saving ancestry.com file

[DelbertCurlin]

I have a problem with being unable to keep my subscription to acestry.com and I would like to save all the data I've put into Ancestry. I've bought a copy of Family Tree for the Mac and have tried to download a GEDCOM several times. I now have two ancestry.com files on their system with the same name Curlin famlyfile10 and one Family Tree file. can anyone tell me how to get rid of the Family tree file and download a new copy of the correct ancestry.com file into family tree so I can have access to the photos, census, stories, etch on family tree where I can then copy things over to the Reunion file to get it up to date? I'm could sure use some help if anyone has experience in this area.

I'm using Mavericks 10.9.4 on a Macbook pro,reimopm 10.0.6

[donworth]

Re: saving ancestry.com file

So far as I know, there is no way to automatically get all the stories and photos from an Ancestry.com tree. The GED file they produce does not include them - you'll only get the names and dates and sources. You have to download each story and photo individually. :-(

(and the sources do NOT include the images of those sources)

[DelbertCurlin]

Re: saving ancestry.com file

Thanks Don;
I was hoping I was wrong. I wouldn't have bought FTM except I thought they would have it fixed to be exactly like Ancesstry file. I I guess I'm in for a lot of retyping since my membership expires on the 13th of this month. I was using ancestry to keep all this stuff because it was easier than cooing and pasting into Reunion. I know; I just didn't think about being unable to keep that expensive membership for the long run so I have several years of work to redo. Thanks agin for the feedback.

[ttl]

Re: saving ancestry.com file

I don't know how complete the data transfer is, but I know you can open a new FTM file and have FTM synchronize with Ancestry. This will download pictures I know for sure. The main thing is to not use GEDCOM for the transfer.

I like Ancestry.com for the data resources, but I will never maintain my family information online because I don't want to have to depend on someone else to make my data available to me.

[donworth]

Re: saving ancestry.com file

Yes - I have no idea how Ancestry.com synchs with FTM since that doesn't involve a GED transfer. So you may get more.

However, I suspect they won't synch the images from their databases (such as census pages) so you may want to make it a priority to copy those down to your desktop one-by-one before your subscription goes away.

[DelbertCurlin]

Re: saving ancestry.com file

I don't know how complete the data transfer is, but I know you can open a new FTM file and have FTM synchronize with Ancestry. This will download pictures I know for sure. The main thing is to not use GEDCOM for the transfer.

I like Ancestry.com for the data resources, but I will never maintain my family information online because I don't want to have to depend on someone else to make my data available to me.

I have had reunion for more years than I can remember. I started when it used a card layout on an original Macintosh with a small black & white screen. I found several old Reunion manuals among other things today wile packing things for storage. I only joined ancestry because all my fellow genealogists in Mempis seemed to use it but I had always intended to get the info to my Mac reunion because of this forum and I like the way reunion displays but when I found I could no longer afford ancestry I purchased the FTM for Mac in June of this year and started downloading to FTM on my mac but could never get it to sync my ancestry file and ancestry folks aren't to hep on helping fix problems. Anyway thanks for the replies both you and Don always seem to help folks on this forum. When I figure out how to put sources into Reunion I will be contacting Heartland to help me plan a chart that I can give to my relatives (or some kind of listing - whatever) That may be a long dime now since I haven't figured out the sourcing in Reunion in all these years.

Thanks again,

[Bob White]

Re: saving ancestry.com file

Yes - I have no idea how Ancestry.com synchs with FTM since that doesn't involve a GED transfer. So you may get more.

However, I suspect they won't synch the images from their databases (such as census pages) so you may want to make it a priority to copy those down to your desktop one-by-one before your subscription goes away.

Actually, all "media" items are downloaded to your Mac during synch. They are put in a folder at Users > YourName > Documents > Family Tree Maker > (Name of your FTM file) Media. There is one drawback that media documents are named by Mac convention. Example: I have 27 census documents from 1870 and they are named 1870 United States Federal Census - 1, then -2 then -3, etc....

[sgtbob]

Re: saving ancestry.com file

Some random thoughts from my 4+ year experience with Family Tree Maker for MAC (FTMM2, FTMM3). I've used in excess of 6 or more genealogy programs over the years, but finally settled for Reunion about 8 years ago when I bought my first MAC. Initially, I installed Parallels to enable me to use Windows and the other PC based programs - Legacy, PAF, GRAMPS, and several others. This iMAC, running Windows, scenario seemed to work. I even installed a PC version of FTM under Parallels - it ran so slow as to be painful. But having a MAC, I preferred to use its features and when I subscribed to ancestry.com and their offer of an FTM version to run on MAC's, I installed an original FTM, then FTMM2, then FTMM3 - some of us never learn! :-) I liked the idea of being able to save a source from ancestry to the FTM program, without the copy and paste routine with Reunion. However, in trying to use FTM for MAC, I have tried for 4 years to make it work and it has not lived up to expectations. The first issue I encountered when installed was that registration was non-existent with my iMAC, which precluded being able to run the 'hints' feature at all. I am not a computer engineer, and the error code that kept coming is that there is a problem with being 'unable to access the server'. This is the only program I have that can't find a server and none of the technicians have been able to resolve the problem. Even with the help of about 40 technicians and a plethora of 'how-to's' being e-mailed to me over this 4-year period, they have been unable to resolve the issue. The folks at the help center were good people, but once they couldn't help, they referred the issue to 'senior technicians'(?) who do not interface with we the common herd. I kept asking when FTM would be able to interface with my unit to see what my problem was. Well, they finally got 'GLANCE' this past summer and were able to see my screen. Unfortunately, none of the technicians could resolve the issue and they just quit communicating. After painstaking attempts to deal with FTM and the MAC issues that do appear to be solveable, I erased the whole Parallels and FTM system from my MAC and have continued with Reunion, which I continued to use during all this turmoil. At least I have some facility with Reunion and find it to be a far superior program than any I have tried over the past 20+ years of my 50+ years of genealogy research. So, I've become comfortable with using 'Grab', plus 'cut-and-paste' routines to garner data from ancestry and other resources. Reunion's 'Search the Web > All Sites' is one of the best features to explore genealogy sites I've found in all the programs I've used. So - Please Reunion and Leister - stay with us, so we don't face the issue of other genealogy programs that are departing the scene.

Bob

[Nancy G Chesnutt]

Re: saving ancestry.com file

Years ago I used Family Tree but once I bought Reunion I transferred everything over to Reunion. Now I tell people who are just starting researching to buy a Mac and get Reunion. It is the BEST. When I find new information on Ancestry I add it to my tree on Ancestry but then I add it to my Mac Reunion file. Copy and paste seems to work just fine for articles. I have also printed out some of the pictures that others have posted that relate to my family. I do also source things as being from Ancestry and have cautioned our oldest son, the only one interested in genealogy, that he should try and find other sources for some of the information that came from Ancestry. Some of the info I have found on Ancestry is not correct.

[DelbertCurlin]

Re: saving ancestry.com file

Thanks to all who responded to my delima. I never could get FTM to work even talking to their techies. I never wanted to use any thing but Reunion which I have used for many years. However I am not a very astute student of this technology and have many problems. I had to drop Ancestry as it became to expensive for the time I can spend. Now I need to know if there is a way I can access census records, birth,death, etc thru LDS without making the 15 mile trip to the local library: OR is there another method of accessing genealogical data without having to join some organization and paying a fee?

[Kate McCain]

Re: saving ancestry.com file

Thanks to all who responded to my delima. I never could get FTM to work even talking to their techies. I never wanted to use any thing but Reunion which I have used for many years. However I am not a very astute student of this technology and have many problems. I had to drop Ancestry as it became to expensive for the time I can spend. Now I need to know if there is a way I can access census records, birth,death, etc thru LDS without making the 15 mile trip to the local library: OR is there another method of accessing genealogical data without having to join some organization and paying a fee?

I'm going to assume that you already know about familysearch.org.

Have you looked into your local public library offerings -- or the county historical society? One or another of these may have access to the "library edition" of ancestry.com or possibly heritagequest -- a collection of online genealogical resources made available through the vendor ProQuest. The last time I looked at heritagequest it had several decades of census data (although they weren't as well indexed as ancestry.com, there were often better images).

[Lawrence E Moore]

Re: saving ancestry.com file

Thanks to all who responded to my delima. I never could get FTM to work even talking to their techies.

===Just because Ancestry won't sync to your FTM (Mac) doesn't mean it can't be done. Try to find someone with FTM (Windows) through your local genealogy society or local LDS Reading Room and see if they can sync from your Ancestry to their computer. Then save to a CD/DVD to transport to your computer. Good luck.

Now I need to know if there is a way I can access census records, birth,death, etc thru LDS without making the 15 mile trip to the local library: OR is there another method of accessing genealogical data without having to join some organization and paying a fee?

===Indeed, Ancestry gets expensive quite quickly when one has limited time to work on hobbies. For free home web access to census records, I use two sites. 1) On the FamilySearch.org web site, log in (free sign-up), click SEARCH>(drop down) RECORDS; fill in one or more fields; then scroll down and restrict records by LOCATION and TYPE. Some censuses are indexed with fairly complete family information but without their images being available on site (i.e. links lead to pay sites). As you know, images are useful for checking out occupations, education, the neighbors, etc. 2) In many counties (eg.Shelby) the local library provides home internet access to library card holders to HeritageQuest Online. Again, HQ does not yet have all censuses available, but images are available for all that they have indexed. As with any site, indexing on these two sites is imperfect and name variations must be searched, especially on HQ. FS finds more name variations than HQ, so I often find the record on FS and pull up the image on HQ. For 1850 census images, plan on going to the library; perhaps someone else has a better solution.

[kmgenealogy]

Re: saving ancestry.com file

Thanks to all who responded to my delima. I never could get FTM to work even talking to their techies. I never wanted to use any thing but Reunion which I have used for many years. However I am not a very astute student of this technology and have many problems. I had to drop Ancestry as it became to expensive for the time I can spend. Now I need to know if there is a way I can access census records, birth,death, etc thru LDS without making the 15 mile trip to the local library: OR is there another method of accessing genealogical data without having to join some organization and paying a fee?

I agree with all the previous posters.

FamilySearch has a lot of info. Some of their census records do have images. Don't forget-whether the site is free or pay, they must, per their agreement with the National Archives, provide the 1940 US Census free. So, if you need info from that census, you should be able to access it at Ancestry, Fold3 & FamilySearch.

Fold3 sometimes has some of their databases available free for a short time. Be sure you sign up for their newsletter. I think, just registering (without a subscription) puts you on their email list. Most of the time, I only get 1 email a month.

If you have a lot of ancestors in the New England & adjacent mid-west states, you can sign up for a free account with the New England Genealogical Society at americanancestors.org. Every month they make different databases available for free to non-menbers. I also like their emails...very informative and interesting.

Another great site for "local" info is the USGenWebProject at http://www.usgenweb.org. Most of the states and counties have a search engine. Some are full of info and others are somewhat bare. However, you don't know what you'll find until you try. I've been pleasantly surprised at times. Several years ago I found out that my 3x Great Grandfather & some of his sons (but not the son I descend from), had moved from Virginia to Schuyler Co., Illinois. I found a "goldmine" of info on that GenWeb site!

Hope this info is helpful,
Kaye

[sdengle]

Re: saving ancestry.com file

Thanks to all who responded to my delima. I never could get FTM to work even talking to their techies. I never wanted to use any thing but Reunion which I have used for many years. However I am not a very astute student of this technology and have many problems. I had to drop Ancestry as it became to expensive for the time I can spend. Now I need to know if there is a way I can access census records, birth,death, etc thru LDS without making the 15 mile trip to the local library: OR is there another method of accessing genealogical data without having to join some organization and paying a fee?

Several ways: Use FamilySearch.org, or go through your local public library's website to access Heritage Quest (assuming they offer it). Both can be used from your home. I think state libraries also have Heritage Quest available through their website. Also try RootsWeb.Ancestry.com and USGenWeb.org. All of these are FREE!

Other than a free trial at Ancestry many years ago, I have only used Ancestry at my local library using their computer - mainly for the census years that are not indexed by Heritage Quest.

Susan

[DelbertCurlin]

Re: saving ancestry.com file

I'm going to assume that you already know about familysearch.org.

Thanks;
Haven't been successful yet in getting (LDS) FamilySearch to co-operate with my understanding but am still trying.