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Archiver > APG > 2004-04 > 1081787171


From: "Annette Hulse" <>
Subject: Re: [APG] How to advice needed on Ancestry.com search
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2004 09:26:17 -0700
References: <5.2.0.9.2.20040408212706.03ad0800@pop.pacbell.yahoo.com>


Annette, Joan, and others:

Following up on Joan's great input, here's how I would use the data by
copying into an Excel spreadsheet (and I have done this on many similar
tasks). I echo Joan's comment about the value if you will be working with
the data very much -- it is some work to set it up, but in my experience the
result is very useful.

To put this data into Excel, start with Joan's #3 below (COPY data from each
individual data screen -- but you don't have to do the search/replace, as
I'll explain). PASTE it into an Excel spread sheet -- it will take 3
columns: one for the data labels, one that will be blank, and one with the
data. PASTE the next entry horizontally next to it (i.e., the second entry
will be in Columns D/E/F, the 3rd in Columns G/H/I, etc.). Do this for all
entries that have the same fields (e.g., the 1920's).

Highlight everything you have on the screen, and EDIT/COPY.

Go to another worksheet (or lower on the same sheet, but a new worksheet is
less confusing) and EDIT/PASTE SPECIAL. Click the box that says
"TRANSPOSE". That will "turn" the data 90 degrees, so that now the each
column (instead
of row) is a different data element. With the data still highlighted, go to
DATA/SORT and sort by the first column in which your data appears (probably
column A). All the blanks will move to the bottom (the rows that used to be
the blank columns, such as Column E), and all the "data label" rows will be
together (the rows that used to be the first column in each set that you
pasted from Ancestry). Cut one of the data labels rows, and paste it at the
top of your data. Delete the remaining rows of data labels.

Do this for each of the sets where the data labels differ. When you are
finished, then you can put them together at the end by lining up the data
columns (inserting blank columns where the data don't exist in that set). In
this example, you would have Column A (Name) for the 1920's and 1940's data,
but for the 1930's data Column A would be blank. Column B (Date of Death)
and Column C (Age) would exist for all three, but Column D (Gender) would be
blank for the 1920's deaths. And so on ...

I like spreadsheets better than word processors for doing tasks like this
because I can format them more easily. For example, I can "hide" columns
I'm not using, or rows that aren't pertinent to the task at hand. But they
are only hidden, not deleted, so I can always get them back. I can choose
to wrap text within a cell, or let it truncate (but still not lose it). I
can easily reduce to fit on a page (assuming I can read it!), or I can
create rows/column headers that repeat if it splits into more than 1 page. I
can easily sort and format differently (fonts, colors, italics, bold) for
various criteria, and then re-sort on different criteria but keeping my
information differentiated. And that's just a few examples.

Hope this helps!

Annette Hulse
Los Altos, CA
"The Other Annette" :-)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joan Lowrey" <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2004 11:13 PM
Subject: Re: [APG] How to advice needed on Ancestry.com search


> Annette,
>
> The index and the individual data are at two different levels, so you
can't
> change what's displayed on the index. But you can create your own index
> with all of the data in several ways.
>
> First, here is a method that will simplify getting that additional data.
> This way you can scroll through all the Womack entries without having to
go
> back to the index each time to get the next person.
>
> After you search for Womack and get the index, you'll see some people
> with other surnames who have Womack as either a first name or middle name.
>
> * Click the first person with Womack as a surname (this person
> happens to have no given name, obviously a stillborn child or one who
> didn't live very long). This will give you this person's personal data, as
> you know. This person is the start of the Womack list.
>
> * Above "What to do next?", click "Next match" to see the next
person.
>
> Note that through 1929, there are two more fields -- volume and
> certificate number. Strangely, for the 1930s there are no names on the
> index, but death date, age and Parish are listed. Starting with the 1940s,
> names are back, and there are two additional fields -- sex and race.
>
> Next, to create the index you want, you have several choices:
>
> 1) You can print each page of the index and write the additional
> information next to each entry. Print only Pages 1 to 1 so you don't print
> excess paper.
>
> 2) You can cut-&-paste the index entries into your word processor and type
> the additional data next to each entry. Advantages: Less pages, as you
will
> have a more condensed list, and you can create tabs to allow for sorting
of
> each field. If you want to do really effective sorting, you should set
> separate tabs for first name, middle name, surname, day of death, month of
> death, and year of death. Ages are a problem, because infants' ages in
> minutes, hours, or days, and the rest include the word "years." I think I
> would set a separate tab for the number and a separate tab for the time
> designation.
>
> 3) You can cut-&-paste the text from each individual data screen into your
> word processor. Advantages: You won't have to type any data.
Disadvantage:
> You will have to do find/search-&-replace to eliminate all the text for
the
> field names and their associated tabs (but doing each field globally is
> really fast).
>
> Yes, I saw that there are 183 Womacks in this database, and yes, this will
> take some time to accomplish. But you have a complete list, fully
sortable,
> which you will probably use over and over again. I think it would be worth
> the effort. I tried several pages and it wasn't that difficult. I am sure
> some others on this list can tell us how to capture this date and put in
> into Excel. I would appreciate hearing how to do that, too. I just do
> everything in WordPerfect and find it equally as efficient.
>
> Joan Neumann Lowrey
> La Jolla, California
>
> At 11:38 PM 4/8/04 -0400, wrote:
> >Help:
> >
> >Can anyone give me instructions on how to do a search on Ancestry.com to
> >achieve the following? Or can it be done?
> >
> >All WOMACK (or other surname) listed in the Louisiana Death Records AND
have
> >the listing include the vol and certificate number as well as the age and
> >date
> >of death and place? I really don't want to have to go to each individual
> >entry! There were a lot of Womacks in La!
> >
> >I have a total subscription to Ancestry.
> >
> >Annette
> >
> >Annette Carpenter Womack
> >Assistant State Coordinator LaGenWeb
> >Parish Coordinator of Winn Parish Web Page
> >Winnfield LA Family History Center Director
> >Author and compiler of books on Louisiana
> >Professional Genealogist Specializing in North Louisiana research
> >Member of Association of Professional Genealogists - Louisiana Chapter
Contact
> >Member of International Society of Family History Writers & Editors
> >ftp://members.aol.com/annettewomack/genealogy/gservices.htm
>
>
> ==== APG Mailing List ====
> The Association of Professional Genealogists
> http://www.apgen.org/publications/apg-l/index.html
>
>


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