I’ll Send You a GEDCOM

-
By MaryLynn Strickland

In my early days of researching online (from 2001), I made contact with people far and wide through message boards (remember those?)  Once in a while I would encounter someone who inserted her entire family file into a message that went on and on. . . and on.  But usually people would ask, or offer, to share a GEDCOM.

What was that?  From the FamilySearch Wiki, it is the acronym for GEenealogical Data COMmunications.  GEDCOM is a data structure created by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for storing and exchanging genealogical information so that many different computer programs can use it.  It is identified by the file type “.ged”.

(Stay with me here; this technical part is brief!). “The GEDCOM Standard is a technical document written for computer programmers, system developers, and technically sophisticated users.”  The GEDCOM Standard Release 5.5, 2 January 1996 [Revised 10 January 1996].

Copyright © 1987, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1995 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This document may be copied for purposes of review or programming of genealogical software, provided this notice is included. All other rights reserved.

Oooh!  “technically sophisticated users”, I like that!

Get with it, Jeffrey! #genealogy #familyhistory #ancestry #gedcom

So, GEDCOMs are text files that contain the information and linkages necessary to exchange genealogical information between two entities.  These entities may use the same or different software.  Thus a Legacy user can share with Roots Magic or Family Tree Maker users, even Mac OS users.

You use a GEDCOM to upload your family file to the DNA sites so relatives can compare files, possibly finding common ancestors.

You use GEDCOM to upload your family file to Ancestry, FamilySearch, and MyHeritage among other sites.



And what goes up, can also come down.  You can download family files that you own on those sites.  Have you begun your family file in Ancestry and now want to put it in a genealogy software on your own computer?  No problem, download it as a GEDCOM and import it into your software.  Same thing from My Heritage or FamilySearch.  Some sites are a little more complicated (FamilySearch uses a Python script getmyancestors to create the GEDCOM).

There are a couple important points to remember.  A GEDCOM is a text file.  Pictures, images of census pages, gravestones, etc., do not come along.  You might want to keep that in mind when you start attaching images to individuals in your online family.

The other important point is that a GEDCOM is a tool.  I found myself treating GEDCOMs as precious articles.  That file represented 7 or 8 generations of my ancestors.  All the work that went into arranging that information was not to be taken lightly.  It took a very down to earth retired Boeing engineer to help me change my attitude.

David liked the formatting in Legacy as far as keeping his family files.  But he preferred the charting interfaces in Family TreeMaker.  So, when he wanted to print a chart, he produced a GEDCOM from Legacy, put it into FTM, printed his chart and then deleted the GEDCOM.  What?  Delete a GEDCOM?  Sacrilegious!

Of course, it isn’t.  As soon as you create the Legacy (or Ancestry or whatever) family file from the GEDCOM, it has served its purpose.  When you open the family file and make a correction or addition, and believe me, you will, your GEDCOM is obsolete.  Don’t put it somewhere for safe keeping.  It isn’t intended to be backup or in case you want to share it with somebody in the future.

Now, please excuse me while I look at some archaic folders on my hard drive and thumb drives.  I am sure I have some *.ged files from 2002 or 2003 that I can safely delete!



MaryLynn Strickland

Comments

  1. Katie HanzeliFebruary 11, 2019 at 2:58 PM

    Great stuff! Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. ValorieFebruary 11, 2019 at 3:06 PM

    Yay! Thanks for making it simple, MaryLynn. I love Rootsweb WorldConnect (when it's working) to generate smaller gedcoms for just one person. These are great for sites like FamilyTreeDNA or Gedmatch as cousins allow us to upload their results - and their gedcoms, even when they haven't done much research.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Looking for a Needle in a Haystack? GAME CHANGER at FamilySearch

-
Image
Generated with Bing ImageCreator (AI), March 13, 2024 Where is YOUR Needle, Your Missing Record? Genealogical Proof Standard When we use the GPS (Genealogical Proof Standard) as our guide, we all know that "exhaustive research" can be both tedious and exhausting. Is life long enough to search page by page through all the counties where all the members of a family might have lived, paid taxes, bought, leased or sold property, made a will or died intestate? It is possible that the new Full Text Search at FamilySearch will  eventually  allow us to do just that. It has been estimated that 75% or more of the records at FamilySearch were browsable but not searchable; the only indexes those found in the records themselves. Those records are certainly attainable by using those indexes and browsing to the record of interest, but the process is tedious, often frustrating, and slow. And once found, the record must be read and transcribed to be useful. This new Full Text Search tackles a...
Read more

What's the Question?

-
Image
We genealogists are often told by experienced researchers how important it is to begin with a research question. I resisted doing this for a long time, but now that I use a series of questions to guide my research, the search is more focused and actually finds more of the history of the family I'm investigating. I use a Google Doc as the  research proceeds, where I keep the question(s), the plan, timelines, checklist of resources to search, etc. all in one place. I've seen others use spreadsheets in the same way, perhaps splitting up things in tabs (Excel or Google Sheets). I prefer a document because I add source citations as I find them and I can begin writing up the case right there in the doc as the hypotheses are proven. Specific Questions in Previous Successes As beginners we often have no clue how much and what details we already know about a person, event or relationship, so it's hard to specify what we want to know. But when looking back at successful research, it ...
Read more

Help Save This Abused and Neglected Cemetery

-
Image
Screen capture from Google Maps History In an exchange of emails this past week in both the main SKCGS group, and in the Washington-State-Genealogy group, many facts were revealed about the history of the I.O.O.F. Comet Lodge Cemetery, also known as the Old Burying Ground, the Georgetown Cemetery, the Graham Street Burying Ground and maybe more.  FindAGrave sums it up this way: "Since it was established in 1881, the Comet Lodge cemetery site has been whittled away to less than half its original 5 acres. Records are sketchy but it's safe to say that some 500 pioneers were buried here, atop unknown numbers of native Duwamish people. New burials ended in the 1930s. Since then, homes and streets were built on top of many of the plots as the neighborhood around the cemetery grew.  "Upkeep and ownership of the cemetery bounced between the city, civic groups, relatives of Comet Lodge residents, and nearby neighbors. For years, much of the property was allowed to deteriorate int...
Read more