Tom,
Thanks for your suggestions. I found a family tree on Ancestry the other day with a few thousand names, but I have no way of knowing what is actually right or sourced, etc. Some of it sounds right. So, do I download (not sure how yet) everything into Legacy and then start trying to find sources? Since I don't do well with "clutter" in my life, I'm not sure how to pick my way through the stacks of names. But, I don't want to have to manually enter 5000 names either. And how do I fix something, like a relationship, or delete names that are completely wrong? And..... Sorry, I am in a little bit of a panic. Deep breath. I know that I can benefit from someone else's research as a starting point for my own, so I don't want to reinvent the proverbial wheel. Would taking one name on the tree and finding sources that verify their relationship to me and then entering that name into my Legacy DB be too cumbersome? Or is there a better way? Sherry ----- Original Message ----- From: "TomK" <giz...@gmail.com> To: LegacyUserGroup@legacyfamilytree.com Sent: Wednesday, September 16, 2009 9:08:11 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Just Starting Out Sherry, You asked: "When I find online information on my family and perhaps family trees that have been submitted how do I handle that? Do I download all the information and then go about trying to verify it? " I would be careful with what information you enter into your database that you pick up from online trees that do not list sources, but I personally do include such information if it seems to help obtain clues. Two things I would suggest when you add information to your database is that: 1) You always source the fields you populate so that later you know where and from whom you recorded the information. There is nothing worse than to look at your database and wonder where you got a specific piece of information, especially if you find other records whose data conflicts with what you already have. 2) As I enter the source information, I make use of Legacy's Surety Level, and use either 1 (Marginal), or 0 (Have Not Decided Yet) to be able to later identify those entries that I'm not sure of. You can include the Surety Level when you print Source Citations in your reports. Once so entered, I then also look for supporting source documentation to verify/validate the information. Tom On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 12:48 PM, < daughterofmyfat...@comcast.net > wrote: Hi Everyone, My name is Sherry and I've just joined the group and have been watching it for about a week now. I haven't started on my family genealogy yet, so I have only purchased Legacy 7 with all the updates. Ron brought up a good point when he wrote: <Herein lies a problem which all of us have probably faced when first starting out on our ancestral trail - we do not <know where we are going! The earlier this decision is taken then the earlier the format of the database can be <set. It also follows that one may need more than one database, if there are to be multiple output formats. I've done some thinking about this and decided that the main reasons I want to use Legacy for are: 1) To upload my data to FamilySearch 2) Print some simple charts that show my direct line that includes their spouses and children 3) To create a simple web page with the information I find about my ancestors, including interesting stories, data, and sources for a very small family of a brother, sister, daughter, and nephew. I borrowed the first set of CDs on Legacy and watched them several times and they have helped me to learn how to get around the program and enter data. However, I am still left with trying to design my database as Ron pointed out. And, deciding on a way to enter sources, media, etc. When I find online information on my family and perhaps family trees that have been submitted how do I handle that? Do I download all the information and then go about trying to verify it? And probably many other things that I don't know enough about to even ask a question. Would you mind giving me some guidance about how to go about this? Sherry Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
