137 GEN: Gedcoms from WebSites to Legacy (137.html)

GEDCOMs have been produced from Ancestry (in 2019) and from FamilySearch (in 2021)

GEDCOM from Ancestry

When genealogy information is accumulated in a family tree at Ancestry.com, it is possible to export the family tree from Ancestry. This is done by downloading the family tree in GEDCOM format. The family tree (in GEDCOM format) can be automatically loaded into a family tree on a PC. Software (even free software) exists to maintain a family tree on a PC. One free software package is named Legacy. When Legacy loads a GEDCOM file into a family tree, sometimes it encounters difficulties during the GEDCOM load. Legacy lists all these difficulties in an "error" file.

List of types of Legacy "errors" from Ancestry

The following types of errors were encountered when loading the GEDCOM (Source 1) from Ancestry:
See below for more information about each of the following numbered "errors". If any future action is necessary, it is described below the list of errors. If no data was lost, the "Necessary Future Action" is marked "NO ACTION".

Necessary Future Actions:

Error # 1 NO ACTION - The ISBN of each book can be see in the Repository information for the souce.
Error # 2 NO ACTION - The URL of the web source URL can be seen in the Notes-General for the person.
Error # 3 NO ACTION - The PAGE data of the web source URL etc can be seen in the Notes-General for the person.
Error # 4 & 5 ACTION - Edit the GEDCOM file as follows:
all "février" to "fevrier"
all "Août" to "Aout"
all "décembre" to "decembre"

Note: People who understand French will recognize the unaccented names of months if Legacy is not used.
Note: Legacy will convert unaccented French month names to English month names.
Note: Legacy leaves the accented names of months unchanged.
Error # 6 ACTION - Delete the person Jessie Godwin (RIN 115 ) from the GEDCOM or from the Legacy database.

Related Errors

I investigated Error # 6 and discovered that Jessie Godwin was erroneously shown as a spouse of Jessica Goatcher. I also noticed that Jessica Goatcher was linked to 2 different biological fathers: William James Goatcher and James Tribe (her actual step-father.) I was disappointed that Legacy did not discover this error.

Check/Repair

So I used Legacy to Check/Repair the file that resulted from the loading of the GEDCOM. The only problem found was the gender problem noted above as Error # 6. Jessica Goatcher still has 2 sets of parents in the Legacy Family Tree. It is possible that other individuals also have 2 sets of parents. This sometimes occurs when the "true" parents of an individual are in dispute; this is not necessarily an error, but it is sometimes noted when a "check/repair" is performed.

Potential Problems Report

Next, I ran Legacy's Potential Problems Report. It produced one or more of each of the following problems:

I ran the Legacy "Potential Problems" report. It showed the following problems:
Birth Date after a Parent's Death Date
Birth Date after Death Date
Birth Date after Mother is 50 years old
Birth Date before Marriage Date of Parents
Birth Date is bad.
Birth Date more than 20 years after Marriage Date of Parents.
Birth of first child too late after Marriage Date.
Child 1 born too soon after marriage date.
Child nn born too long after previous child.
Death date is bad.
Descriptive words found in name.
Event (alt. Birth) date is bad.
Event date before birth date.
Father's Death date is bad.
Husband and Wife have the same Surname.
Marriage date is bad.
Married before age 13.
No period after an initial.
Possible illegal character in the Name field.
Surname all uppercase.

Note that Legacy did not identify any individuals having more than 1 set of biological parents.

Conclusion

The GEDCOM version of the family tree produced by Ancestry was very usable. The Legacy software was able to use all of the information in the GEDCOM file. Some of the data was not loaded exactly where I would have put it, but Legacy put most of the "erroneous" data into the General Notes field of the relevant person. In this manner, the "erroneous" data was visible in the Family Tree that Legacy produced. One actual error was identified. This error was a husband who had a gender of "female". This error was noted; the husband of wrong gender was loaded into the Family Tree, rather than being discarded. As far as I know, no data was lost. This actual "gender" error may still exist in the Ancestry data file on the internet.

Resulting Actions

In the Ancestry Family Tree:
1) The erroneous person "Jessie Godwin" was deleted completely.
2) The erroneous father of "Jessica Goatcher" named Jim Tribe, was changed to be her step-father instead.

My Legacy Customer Number is 93-902-208-40

GEDCOM from FamilySearch.org

This GEDCOM includes an FSID for almost everyone in the GECOM. It also includes many findagrave ID numbers. In 2021, I discovered that I could download a GEDCOM file from FamilySearch. I did so and then I added some Notes about a few people: 
Unknown Iraqui
Daisy Sullivan
Alice Error Goulton
Emma Coles

Errors in GEDCOM from FamilySearch.org

IN 2022, I directed Legacy to produce an PDF error report of the GEDCOM from Family Search which is included in Source 03. The types of errors that were found were: 
Birth Date after a Parent's Death Date (24 pages)
Birth Date after Burial Date (1)
Birth Date after Death Date (2 pages)
Birth Date after Mother is 50 years old (21 pages)
Birth Date before Marriage Date of Parents (130 pages)
Birth Date is Bad (few)
Birth Date is more than 20 years after Marriage Date of Parents (160 ages)
Birth of first child too late after Marriage Date. (34 pages)
Buried date before death date (15 pages)
Buried date more than 30 days after Death Date (18 pages)
Child 1 born too soon after marriage date (14 pages)
child 10 born too long after previous child (10 pages)
Child N born too soon after prev child (200 pages)
Children not sorted in chronological order (60 pages)
Christening Date before Birth Date (30 pages)
Death Date after Age 120 (few)
Death Date is bad (few)
Descriptive words found in name (9 pages)
Husband and Wife have same surname (175 pages)
Individual born when a Parent ws younger than 13 (12 pages)
Marked as married but died at age 13 (10 pages)
Marriage date is bad / after death / before 13 (20 pages)
Mother's death date is bad (4 pages)
Multiple names in Name fields (23 pages)
No Period after an initial (20 pages)
Possible illegal chars in Name field (6 pages)
Question mark in Name field( ( 4 pages)
Surname all uppercase (40 pages)
Surname 1 char / apostrophes / dashes (3 pages)

TOTAL PAGES: 616

As can be seen there are many many errors in the GEDCOM.
My Family Search UserID is DavidCole3 (PW:Dogphone.)

Web Sources

Web Source S137:01: GEDCOM file from Ancestry Date: 2019 L Dec 26
Web Source S137:02: GEDCOM file from FamilySearch Date: 2021 L Dec 14
Web Source S137:03: Legacy Import Errors of GEDCOM from FamilySearch by Legacy Date: 2022 B Feb 07

WebMaster: Ye Old King Cole

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Created: 2019 L Dec 26
Updated: 2023H Aug 06
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