Family Historian

[John Paul]

This post is an FYI for anyone interested.

After all my trying of getting a gedcom from Ancestry.com and merging it with my tng gedcom and not messing with the IDs,  I finally tried Family Historian.  It has solved all that for me.  It was easier than I thought it would be.

Here are the steps I used to merge the 2 gedcoms:
Installed Family Historian. ( I downloaded the 30 day trial version, but I'll be purchasing the full licensed version)
Imported my TNG gedcom into a new project
Downloaded my tree from Ancestry and saved it to my PC.
Did a merge/compare files and chose the Ancestry gedcom on my PC and then merged it into my project with the TNG data.
I kept all my TNG IDs in place and basically merged the existing data and added all the new data from ancestry that I didn't have in TNG.
Exported a new gedcom from Family Historian and imported it to my local test site.  No issues, no duplicates, it just worked..for me.
When I was satisfied with the local host, I imported the new gedcom to my live site.

I'm still learning what all Family Historian can do, but for me it's a keeper.  Here's the link to Family Historian if anyone is interested:  Family Historian v7

Screenshot included.

Hope this may help someone.

Edited November 18, 2023 by John Paul
Added screenshot

[ADC]

Family Historian is a great package.

There is a very active user group you can join here: https://www.fhug.org.uk/

The forums are quite active, but can get a bit technical at times. Most queries will be answered quickly.

Good luck with it John Paul, it is a very powerful piece of software.

[John Paul]

17 hours ago, ADC said:

Good luck with it John Paul, it is a very powerful piece of software.

Thanks ADC.  Yea I can see it is a very powerful app.  Seems well thought out and well made.  I'd like to see it where it can eventually automatically update from Ancestry, but I'm very content to add to TNG the way I did, and that was my first try right out the box.

[ADC]

I'm not sure if you have discovered the Plugin Store for Family Historian yet, but if not, have a look. They are (free) add-in pieces of code for Family Historian that perform specific functions. They could be thought of as Mods in a way.

Two of the popular ones are the Export GEDCOM plug-in by Mike Tate that handles a huge variety of exports from FH to other apps, including TNG (although, as you've found, FH produces a very friendly TNG output anyway). There is another Plugin that syncs your FH tree with Ancestry. It is a one-way sync from FH to Ancestry, not the other way, but it allows you to do all your tree work in FH and then export out to other platforms. It is a little bit advanced, but worth having a look to see if it matches your workflow.

[John Paul]

Thanks again, ADC, I'll be sure to check them out.

[omarquet]

Hello John-Paul,

I also used FH to merge my TNG and MyHeritage tree. The merge tool of FH is a must have, and FH as a whole is a very strong desktop program. (Try its descendant narrative report).  

[tngrlkrz]

Ditto the recommendations for Family Historian.  In 2003-4 I started out Legacy Family Tree v4 , which was very useful for my early stage of merging many gedcoms.  However, later versions (8 and 9) I found to be sluggish  even on my latest Windows laptops. I looked at Family Tree Maker also, which, IMO, seemed slow to load and lacks quick indexing and ID listing. Six years ago, I tried Family Historian, and have never looked back. It is fast and full featured at a reasonable price. It is my main desktop software from which all TNG data originates. And yes, plugins, there are many useful ones contributed by the user group.  I helped test the Export to TNG and Legacy plugins for Mike Tate, who is a most well known plugin author and answers questions on many topics from the large user base using the FH forum (FHUG).  Also, Calico Pie, the business owning FH, keeps the software up to date with regular version updates.

[John Paul]

Well it looks like I made the correct choice with Family Historian.  I'm heading over the see the plugins now. 

[John Paul]

6 hours ago, tngrlkrz said:

I helped test the Export to TNG and Legacy plugins for Mike Tate

I'm not seeing those plugins in the plugin store. or in Mike Tate's plugins.  Are they under a different name or something?

[Chris Lloyd]

26 minutes ago, John Paul said:

I'm not seeing those plugins in the plugin store. or in Mike Tate's plugins.  Are they under a different name or something?

Open FH go to tools menu scroll down to plugins....

[John Paul]

1 hour ago, Chris Lloyd said:

Open FH go to tools menu scroll down to plugins....

I cannot find Export to TNG by Mike Tate in the plugin store.  please advise.

[ADC]

Here's the link John Paul

https://pluginstore.family-historian.co.uk/page/plugin/export-gedcom-file

Cheers, Adrian

[John Paul]

Thanks, Adrian, got it.  I'll let you know how I do with.  Merging dup's right now....friggin ancestry.  It looks like I'm going to start using FH as my primary genealogy app from now on.

 

[Ken Roy]

Interesting that no one has taken the time to add Family Historian to the TNG Wiki Software nor to document it in the Desktop categories on the TNG Wiki

Edited - Family Historian was added to the Desktop Gotchas 

 

[Ken Roy]

Does Family Historian support direct import from PAF?  or is it best to import from a TNG exported GEDCOM?

[ADC]

2 hours ago, Ken Roy said:

Does Family Historian support direct import from PAF?

I had a look as best I could at this Ken, but it isn't my area of expertise in Family Historian. The short story is it doesn't appear to have a direct import facility for PAF files. The two main genealogy programs it has direct imports for are Roots Magic and The Master Genealogist. 

Family Historian claims to be 100% GEDCOM compliant, and it's working files are GEDCOM files. It will open any GEDCOM file with the caveat that other software may not be 100% compliant so they will not produce compliant files. Also, of course, custom tags may be used (by FH and other software) which, although GEDCOM compliant, will mean nothing to a different application.

I have not used PAF for a very long time, but my recollection was it used GEDCOM files directly? Is that wrong? If they are GEDCOM files, FH will read them directly, regardless of the extension.

I didn't realise there was a Software / Desktop section on the Wiki, as I don't use the Wiki that much. I note the last entry for FH was written 10+ years ago, and FH is now version 7. However, just skimming the article, I don't think there is much to add.

[Ken Roy]

Thanks Adrian,

I am still using PAF mainly because it is still the quickest data entry program even though it is no longer supported.  I have played with RootsMagic over the years but never made the jump to convert to it  Now that they have dropped their support forum for Facebook groups, I have not purchased RootsMagic 9 since I quit using Facebook several years ago and am not interested in going back to that social network.

I may look at Family Historian next week after our son and his children have gone back to Texas. 

[tngrlkrz]

On 11/20/2023 at 8:15 AM, Ken Roy said:

Does Family Historian support direct import from PAF? 

Ken,    Here's a link to discussion of importing from various products:  https://www.fhug.org.uk/kb/kb-article/importing-to-famil-historian/

The PAF section indicates: ƒh cannot import Personal Ancestral Files directly, so GEDCOM transfer is required.  However, this article applies to FH v5.2, and the current version is 7.

There is a plugin in the FH plugin store named Import from PAF   which seems current.  Written by the FH expert, Mike Tate 'Tatewise' .

I think Family Historian User Forum (FHUG) is an excellent source with a very good search mechanism for PAF or any other genealogy related discussion.

[tngrlkrz]

7 hours ago, John Paul said:

It looks like I'm going to start using FH

Sorry about the plugin name; Mike Tate combined all of the destination software options into the one plugin, Export Gedcom File .  

Once loaded, you select the 'GEDCOM destination' option .  There are then pages of additional options that are tailored to that choice.

[John Paul]

On 11/20/2023 at 2:10 PM, tngrlkrz said:

Sorry about the plugin name; Mike Tate combined all of the destination software options into the one plugin, Export Gedcom File .  

Thanks Ron, got it.

Now when I export a new gedcom from FH7, and before I import it into TNG, should tick replace all current data, or should I empty the tng_children, tng_people and tng_families tables?  If so are they the ony 3 tables or are there some more I need to empty?

[ADC]

Because I use FH as my main database, when I import into TNG, I overwrite everything, by ticking the 'replace all current data' option. TNG then rebuilds its tables based on the new import. 

You do not need to empty any tables yourself, this will happen before a GEDCOM import if you select 'replace all current data'.

It is absolutely imperative that you do a full table backup before doing an import! Never skip this step. If the import hasn't worked as you want it to, you can immediately restore all your tables and get back to where you were. Also, if the GEDCOM import fails (and this appears to be an increasing problem lately), again you can reload your data. 

[tngrlkrz]

9 hours ago, John Paul said:

should tick replace all current data

This is not for everyone, but since I import *all* data periodically from FH, I follow this procedure, which has very seldom given me problems. No data is input directly into TNG.

• Admin:Trees:Clear   to empty all tables, since all originates from FH's gedcom. (Except new physical media, which were put in place earlier).
• Admin:Import/Export:Import: accept data for new event types, replace all current data, upper case surnames, import media links, import latitude/longitude
• Admin:Import/Export:Post-Import Utilities: track lines, sort children, sort spouses
• Admin:Media:Thumbnails: no boxes checked: generate, assign defaults  (this step ensures physical thumbnails are linked)

I maybe wouldn't have to do the 'clear' but it ensures all is refreshed.  Also, Person ID's are the same in FH as TNG.

Of course, have a good backup. I rely on my host provider's system backup, or if local, backup of the tng root folder and all subfolders.

 

[omarquet]

On 11/22/2023 at 7:19 AM, John Paul said:

before I import it into TNG, should I replace all current data, or should I empty the tng_children, tng_people and tng_families tables?  

I use the same method as Adrian: I replace all data by ticking the 'replace all current data' option. It works as a charm. And I do not make a back-up because my internet provider makes a back-up in a regular base. (But maybe I should... ) 

Keep in mind that cemeteries and their link with headstones are not managed in FH. The same for Histories and Albums.

The witnesses from FH are not imported correctly in TNG, and the different handling of the ASSO tag by TNG and FH remains an issue.

Correction: Now the witnesses from FH ARE imported in TNG like they should thanks to Mike Tate's continuous support of the Gedcom Plugin.