When software THINKS it knows what I want...

I began my attempt to begin a new tree without actually starting from scratch in order to fix my source citations.  (My hat’s off to Amy at WeTree!  I wish I had the determination to do it the way she is!)

My plan was to install my new FTM 2010 software and to download my tree from Ancestry to build onto.  I thought that if I downloaded my online information, a great number of things would have sources automatically entered (all census records and many birth, death and marriage records) and then I could go back and enter sources from on site research, books, articles and correspondance on my own.  I thought that would save me a ton of time in entering names in addition to giving me a great head start on sources.

I was surprised to see that when I installed the new software, it automatically converted my FTM 2009 files into 2010 files, so immediately, I had the exact same tree with the exact same mistakes and jumbled sources.  I’m sure that the objective of the software designers was to do what I would want it to do in the most efficient manner. 

Not only did it automatically convert all of my trees, but somehow, a great number of names were duplicated due to different sources.  For example, I could have John Smith b. approx. 1830 based on an 1850 census and a John M. Smith b. March 1831 based on a death certificate.  So apparently, conflicting sources created multiple people.  Alot of my families now had double the number of children.  I tried to look at my “old” 2009 tree to see if it had been that way before, but since everything was converted to 2010 format, I couldn’t tell.

I thought that I would uninstall 2010 and then delete all of my 2009 trees.  I felt confident that my tree was backed up on my external drive, but not confident enough to empty my recycle bin!  Since I was away from home, I didn’t take that final step.  I re-installed 2010, but there must have been files in other folders on my computer, or 2010 found the files in the recycle bin.  I had the same result as before.

I tried to begin a new tree with a different name by downloading my Ancestry tree, but I was unsuccessful at that.  That may have been because the internet connection at my Mom’s is sporadic and tends to disconnect without notice.  By that time, I was not willing to spend more time on the project, so I concentrated on merging duplicate names – which removed a few hundred names from my database, but got me nowhere on correcting my sources.  I do need to try downloading my tree from Ancestry again – perhaps tomorrow. 

Not quite giving up on my plan yet, but starting to wonder if I’m spending more time than it’s worth to try to make this happen!

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