FINDING DATA PROBLEMS

1
FINDING DATA PROBLEMS

• Do a Preview of the Possible Problems report by
  Print/Lists/Possible Problems/Preview -- gives a
  list of logical data errors, e.g. "Children in a
  family are in wrong birth order" or "Child was
  born before its mother", etc.
• Go through the list and begin correcting the
  errors and redo the list to reflect your
  corrections
• Can change some options of what PAF shows as
  errors -- click on Options button on Print Menu
  before you run Possible Problems list

2

• "Loops" in the data, e.g. someone who is linked
  as their own grandparent
• Sometimes very difficult to find, but can try the
  following
• Check Possible Problems report to see if a child
  was born when parents were not appropriate ages,
  or
• Examine pedigree views and look for surnames
  occurring twice in last column
• AncestralAuthor program -- forms Adobe pdf files
  (Portable Document Format) from GEDCOM's and in
  the process checks for loops in the data --
  entire program is helpful, but free version is
  good enough to find loops -- http//www.AncestralA
  uthor.com
• To break a loop unlink the child from the parents
  where the first "repeat" occurs

3
    SETTING COLUMNS IN INDIVIDUAL VIEW TO FIND
PROBLEMS

• Setting columns to show event dates and/or places
  (birth, christening, burial, and death) will show
  you some problems with dates and/or places --
  wrong spelling, no county shown, dates lacking,
  etc.
• Can select which columns to show in Individual
  View -- right-click any column heading to open
  menu, then left-click Add or Modify Columns, and
  select the columns you want to show
• Move items between the left and right panes by
  the arrows "gt" and "lt"
• Move items up or down in the right pane to get
  the order you want the columns to be in, then
  press OK

4

• Can control width of columns by dragging the
  column title separators right or left
• Can also move entire columns by dragging and
  dropping their headings to the right or left
• Can sort the data by RIN's or alphabetically by
  clicking in title bars of those two columns --
  second click there reverses the sort order --
  can't sort by any other column, unfortunately

5

• Can not show marriage places nor dates in PAF's
  Individual View, unfortunately -- other programs
  will, e.g. GENViewer (see below in Auxiliary
  Tools paragraph), and can even sort data by any
  column in GENViewer
• To see if names and places are entered in mixed
  case, go to Tools/Preferences/Names and uncheck
  Show Surnames in Caps -- if surnames or places
  are still capitalized (except for temple codes)
  they were entered that way -- see Changing to
  Mixed Case, below

6
    PLACES SORTED ALPHABETICALLY TO FIND PROBLEMS

• To find corrections needed, can use a Places
  Sorted Alphabetically list and problem places
  show up immediately
• Can Preview the Places Sorted Alphabetically list
  by Print/Lists/Places Sorted Alphabetically/Previe
  w

7

• Check Print-to-File (lower right hand side of
  screen), then Print, to save it as a .rtf file
  (rich text file) -- call it something like
  "places.rtf"
• Opens places.rtf in a window in Notepad
• Can open places.rtf in Wordpad (or Word,
  WordPerfect, etc.) and PAF database in another
  window, and have these windows cascaded
  (overlapping), or side-by-side, or both full
  screen, and move back and forth between them --
  use RIN's from places.rtf to know where to go to
  in PAF to make correction

8

• Can remake this list, clear WordPad, and load the
  new version after making some corrections so it
  shows the changes you have already made
• If the Places Sorted Alphabetically list doesn't
  show the RIN's, you need to tell PAF you want
  RIN's appended to names by going to
  Preferences/Names and checking the box to append
  RIN's -- then remake your Places Sorted
  Alphabetically list

9
MAKING CORRECTIONS IN PAF

• You can always correct anything by hand, but
  there are easier ways to correct many things

10
    MIXED CASE -- names and places should be
entered in mixed case with large and small letters

• Run PAF Pal to expand all state names and remove
  USA from all entries (details below in Auxiliary
  Tools)
• Change to mixed case by Tools/Change Names and
  Places to Mixed Case -- reason for spelling out
  state names and removing USA before you change to
  mixed case is so that it doesn't change things
  like MA to Ma and USA to Usa, or you will have to
  correct those later

11

• US Cities Galore will also change places to mixed
  case in a GEDCOM, but won't operate on a PAF
  database
• After correcting names and places go back to
  Preferences/Names and turn Capitalize Surnames
  back on so surnames are easy to read

12
    CORRECTIONS USING THE PICK ARROWS

• If you have found several RIN's that need the
  same place correction, double click on an
  individual, correct the problem place, go to
  another field needing the same place, and click
  on the place field -- the pick arrow (small
  inverted triangle) at the right end of the line
  contains a list of the last 15 places you have
  entered, with the corrected one at the top of the
  list -- click on it to enter it in the place
  field  repeat this for others needing that same
  place
• This works well if there are only a few places
  needing that correction and you know which ones
  they are

13
 CORRECTIONS USING GLOBAL SEARCH AND REPLACE (or
destroy!)

• If many RIN's need the same correction, or if you
  don't know how many need it, use Global Search
  and Replace
• Be sure you have a current backup before using
  this option
• Locate an individual needing the correction and
  copy-and-paste incorrect data into the clipboard

14

• Go to Tools/Global Search and Replace, and paste
  the incorrect data into the Find field and also
  into the Replace With field and then correct the
  Replace field and click Replace -- will change
  all instances of the incorrect data of that type
  in any place field, whether you know the RIN's
  needing it or not
• To be on the safe side and prevent problems,
  check the "Case Sensitive" box in Global Search
  and Replace
• If you get results you didn't want, run Global
  Search and Replace again to correct them to what
  they should be.

15
AUXILIARY TOOLS FOR PLACE NAMES

• To find correct spelling of places, or which
  county a town is in, etc., there are many tools
  available such as the following
• Family History Library Catalog (FHLC)
• Go to Search by Place, type in city, and if FHL
  has any records from there, you will see county
  and state

16
Getty Museum Thesaurus

• Getty Museum Thesaurus from Getty Art Museum in
  Los Angeles is a very helpful web site to find
  info about places world-wide
• http//www.getty.edu/research/tools/vocabulary/tgn
  /
• To find this web site without having to remember
  this URL, do a Google search (google.com) for
  "Getty Thesaurus" and it comes up near the top
• Gives all places, rivers, mountains, etc.,
  containing that name world-wide
• Shows a hierarchy of the places from smallest
  jurisdiction to largest historical names of the
  location and geographical coordinates
• Can copy all data into your PAF notes, if you
  want

17
U.S. Geological Survey

• U.S. Geological Survey -- GNIS places 
  http//geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnis/web_query.gnis_w
  eb_query_form -- U.S. places, includes cities,
  rivers,

18
Columbia Gazetteer of North America

• Columbia Gazetteer of North America --
  http//www.bartleby.com/69/ -- helpful text-form
  information about places, can be copied into
  sources

19
Parish Locator for Windows (British Isles)

• Parish Locator for Windows (British Isles)
  --http//www.ancestry.com/library/view/columns/eas
  tman/3208.asp -- has 25,000 parishes, their
  counties, and when records began in that parish
  -- program is free, but must be downloaded and
  installed on your computer

20
ParLoc 2.5 (British Isles)

• ParLoc 2.5 (British Isles) -- http//www.parloc.pw
  p.blueyonder.co.uk/Frame.htm -- has 15,000
  parishes and counties, will draw map of
  surrounding parishes -- program is free, but must
  be downloaded and installed on your computer

21
PAF Pal -- commercial program (18)

• PAF 5.2 requires PAF Pal 5.1
• Has to be installed on the computer with PAF and
  can then run it from inside PAF 5.2 by clicking
  on Tools/PAF Pal
• Has many uses, including expanding or contracting
  names for states, Canadian provinces, British
  counties add/delete "USA", remove "Submitted's"
  and/or all LDS data change temple codes change
  names or parts of names -- can do any of these by
  hand, but you have to do states one at a time,
  while PAF Pal does them all at once, for example

22
PAF Pal

• PAF Pal only recognizes and changes to or from
  standard postal abbreviations for U.S. states,
  e.g. MA, not Mass, nor even MA. (MA followed by a
  period), since those are not standard postal
  codes 
• For British counties and Canadian provinces it
  uses the 4-letter codes that the FHL uses, not
  the standard Chapman country and county codes and
  it does not work for counties in Scotland, Wales,
  Channel Islands, and Isle of Man since it thinks
  they are in England instead of being countries in
  the UK

23
World Place Advisor -- commercial program (20)
-- http//progenysoftware.com/

• Program that shows jurisdictions world-wide to
  check for counties, provinces, etc.
• Runs on PAF, GEDCOM's, and several other types of
  databases and shows the errors in places, but
  doesn't fix them so you have to fix them yourself

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• Points out errors in spelling, ambiguity,
  jurisdiction
• Has 3 million towns and cities -- can add others
• Very helpful, especially for editing large
  databases

25
US Cities Galore -- commercial program (20),
-http//uscitiesgalore.com

• Runs separately from PAF and finds U.S. info,
  i.e. cities in counties, counties in states (only
  U.S. info)
• Can copy and paste any of the data into your PAF
  file or any other
• Has an internal place database of 193,000 U.S.
  cities, counties, and states -- new version
  coming out soon with more

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• Runs separately from PAF and finds U.S. info,
  i.e. cities in counties, counties in states (only
  U.S. info)
• Can copy and paste any of the data into your PAF
  file or any other
• Has an internal place database of 193,000 U.S.
  cities, counties, and states -- new version
  coming out soon with more
• Doesn't make the changes in your GEDCOM until you
  save it -- save it with a new name so you don't
  wipe out the old GEDCOM in case you want to go
  back to it

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• Then have it open the corrected GEDCOM and
  analyze that so you can correct more locations
• USCG expands state abbreviations and makes the
  spacing uniform
• The data columns can be sorted alphabetically by
  clicking on the column headings -- makes finding
  and correcting problems very easy -- but,
  remember, this is only on a GEDCOM, not a PAF
  database
• Also has a "global search and replace" function
  on the "corrected locations" column and this
  works even on non-U.S. places

28
GENViewer -- commercial program (20), --
http//mudcreek.ca/

• Is a viewer, not an editor, so can view PAF or
  GEDCOM data, but can't edit it in GENViewer
• Very helpful program in many ways, e.g. you can
  set columns to show all the place data and can
  sort on any column to see problems

29

• Works on any PAF database and/or GEDCOM file and
  there are versions for Legacy, Family Tree Maker,
  and other genealogy programs
• Can download and try out the full version free
  for 15 days
• Also does Internet searches on selected data

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UPDATING TEMPLE CODES

• Good list of temple codes, both old and new,
  on http//www.geocities.com/rgpassey/temple/abclis
  t.htm
• Some ways to determine which incorrect temple
  codes you have in your PAF database
• Use GENViewer with the columns set for the
  temples and sort on these columns to see the
  codes that are wrong -- the incorrect ones show
  up alphabetically between the correct ones

31

• Good list of temple codes, both old and new,
  on http//www.geocities.com/rgpassey/temple/abclis
  t.htm
• Some ways to determine which incorrect temple
  codes you have in your PAF database
• Use GENViewer with the columns set for the
  temples and sort on these columns to see the
  codes that are wrong -- the incorrect ones show
  up alphabetically between the correct ones

32

• Make a GEDCOM of entire file and import it into a
  new temporary database -- listing file for the
  import will show the incorrect temple codes in
  your original file, but not in order and will
  repeat all the incorrect ones each time they
  occur
• Make a custom report as discussed below -- need
  to know how to do a custom report for this

33

• Summary of doing a custom report to find
  incorrect temple codes -- select all individuals
  with any ordinance done and have the report show
  RIN, Name, Sex, Baptism Temple, Endowment Temple,
  Sealing to Parents Temple, and Sealing to Spouse
  Temple
• Sort the custom report on Baptism Temple, save it
  to a text file, and open it in Wordpad --
  incorrect temple codes show up alphabetically
  between the correct ones -- make the corrections
  by Global Search and Replace on Temple Codes

34

• After correcting the incorrect  codes in the
  Baptism Temple list, remake the custom report,
  which will now contain corrections in all temple
  fields for temples you already did -- sort this
  new report on the Endowment Temple to find more
  incorrect ones that didn't show up before,
  correct these, and repeat this for the Sealing to
  Parents Temple
• Note  The custom report in PAF 5.2 will not sort
  correctly on the Sealing to Spouse Temple (bug in
  PAF 5.2), so you have to look over that list
  yourself, but most incorrect temple codes will
  have already been found and corrected from the
  earlier sortings

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• Start working through your database verifying and
  making corrections until everything is accurate,
  complete, and uniform.