakthrough. I'm therefore something of a stickler in terms of what I record: I enter all name variants and as many dates and events as I can establish, I enter every single address I come across because families tend to live near each other, and I usually record who was living together. Sometimes I even do a small tree of an interesting witness to a marriage or a lodger with a family. If I see related names living nearby in a census I make notes about them. This final point, though incredibly anal, helped me discover the whereabouts of a particularly tricky relative who was not living with her parents but staying with apparently unrelated people a few doors down from her great grandparents in the 1870 census! Locating her there in turn enabled me to confirm who her mother's parents were, where previously I'd had no direct evidence.

One name that cropped up a few times marrying into our family was particularly troublesome, so I decided to do a one-name study of everyone in the region with the same name (a one-name study). I am probably the expert on that family now and have more than 1600 individuals descended from from people with that name who lived in that smallish area (loosely based around 2-3 registration offices).

Be careful with all this though, it starts to consume huge amounts of time. Fortunately I've got a patient missus -- and it helps that I'm actually working on her family tree...

GS

Bubblesofearth
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 1080
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 7:32 am
Has thanked: 8 times
Been thanked: 432 times

Re: Help! I'm drowning in data!

#395142

Postby Bubblesofearth » March 13th, 2021, 10:00 am

GoSeigen wrote:My goal eventually is to complete entire generations going back. I'm only complete to great grandparents of my own generation so far after ten years of work, so not very impressive.
GS


Surely all one needs to do is get hold of a copy of Burkes or DeBretts?


Return to “History”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests