Merging trees/sources

[Fotolinda]

Ok, so the time has come to merge my tree with my husband's tree so that our children can have a full tree. So here are my questions:

Hubby started to input my data into his tree a while back and recently I've been starting to input his into mine by hand. Something is telling me I should just continue to do this so I don't have any duplicates but part of me wonders if I've missed something in the adding, would it be easier to merge and then go through what I have?

And what about his sources? How do sources input when you merge trees?

Thanks much for the help. 2016 has become the year I get back to figuring out both our trees (updating mine and adding his) as well as meeting family, so I'm back into Reunion almost daily!


Linda Epstein

[theKiwi]

Re: Merging trees/sources

How much overlap did you have before you started entering each other's data into your own trees - my guess is probably zero - unless you have some shared ancestry in the past?

How much overlap do you have now - i.e. how much have each of you added to your trees from the other's tree?

Sources from one tree will import into the other with no problems. They'll all just be added to the list of sources you currently have in the recipient tree - unless some of them are considered to be "identical", in which case they'll be merged during the import.

My suggestion would be to merge one in to the other and then sort out the duplicates using "Match and Merge".

Roger

[John M. Leggett]

Re: Merging trees/sources

My suggestion would be to merge one in to the other and then sort out the duplicates using "Match and Merge".

Roger

And, of course, make a valid backup of each file first. It might also be smart to then make a copy of each file and merge the copies. That way if anything goes wrong you still have both files in their original form.

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Merging trees/sources

My suggestion would be to merge one in to the other and then sort out the duplicates using "Match and Merge".

Or remove anticipated duplicates before merging. I'd make two copies of the files, eliminate the husband and all his ancestors from the wife's file, eliminate the wife and all her ancestors from the husband's file, and *then* merge and reconcile the files. I think it'd be easier than trying to merge together all the partially entered ancestries.

[Fotolinda]

Re: Merging trees/sources

Thanks all. There is a bit of duplication- he added many members of my immediate family (first and second cousins) and I didn't add that many of his family yet. Just very immediate. I have been starting to enter more by hand.

Because he has what feasibly could be a HUGE tree (he is a descendant of Elijah Root), as I go through his (copied file of) Reunion, I notice he has some generations off from what is in a Root genealogy book as well as Geni.com, which is spot on to the book form, so I'm thinking I might have to just input by hand since I'm seeing discrepancies in his information. (example- he has parents A&B with child C and grandchildren D&E&F when actually it should be child C AND D&E&F). Sigh- if you want to get something done you have to do it yourself. :-)

I cringe, tho, in thinking that I will have to go through everything and re-enter all his sources by hand into mine.

Linda Epstein

[AE Palmer]

Re: Merging trees/sources

Thanks all. There is a bit of duplication- he added many members of my immediate family (first and second cousins) and I didn't add that many of his family yet. Just very immediate. I have been starting to enter more by hand.

Because he has what feasibly could be a HUGE tree (he is a descendant of Elijah Root), as I go through his (copied file of) Reunion, I notice he has some generations off from what is in a Root genealogy book as well as Geni.com, which is spot on to the book form, so I'm thinking I might have to just input by hand since I'm seeing discrepancies in his information. (example- he has parents A&B with child C and grandchildren D&E&F when actually it should be child C AND D&E&F). Sigh- if you want to get something done you have to do it yourself. :-)

I cringe, tho, in thinking that I will have to go through everything and re-enter all his sources by hand into mine.

Linda Epstein

Another alternative is to merge small blocks of his work at any given time. The process I would use is as follows:
1. In HIS database, unmark everybody.
2. Find a group of people (40 to 100 at most) and mark them.
3. Export those marked records to a new (blank) Reunion file.
4. Inspect that file for errors and make corrections there.
5. Import this corrected file into YOUR new master file.
6. Perform a simple merge on the known individual in both the new data and the master file to make the necessary links.
7. Repeat this process as necessary until all of his data has been transferred to the master file.

I find this system to have several advantages:
• Working in small batches helps to focus on finding errors.
• It allows you to clean up differences in style before merging new data to the master file.
• This method allows you to keep his source links intact. But since it also has the potential to create many duplicates of his sources, you will need to merge the duplicates as you add to the master file. That said, merging sources is much easier than individuals –– it is a drag and drop operation.
• And lastly, it permits you to normalize both surname and place name spellings without butchering the master file!

PS: Normalizing your data is to regularize phrases and spellings (make the same) –– this speeds up your search engine and makes it vastly more efficient.

[anitab]

Re: Merging trees/sources

I appreciate these detailed directions - totally makes sense to do it in small batches - and hadn't even thought about how much normalizing the data would help - Thank You!