OneGreatFamily Blog

• How To "Clean Up" Hints And Merge Data

  4/10/2013 3:22:00 PM

  Hints are possible matches between your family tree and the family tree submitted by another OneGreatFamily user. By resolving Hints, you have the potential to add new generations to your genealogy

  Overview - Here's how it works: OneGreatFamily is constantly performing searches within the OneGreatFamily tree looking to match the ancestors you have entered with the ancestors entered by others. When a potential match is found, a Hint icon () will appear next to or on the name of the individual in your pedigree (Starfield). One of your key efforts within OneGreatFamily is resolving these Hints.
  
  First step - Make sure Hints are turned on: To use this valuable tool, start by selecting the "View Hints" icon () on your Genealogy Browser Toolbar. This will display a Gen-bulb () icon on every individual in your pedigree (Starfield) that has a possible match.
  

  Second step-Open the Edit Individual window: Select an individual with the Gen-bulb
  () icon in your pedigree (Starfield). That will load their information into the handprint on the left side of the screen and a Gen-bulb should now be showing next to his or her name in the box labeled "Selected Individual" in the upper left hand corner. Click on this individual's box once to bring up the "Details For:" dialog. Next, click the Hints () button on the right hand side of the box to view the possible match. You are presented with another window similar to the "Details For:" screen, showing the data from the possible match alongside the data for your individual.

  

  Third step - Deciding if these two people are one and the same: Now you need to decide if these two people are one and the same. Before you decide, be sure to check each of the tabs across the top of the window. You may need to check other records or talk with other family members. Once you have decided, you can proceed.
  
  Fourth Step - To Merge or not to Merge, that is the question: Understand that merging a person with your person doesn't destroy your data or overwrite it. The differences in data will be preserved and will be shown as Conflicts. Information about Conflicts can be found in the newsletter archive section or in the help section of the OneGreatFamily Genealogy Browser. At this point, you have four choices:
  
  1) Merge the two people by clicking on the button labeled "<< Merge".
  
  2) Decide not to merge the two people by clicking on the button labeled "Clear".
  
  3) Postpone making a decision by clicking the button labeled "Close".
  
  4) Choose to collaborate with the other OneGreatFamily user by clicking the "Collaborate" button. We'll talk more about collaboration in a future newsletter.
  
  The Power is in your hands: One of the great strengths of OneGreatFamily lies in its ability to allow multiple people to agree that their ancestor is the same person without agreeing to all the details of his or her vital records. Hints are the means to identifying those opportunities and resolving them.

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• Have More Success By Standardizing Places

  4/3/2013 3:08:00 PM

  One of the features of Genealogy Browser is the ability to automate place standardization when you are entering data about your ancestors. However, the system is not foolproof, and so automatic place standardization in some circumstances won't occur.

  This can really hinder your efforts at OneGreatFamily because non-standardized place names may cause individuals to not match, blocking a merge that could bring more leads to your attention.
  
  For example, I was researching an ancestor of mine when I found that my father had abbreviated some places when he entered the data, causing them not to match.  For example, he listed my great-, great-, great-, great-grandmother as being born in Hull, Ykshire,, England.  In doing some research, I have confirmed that this was actually Hull, Yorkshire, England.
  
  There are several reasons why Genealogy Browser may not be able to automatically standardize a place.  Keep these in mind when you are entering or editing your family tree information:

  • Don't use abbreviations in the place of city names.  For example, use "Salt Lake City" instead of "SLC", use "New York" instead of "NY" or "NYC" and use "Baltimore" instead of "Balt."
  • CA can be interpreted as either Canada or California and DE can either be Denmark or Delaware.  So please, even if you are sure you are using a standardized abbreviation, please spell it out.
  • There will always be 4 elements separated by 3 commas in every place name, as shown here: city, county, state, and country.  Genealogy Browser will automatically try to break down each location appropriately.  You should double-check that it does it correctly.
  • Don't write in the actual street address in the place box. You can put addresses or buildings in the notes section.
  • If you don't know, leave it blank.  Often people will put "???" or "unknown" or "unk." You should avoid doing this because the site will search for matches to fill blanks for you.
  • Make sure and always put the country. It may be obvious to you and others which country it is, but not to the OneGreatFamily system. The more information the better when entering information.

  We have a tool to help if you have any questions on whether you're entering the place correctly. To the right of the birth, death, and other places, you'll see this pencil icon. Click on that icon and Genealogy Browser will show you how it breaks down the current entry into city, county, state, and country. Look in there to make sure your places look correct so you can have your records standardized with the rest of OneGreatFamily's records.

  By cleaning up your place names, your will increase the likelihood of OneGreatFamily finding additional ancestor leads for you, which means you could see more ancestors added to your family tree.

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• Family Info Box: Add Marriage Info

  3/6/2013 12:29:00 PM

  The Family Info box is located in the Handprint in Genealogy Browser. It is located between the Selected Individual box and the Spouse box.

  When you click on <<Family Info>>, a new window will open that contains the information for that family. This is where you can enter information relating to the family, such as the date of the marriage. From here you can also create a family group sheet by clicking the Family Group button. When you do a new window will open with the Family Group sheet.

  

  By clicking on the Collaborate button you can see who else has contributed information about the family and contact them to share information. By simply selecting a group and then clicking on a name, you will be able to e-mail them and begin working together to build your family tree.

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• You've Submitted Your Family Tree To OneGreatFamily - Now What?

  2/27/2013 3:30:00 PM

  Here is a list of things you can do at OneGreatFamily that will increase your chances of success at OneGreatFamily. We hope that as a subscriber you have come to appreciate the unique service provided by OneGreatFamily.

  1. Discover what has been done on your family tree already
  The OneGreatFamily Tree is a powerful genealogy database that is shared and built by people like you all over the world. Every single name, date, place, picture, biography and video clip has been submitted by people like you. In fact, the OneGreatFamily Tree started without a single name. Users in over 80 countries have submitted millions of names . . . and we've only just begun! So what does a "shared" worldwide database mean to you? It means someone else may have already entered dozens or even hundreds of your ancestors!

  2. Start researching where others left off
  Spend some time searching for your ancestors at OneGreatFamily and pay special attention to new information that is added to your family tree over time. This will help you know what research others have already done or are doing on your family tree. You can then spend your time conducting new research or simply verifying information that others have provided.

  3. Meet and collaborate with family
  OneGreatFamily allows people around the world to work on one common family tree. This means others can be researching and improving information on your ancestors. Wouldn't you like to meet and collaborate with these genealogical cousins? You can! OneGreatFamily provides collaboration features that allow you to work with other researchers and family members.

  4. Search millions of names
  At OneGreatFamily, you can search millions of names in the OneGreatFamily Tree and in the Social Security Death Index. When you find an individual that you would like to learn more about, simply click on him or her to view detailed information that we store in our databases.
  
  With OneGreatFamily, you have the flexibility to choose when to work on your genealogy and when to focus on other needs in your life, knowing that work on your family tree continues.

  5. Visit your Family Dashboard
  Your Family Dashboard is the first page you see when you login to OneGreatFamily. This very unqiue page allows you to learn interesting facts about your ancestors and family tree. This is also a great place to get ideas of where you can do addition research.

  OneGreatFamily has much to offer that cannot be found on any other genealogy site or within any other genealogy program! 

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• Quick Overview Of Genbulbs or Hints

  2/25/2013 3:38:00 PM

  OneGreatFamily is unique in its goal and method. Our goal is to unite the efforts of all people working on genealogy and to connect the world together as OneGreatFamily. This process begins with you, the user. Once you have entered your data into our system, we search our database for common information. When our system finds matches that are certain, it merges the records together. No information is ever lost when these mergers occur. Instead, each user's unique view of the data is preserved, even if that differs from other users.

  When the system identifies a possible match, we call that a Hint. Hints occur when much of the information about two people is identical, but there are either sufficient differences or a lack of information such that the system cannot be certain of the match. Hints are indicated in Genealogy Browser by the Genbulb icon. Note that you must turn on Genbulbs in the toolbar before they will be shown in the Starfield.
  
  
  
  When hints appear, you may view them by clicking on the light bulb icon on the right side of the individual edit box. This will bring up the Hint for that particular individual. You may examine and choose to merge the data, or leave it how it is.

  Merging data may bring many generations of previously unknown information into your file. Many users have already experienced great increases in their pedigrees through merging.
  
  The more data that you enter and the further back in ancestry you can get, the better chance you have for receiving Hints. For example, a member entered 2000 names. Because of our database's automatic search capabilities, his family tree now carries 23,000 names in it. You may also choose to collaborate with the user who submitted that data. That way, you may work out any differences you may have.

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