Fix These Place Errors Using Family Tree Maker and Watch Your Genealogy Software Work!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

🌳Discover 5 Ways to Enhance Your Family Tree 👉🏼 kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4qpkKeIa96pi80

[@brucerider8361]

I’ve used this program for years and I had no idea this “fix” was sitting in front of me! I have over 5,000 people in my tree; I’ve been slowly correcting or standardizing the place names in both programs. This will be a hug assistance! Thank you for sharing this information!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

YOU MADE MY DAY! I'm so happy to have helped you learn the tools to make your life easier.

[@janila51]

I am a 25 year FTM user and when I first started, I was REALLY sloppy and today have tons of info that should be in the description fields actually listed in Place fields. I was trying to fix them one by one as I came across them but today, with just one report that you taught to me, I was able to move over 2000 records from Place to Description. Thank you!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

😃😄😃😄😃😄😃😄😃😄 This is the only way I know how to smile like crazy after reading this response!

[@godisloveireland]

Yay something i can answer! Ireland is separated into 4 provinces: Ulster(north), Connacht(West), Munster(South and south west) and Leinster(East). Dublin is part of Leinster so that is accurate. There is Dublin city AND county Dublin

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

So, removing the Leinster was NOT a good recommendation by Family Tree Maker. AND users need to be aware that Dublin could be a county OR a city. Dang. You just gave us more evidence that I'm not a fan of some of the FTM recommendations for resolving places. And, the need to insert more education of locations into our genealogy software programs.

[@DaimlerSleeveValve]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics I know it's hard for Americans to adjust, but Irish counties don't use County as a suffix but as a prefix. Thus, "Dublin, Co. Dublin, Ireland" for postal addresses. The anomalous "King's County" and "Queen's County" are now "Co. Offaly" and "Co. Laois". In England, County Durham uses the same form.

[@carolholz1125]

Thanks so much for this tip...I’ve been wanting to do this for so long & was dreading it but this tip is sooo much quicker. 👏👏👏 Cheers from down under 👋

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Yay!!!! You made my day. My goals is to serve people and help them accomplish things they have wanted to do but didn't know now.

[@davidwilkes3845]

For Dublin, Leinster, Ireland ... historically, Ireland had/has 4 provinces (think USA States) which contain the 32 counties ... ignoring politics/borders, it is still the same ... so Dublin city is in Dublin county which is in Leinster province which is on the island of Ireland (Ireland nowadays consists of 2 countries, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland).

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks so much for educating me. So, I'm now more confident that I don't like the restating the location from Dublin, Leinster, Ireland is not well done. I do wonder, should it thus be Dublin County, Leinster, Ireland until we know for certain that it was in Dublin, Dublin County, Leinster, Ireland? Thanks so much for helping myself, and others learn.

[@davidwilkes3845]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics Personally, i just put Dublin, Ireland ... unless I have a specific street address etc ... the last time that I looked at using the FTM address functionality I hated that it tries to omit street addresses ... and for that reason, i used it to check addresses but did not accept a lot of changes ... i am happy with more info in the address to determine location within the city as it helps to locate family clusters ...

[@davidwilkes3845]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics Dublin is not a large county ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_Dublin

[@davidwilkes3845]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics very few people in ireland would include Leinster in an address ... they know it is in the province of Leinster but it is not in daily use as part of an address ... I suppose it might be something like would you use 'Mid West' or 'East Coast' as part of a USA address ? maybe a generic locality description but not an address ...

[@cmccloskey56]

So happy to have found your site! About the Dublin, Leinster, Ireland question - Leinster is the PROVINCE (which contains multiple counties). I don't usually add the PROVINCE to Irish places. Instead, I use townland (basically a crossroads with multiple families), closest town, county, country. Johnsfort, Swinford, Mayo, Ireland If I can find a townland, I keep it! Sometimes historical records show the barony or civil parish, which mean different things and change over time. Townlands don't change.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks for sharing your approach to place names. It would be nice if there was some consistency for all to work towards. That way, when someone is unfamiliar with an area, then, they can look to the common standard to learn more, instead of becoming more and more confused. Would you agree?

[@cmccloskey56]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics Yep! That's why I use Ancestry's recommended place names of city, county, state, country. I don't see a consistent format for Irish records, though. The records themselves sometimes use civil parish, or barony as it existed when the record was made. Things are different today! Yikes!

[@jeromekasper919]

When I am correcting a few places, double-click on the place name to avoid having to go to an individual profile. You immediately get the place name change diaglog.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Thanks for the tip. I thought I covered that as one of the various ways you can change names. However, if it wasn't clear, I'm so glad you shared your tip. It takes a community to cover all the ways to do things!

[@zhubajie6940]

This brings up the question of if one uses the current place name or the place name at the time of the record. Sometimes villages or place names disappear and of course, borders move all the time or are created for various political divisions.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

You are correct. This is an debate that continues in the genealogy community and would be easily solved by technology already developed. For instance, one line could be the historic places names (which are critical to know to find genealogical records). And the second field could be the standardized place names which FamilySearch is pushing folks toward. What would be awesome is that when we then strive to print a family tree, we can opt for the historical or modern place names for our family members. But as researchers, we would have both.

[@gregwilliams386]

That in brackets denotes that Kentucky is a strong possibility and not sourced. This is a standard genealogy indentifer from the 1980's.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Yes. I agree that the format was an acceptable standard in the past. I would prefer to say the confirmed location in the place field (United States) and the strong possibility in the notes. That way we're not propagating possibilities for misunderstandings.

[@rebeccadavey62]

Thanks for this advice - it's a quicker method to look just at the unresolved place names rather than the whole place list.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

The unresolved place list is beneficial for large updates. However, for fine tuning, I like doing things either within a profile as I'm working on a person or from the place list. Thus, I wanted to ensure I covered the three different ways.

[@debbiealexander184]

This is great I ried doing this before manually and was somewhat sucesssfull. I never finsihed it so now I am encouraged to go back and do it with some of your suggestions as part of my cleanup.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Glad it helped! I tested everything on a database with over 1,000 persons. It was a merged mess from multiple sources. I figured we could all learn to clean things up a bit. I hadn't heard anyone else take the time to explain this. So, I did my best. I hope you'll share this video with others in your genealogy circle.

[@jeanmorgan2825]

Thanks Devon. I am working through my placenames and boy do I have a lot

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

No worries. I had thousands!

[@suzannemcclendon]

I used to use Family Tree Maker. It was great, until it wasn't. A big glitch happened during a syncing and it totally wrecked my online tree. It had people married to themselves or to their parents/children, people in there multiple times, and some people no longer have genders, and a host of other issues. It will take me another 40 years to correct it all. I wish it hadn't happened, because it was an easy enough program to use. Now, I have Legacy, but I haven't had any time to learn all about it yet. I am not going to risk anymore syncing with my online trees. Thanks for another great video!

[@davidwilkes3845]

ditto ! I still haven't recovered ... totally screwed up all my sources ... nightmare !

[@suzannemcclendon]

@@davidwilkes3845 I'm sorry it happened to you, too. Good luck with your recovery!

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I'm sorry to hear of these issues. I have run into a few bugs from syncing. Some of the syncing in RootsMagic breaks when I do an update using FTM and want the persons to link to FS. It's kind of complicated. Genealogy software and updating online trees can be such a challenge. I wish there were easier systems.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

David, sorry to hear about sources being messed up. However, I do know that sources between software programs and online trees are another nightmare that I'm not ready to figure out yet.

[@suzannemcclendon]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics I think that everything is a challenge for me these days. Life is like, "Oh, she's getting old. Let's make her get there faster!" :) I wish there were easier systems, too. I don't think that I will ever get Legacy figured out, even with the manual and videos.

[@prye1]

This is great information. I need to do this, and seeing how to do many places at once is going to save lots of time! Thank you.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

You're so welcome. I have a way to do this in RootsMagic that will come out next week. In your genealogy circles, please let other FTM users know about this video.

[@yorkshirelass2553]

Just catching up with this - a great, informative video, thank you so much! Just one question - if you opt to put the additional information in the "Description" field, would it overwrite any information that's already in the information field, or insert/append it to the beginning/end?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

If your trees are synced, you should be able to add information anywhere in the description field.

[@PamsGrotto]

Looking at 6:43 mins in, the folder for 'Canada' has a tick, 'British Columbia' does not have a tick (greyed out) and 'Creston, Grand Forks and Vancouver' have ticks. Why is 'British Columbia' tick greyed out?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

GREAT question. Thanks for looking so closely. The ticks on the left mean you're keeping what's currently in the database. The ticks on the right (with the grayed out lines) means you've changed the entry and you want Family Tree Maker to update the database to that name. Now, I didn't correct everything in this video so some entries will not seem to change when they should have because I was just running a small Demo. Does that help clarify that part?

[@PamsGrotto]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics Yes, thank you so much for answering my question. I do find FTM help notes on this subject very limiting. Could you please answer another question - I have a place 'Amounderness, Lancashire, England', this did not change its boundary in 1974, yet, it has not moved to the 'England' folder, why would that be?

[@junebutka6571]

Thank you for the reminder of place corrections.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

My pleasure!

[@PamsGrotto]

Great tutorial - thank you.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

You are welcome!

[@BrendaHebertLV]

I get frustrated with Townships. When I first started with FTM it allowed me to put in the Townships, an it recognized them as a place name. A few years back it dropped the "Township" designation, so now it wants to designate Sumner Township, Kankakee, Illinois, USA as Sumner, Kankakee, Illinois, USA. (That's an example.)

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Yes. I have noticed that Family Tree Maker does try to push us to standardization. However, that standardization is not in line with what the geopolitical locations use. Some places really must have the township designation in order to be differentiated from another similarly named location. By contrast, RootsMagic allows it. So, that's one point for the other product.

[@BrendaHebertLV]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics I end up typing it in manually, but it bugs me to see the question mark next to it in the window.

[@LanceHall]

Im slowly going through my tree changing "co.," to "County," Ancestry made a mistake early on not having town, county and state as separate fields

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I found that many of the Co that should be County entries were from early GEDcom users who were still in the constraints and shortcuts invented during typing of family group sheets for sharing. I had not suspected that this was an Ancestry problem.

[@gigantor56]

When I was a member of the LDS they suggested that place names be listed as city, county, state. I'm seeing a lot of place names like Denver, Denver County, Colorado, USA. Denver, Denver, CO, USA makes sense to me. Any thoughts?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

While the abbreviations make sense to you, many people become confused with other abbreviations, especially since those state abbreviations have changed over time. So, for the state, it's typically best to have that spelled out. The use of County is important in Ireland, because they often refer to their locations as County Down, County Kerry, etc. In the US, County is often recommended to be included so that people practice consistency and clarity. For instance, let's say you have a location of Denver, Colorado, United States? Is that Denver the city or Denver the county? Without the consistent use of County (regardless of whether you have a City preceding it or not), is worth considering for consistency sake. HOWEVER, if every platform uses geocoding and standardized place names for a second field, then our personal preference for the use of County or not can be trivial because the comparison of locations is based on the standardized field. Those are some of my thoughts.

[@pinwheelgrl9304]

When modern location name vs ancient location name is different, programs always want to use modern, but it may have been in a different county back then or the town had a different name or maybe no longer is there or what if it was just a piece of giant territory before the states were made? Do you just pick the modern place and put the rest in notes?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

What do I do? I strive for historically accurate place names and put the modern place names in the notes section. FTM and Ancestry try to force us into using modern place names but I have found it has created more confusion in my research because, as you mentioned, I look in the wrong county, state, or territory. So, if a program tries to force modern places, I disregard it and use historic names. Thankfully, FamilySearch allows for both names in their family tree. RootsMagic can work with that. I wish the other platforms would follow suit.

[@marilyn5688]

Excellent tips

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Wow. Thanks. My pleasure.

[@LumenTrails]

Thank you for the video! Is there anything similar to this in Roots Magic?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I'm SOOO glad you asked. That's next Monday's video.

[@2ndChanceCrafting]

Does the other programs like Family tree builder do this for Mac?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Family Tree Builder is a MyHeritage product, correct? I'm not sure because I don't use that program since it only serves one website. But, you can use the terminology from this video to see if you can find out more in the help files of Family Tree Builder.

[@irishdawn8387]

I have maybe a dumb question about international places names because it is so confusion of what to do with places like in England, Scotland, or Africa and they have different things on wikipedia like borough, regions, country, post towns and IDK in what format of how to name the place for exampe Paddington do I put Paddington, Westminster or Paddington, London, England

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Fantastic question. The answer depends on the time your ancestor lived in Paddington. A quick search of the place revealed that it is an area within the City of Westminster, in central London. For modern names, then my guess is that place name could be Westminster, London, England (and then in your notes include Paddington) since the City of Westminster was established as a borough in 1965 by the amalgamation of the boroughs of Westminster, Paddington, and St. Marylebone. OR... Some websites say Paddington, London, England, United Kingdom, with a note that says it's part of the city of Westminster. In either case, you'll likely be using a note to add either Paddington or Westminster. Paddington, Westminster, London, England, United Kingdom does not seem accurate based on my preliminary exploration. I would need more time to dive into the place names to have a solid answer. In modern place name cases where things are ambiguous, I often refer to the postal address. For instance, I lived in Houston, Fort Bend County, Texas, United States. Many genealogical programs try to force that place into Houston, Harris County, Texas, United States. Heck, even Google Maps doesn't know this area exists. But, this little section of Fort Bend County was part of the city of Houston but also not. This unincorporated area with the city name of Houston and the county of Fort Bend affected where I went to school, where my parents voted, and where many of our court records are filed. (All of these activities happened in Fort Bend County, not Harris.) Therefore, I use the modern place name based on postal information. Prior to 1965, Paddington was in the county of Middlesex, so the likely accurate place would be Paddington, Middlesex, England back to the 1200s. That makes things easier, doesn't it?

[@shamusosullivan5650]

Are you citing for the time it happened, or for current location? Some cases when searching for records, the new location can help but also stop learning the actual genealogy of movement. It’s not too popular, but we should be adding comments or find a way to say, “Huntington Township, York County(now Adams County), Pennsylvania, United States of America” for location. Because it might screw up hints in algorithm but most people don’t look into the Facts section of a profile and just add or ignore based off quick glance. It would help if ancestry would have two location input boxes of each (historical and current) that could be toggled or even more. For example, PA land warrant can state 1737 Lancaster Co. which in reality was anything west in PA until 1750. So it could be in like 10 plus counties realistically when counting actual settlement patterns and county changes. Then looking at land warrants, your target may be no where near you think they are, and to really know one has to go into surveys section for best location (because surveys were registered years later relatively and use current location in survey report which makes much more sense)

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I AGREE that Ancestry would do well to provide two location boxes and the geocoding option. However, customers have to demand it before they'll add it. I am starting the conversation but need others to contribute to the discussion. The location for an event field as “Huntington Township, York County(now Adams County), Pennsylvania, United States of America” is quite confusing. it would be best to use one or the other and use the Ancestry description field (and the one Family Tree Maker provides) for the 'now Adams County. It would serve the databases better and look cleaner. But I do agree that in any notes and supporting place fields that the 'now in this county' statement is so helpful. I LOVE the example you share in Pennsylvania because I have had something similar happen with Lycoming County, PA. But there are places all around the world that have had city, county, and country boundary changes. It would be best if we have the double location options that you mentioned. Fingers crossed?

[@debbiealexander184]

What do you do when it's a ligitimate city and county and state and it doesn't recognoize it and on't place it. i the folder it should?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I would recommend two things because you can't make FTM do what you want. 1. Use the legitimate city, county, state location. 2. Submit to Family Tree Maker Support and request an update of the location. You will have to submit documentation (like a FamilySearch Wiki or a official city page). www.mackiev.com/techsupport/ftm/livechat.html

[@Deanawat]

Hiya Devon, is there a similar Resolve Place in RM8?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Yep. Check out this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/hnjZaqyLprx2lbM

[@metcalffarms8262]

How do I record place names that have changed names. Ie: alsace Lorraine, bas-rhin, France. Now it is Grand Est, France.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

It depends on whether you want the names of historic places in your tree or modern ones. I'll tell you what I do, and then you can adjust it to fit your preferences. 1. I use historic place names in my tree 2. In FTM, I will then Geocode the modern place from the Place Tab and the "Location" option for each location. I wish that FTM had a notes option on the place field so I could track the name changes with the place page. Alas, they don't, so geocoding is the best strategy I have.

[@gigantor56]

I had 829 place names to correct. I hesitate to click on ignore or desc as I need to look at this closer. Does it make sense to not ignore?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

It makes PERFECT sense to ignore until you have resolved the location. I do that all the time. I don't want to force a change until I'm ABSOLUTELY sure I know that the change recommended or implemented is accurate.

[@milestonewelsh]

What software or app are you working in, please?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Was I not clear in the title of the video or what I said. If not, I hope to make it more clear. The Family Tree Maker program is what I'm using to improve the place names on the Ancestry website. Let me know how I could be more clear.

[@milestonewelsh]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics thank you. I heard you say Family Tree Maker, but I didn't realize it was an app. I appreciate your help.

[@bradh.johnson2113]

What if you are storing place names as they were at the time of the associated event?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

That's a great question and that's my preferred method. You will be fighting with Family Tree Maker and Ancestry because they have a modern place name preference. I use Ancestry and I keep my historic place names even though the website constantly asks me to convert. So, the decision is yours. Keep the modern and deal with the problems I expressed in this video. Or convert and put the historic place names in notes for each event. I WISH there was a better answer but this is one of my biggest gripes.

[@bradh.johnson2113]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics Thanks. Sounds like a great minds category. I too put historic place names in notes for the corresponding facts. A case in point, I have Virginia ancestors dating back to the 1700s. The current naming for where they lived is Preston County WV, which has no records for that era (I checked). They suggested checking with Monongalia County, the county they were created from, while still VA, and the WV and VA Archives. Someone who had not checked with that County would not have known this, and Preston County is not alone. You don't know what you don't know un til you know you don't know.

[@alanheadrick7997]

I have an unrelated question..sorry, I have one family photo from a biological parent. Does anyone know of a good web site that can search this photo for a match? I searched a couple sites and they seemed very scamish.

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

While it's not perfect, you could try the Google Reverse Image Search that I discussed in this video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/raispmOVms2Zbtk

[@evansalp3789]

Is this program free?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

There are very few free programs in genealogy. Sorry, this one is rather expensive compared to others.

[@debbieroot4618]

Can we use Roots Magic?

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

You can. That video goes live next week. Stay tuned!

[@debbieroot4618]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics can’t wait.

[@laven111]

One thing don’t understand is a statement Free White Male or Female . Is that a servant or slave ? Thanks

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

I'm not certain what document that you're finding that statement on. Who created the document will be source to understand what the phrase means. I can give you an example. For early US Census records (something I mentioned in this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/aIuqqWuDnNiqhqM), Free white males or females means they are not servants or slaves. They are citizens in the US who are not obligated to another person who has reached their majority. But, it all depends on the creator of the document and the purposes they created it.

[@davidwilkes3845]

You need to be VERY careful as it forces you to use a fixed list of place names (from Microsoft Bing ?) ... be VERY careful !! I don't like it ... or trust it ...

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Agreed. You have to look through each option very carefully.

[@DaimlerSleeveValve]

Ancestry has some HORRIBLE entries in its gazetteer, and all too many people just accept their version without even bothering to look at the original record. Even when Ancestry have a decent address in their database, they ALWAYS strip this out if you add the record to a tree. Thus: "Address: 826 Wigan Rd., Residence Place: Bolton, Lancashire, England" is saved as "Lancashire, England". EVERY record needs editing before hitting "Save".

[@FamilyHistoryFanatics]

Truer words have not be said before this comment. Thanks, and I firmly agree. I would prefer the entry you put forth to be split as follows. Place description: 826 Wigan Rd Location = Bolton, Lancashire, England

[@DaimlerSleeveValve]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics The address was pasted straight from the Ancestry page. There ought not to be any distinction between "address", "place" and "location". The CORRECT address would be "826, Wigan Rd, Bolton, Lancashire, England", which is what would have appeared on the front of an envelope at the time.

[@DaimlerSleeveValve]

@@FamilyHistoryFanatics FindMyPast trees also make this absurd distinction between parts of an address. Their web interface has a sheet for tidying up place names, but they try to hide street addresses from you. Good software not only lets you adjust the addresses, but lts you find out where those addresses have been used, so you can cross-check before making changes.