Preparation to merge, link and sync family trees
I started with 2 different family trees on Ancestry.com and 2 related family trees on FTM 2014.1. I will call them Ancestry-1, Ancestry-2, FTM-1 and FTM-2. My computer OS is Windows 7.
I orginally started my trees on FTM 2010 and then upgraded to FTM 2014 and then FTM 2014.1. After almost a year, I subscribed to Ancestry.com, uploaded my original FTM-1 and FTM-2 to Ancestry, creating Ancestry-1 and Ancestry-2 respectively. From then on, I used Ancestry as my primary research site, adding names and sources to my tree. Every so often, I would then use FTM to add the same sources to FTM-1 and FTM-2. I found that this is extra work, but since I know that the FTM and Ancestry trees were not equal, I was afraid to combine them.
After ordering and receiving FTM 2017, I knew it was time to make use of syncing. I then performed the following steps:
1. I created a backup of each of my FTM trees and saved them.
2. I downloaded of each of my Ancestry trees and saved them as .ged files.
3. I then merged Ancestry-1 into FTM-1 and then Ancestry-2 into FTM-2 creating new FTM-1 and FTM-2.
4. I then went through the new FTM-1 and FTM-2 and merged the duplicate persons.
5. I renamed the original trees on Ancestry to Ancestry-1(old tree) and Ancestry-2(old tree).
6. I renamed the new FTM-1 and FTM-2 to the original Ancestry names.
7. I then uploaded the new FTM trees individually to Ancestry by clicking the “Upload and Link to Ancestry from the Current Tree.” I chose sync manually.
Now the problems appear!
1. I found that one of the problems uploading the FTM file to Ancestry concerns the Census reports. 1940 census lists 8 separate copies of the Census source and images, one for each family member on the father’s facts tab, the same on the mother’s tab, while it lists just the separate copies for the mother, father and the child when viewing a childs fact tab on Ancestry. It should only list the person selected and not the sources and images for every other person on that particular census.
2. My aunt (my father’s sister) has 2 sources and images of 1940 US Census in her profile on Ancestry. One copy is for my aunt. The second one lists another aunt, my mother’s sister. If I click on the symbol for the second aunt’s 1940 census, it indicates that she is married to my uncle, who is the husband of the first aunt. These aunts are not related in any way, other than being sisters of my mother or father, but not both.
MACKIEV SOFTWARE IS NOT WORKING PROPERLY. WHEN WILL MACKIEV FIX IT?
Mackiev told me that since my FTM 2017 trees appear to be ok after merging and cleaning up duplicates, it is not their problem. Mackiev is blaming Ancestry.com
I contacted Ancestry support and they first tried to tell me that Mackiev was responsible for making sure that the FamilySync worked properly. I told Ancestry support that I had dealt with Mackiev several times and they were useless and refused to solve the problem. Ancestry has now turned to their technical support for ideas.
Can anyone help me?
MY OBSERVATIONS
As I stated before, I started my trees in FTM 2010 and then at a later date, I subscribed to Ancestry.com and uploaded the FTM tree to Ancestry. Then I would do most of my work on Ancestry and then later enter the same facts into FTM tree.
I feel that the process of entering Facts into the two different softwares needs to be looked at.
It appears that when entering US Census into Ancestry.com tree, the following occurs:
If the original person selected for entry of a fact was the father, then Ancestry also makes fact entry to the mother, and each child shown on the Census image for that family. If the family is husband, wife, and 6 children, then 8 people have that Census fact attached to their name.
When adding the same Census to FTM, the Census is entered to each person individually. The entry for the father or the mother picks up the spouse, and each child. The entry for each child only picks up each parent and the name of the child that is being entered. The final result is that the father and the mother would each have 8 copies of that Census (one for each name) attached to their name, while each individual child would only have 3 copies attached to their name.
When FTM is uploaded/linked/synced to Ancestry, instead of just the one copy of the Census being attached to each particular name, all 3 or all 8, as the case may be, are attached to to the person in the Ancestry tree.
When working with previous version of FTM, only the one correct copy of the Census was entered as a Fact for that particular person.
The same type of duplication occurs for other shared facts: marriages, city directories, etc.
As far as the upload attaching the wrong person to some of the person facts in Ancestry tree, I don’t have any idea why it is happening.