Merging nine separate Family files into one new file.

[Clark]

I have some years ago opened a separate family file for
each child in a family. Each one was to become it's own
family tree. They are now in R10. I would like to open a
new family file in R11 and convert all the old files into this
one new file in the name of their parents. I do not have
an old file for the parents in R10. Don't ask me how I ever
thought this was clever.
Can I do this?

Clark

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Merging nine separate Family files into one new file.

I have some years ago opened a separate family file for
each child in a family. Each one was to become it's own
family tree. They are now in R10. I would like to open a
new family file in R11 and convert all the old files into this
one new file in the name of their parents. I do not have
an old file for the parents in R10. Don't ask me how I ever
thought this was clever.
Can I do this?

Clark

You can do this in any number of ways!

The easiest would be to start a new family file with no one in it, and "Import" each of the children's family files. If the parents weren't already in the files, and therefore not in the new file, add them and link the children to the family.

If the parents were already in the files, and you thus have more than one instance of the mother and father, delete all but one of them and link the family.

[A Hougie]

Re: Merging nine separate Family files into one new file.

If the parents were already in the files, and you thus have more than one instance of the mother and father, delete all but one of them and link the family.

Possibly better if you have information stored about the parents is not to delete them but to merge each of them. This will also link them together and will preserve the information you have.

[J Karen Bethel]

Re: Merging nine separate Family files into one new file.

Related question;
If I have say, the Smith tree, on Ancestry, and the Smith tree in Reunion 11, can I download an Ancestry Smith tree Gedcom into the Reunion Smith tree without duplicating all 2000+ persons? I am a little sketchy about this because when I upgraded from R/10 to R11 I got all duplicates. It is now resolved, but it made me very nervous for a few days.

Thanks so much, judy

[theKiwi]

Re: Merging nine separate Family files into one new file.

Related question;
If I have say, the Smith tree, on Ancestry, and the Smith tree in Reunion 11, can I download an Ancestry Smith tree Gedcom into the Reunion Smith tree without duplicating all 2000+ persons? I am a little sketchy about this because when I upgraded from R/10 to R11 I got all duplicates. It is now resolved, but it made me very nervous for a few days.

Thanks so much, judy

If you download your information from Ancestry.com and import it in to your current Smith tree in Reunion, you will end up with all of those people in the file. If the people are for the most part the same in both files, you will end up with the whole family structure duplicated and you'd need to Match and Merge them all to get it back to the way it should be.

Roger

[A Hougie]

Re: Merging nine separate Family files into one new file.

The best approach will depend on what it is you want from the ancestry tree. You could download the ancestry tree as a GEDCOM and open it as a new (separate) Reunion File. Make sure to close your original file before trying to open a GEDCOM so that you do not accidentally import the entire GEDCOM data into your existing Reunion file. When trying to open a GEDCOM file, Reunion will ask if you want to create a new Reunion file, so you answer "yes". You will then have a Reunion file containing (only) your Ancestry data.

Then in this new (Ancestry) Reunion file "mark" the people you want to import into your original Reunion file. When importing a Reunion family file you are given the option to import just marked people. If you just import into your original Reunion file the people you need (and enough people if necessary to link them to your existing information) from your new (Ancestry) Reunion file, then hopefully you will only need to match and merge a more limited number of people.

Roger is right - just importing 2000+ people in the ancestry tree into your reunion file will give you a major match & merge headache.

[J Karen Bethel]

Re: Merging nine separate Family files into one new file.

The best approach will depend on what it is you want from the ancestry tree. You could download the ancestry tree as a GEDCOM and open it as a new (separate) Reunion File. Make sure to close your original file before trying to open a GEDCOM so that you do not accidentally import the entire GEDCOM data into your existing Reunion file. When trying to open a GEDCOM file, Reunion will ask if you want to create a new Reunion file, so you answer "yes". You will then have a Reunion file containing (only) your Ancestry data.

Then in this new (Ancestry) Reunion file "mark" the people you want to import into your original Reunion file. When importing a Reunion family file you are given the option to import just marked people. If you just import into your original Reunion file the people you need (and enough people if necessary to link them to your existing information) from your new (Ancestry) Reunion file, then hopefully you will only need to match and merge a more limited number of people.

Roger is right - just importing 2000+ people in the ancestry tree into your reunion file will give you a major match & merge headache.

Great. Thanks very much. I am not into any more nightmares! Best, judy

[J Karen Bethel]

Re: Merging nine separate Family files into one new file.

If you download your information from Ancestry.com and import it in to your current Smith tree in Reunion, you will end up with all of those people in the file. If the people are for the most part the same in both files, you will end up with the whole family structure duplicated and you'd need to Match and Merge them all to get it back to the way it should be.

That is what I was worried about. Thanks for your response and warning.

Best, Judy