This is long, but an excellent review of the Gedcom resources on the net.
Thanks GalinaHist.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 23:59:01 EDT
From: GaLinaHist(a)aol.com
To: ROOTS-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: Gathering the GEDCOMS
Resent-Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 22:16:20 -0700 (PDT)
Resent-From: ROOTS-M(a)rootsweb.com
GREAT! #8
--->Genealogy Research Easy Access Tip!
This information is excerpted from "How to Do Research on the Internet"
http://www.researchonline.net/res1.htm
Permission is explicitly granted to repost this message to other maling lists.
GATHERING THE GEDCOMS
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying,
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.
n Robert Herrick (1591-1674)
There are about a dozen sites on the internet that are directories or
collections of GEDCOM files.
This GREAT tip gives an overview of what you'll find and how to use them.
GEDCOM files are basically text files of family records which contain "tags"
that identify each field of the record and ties the family together. To
effectively utilize GEDCOM files you will need a Genealogy Program such as
Ultimate Family Tree. These programs allow you to organize your family
history and print a variety of reports. They also allow you to import
GEDCOMs from other researchers and combine their work with yours. Since
these are all the results of other's research, the quality will vary greatly
from one to another, and you should confirm any information you find in
GEDCOMs before trying to build on the data.
There are a number of tools for viewing and manipulating GEDCOM files in the
Genealogy Forum of AOL and on the internet at:
http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/genealogy/ftp/gedcom/INDEX.html
There are several libraries of GEDCOM files available on the internet.
Additionally, the World Family Tree project sells a number of CD-ROMS of
GEDCOM files.
Basically, the GEDCOM collections on line, falls into two categories: (1)
collections of actual GEDCOM files on line and (2) "Published" GEDCOMS -
files or sites which are not in the native GEDCOM format, but are the results
of publishing various reports from GEDCOM files.
1. Collections of GEDCOM files on line:
GENSERV has a large collection of GEDCOM files available on line. This
collection is maintained by Cliff Manis and is accessible at:
http://www.genserv.com
To participate in his program, Cliff requests that you provide a GEDCOM file
of your own, then you may search his files of over 13 million names and
retrieve the files of interest to you.
Family Tree Maker has several hundred CD-ROMs of GEDCOM files which have been
submitted by individuals. Their index may be searched at
http://www.familytreemaker.com
You may then purchase the CD-ROM with the families of interest to you.
Prior to the popularization of the internet in 1996, there were large
collections of GEDCOM files available on GEnie, Fidonet, and Delphi. I do
not know the status of those files now.
Compuserve also has a large collection of GEDCOM files. I do not know the
extent of the files available, nor do I believe that they have been indexed.
Compuserve members may retrieve the files from their archives.
America On Line has a collection of approximately 3,600 GEDCOM files. These
are available for download via AOL members. Some 2.4 million names are in
the files. They have been partially indexed by Eastern Digital Resources as
a part of The Genealogist's Index to the World Wide Web. This index is
available on CD-ROM for $12.00. Details are on line at:
http://members.aol.com/genwebindx
Genealogy.org has a collection of approximately 550 GEDCOM files which are
accessible via the WWW or via FTP. These files and their index are
maintained by Andrew J. Morris and the files are also indexed on the
Genealogist's Index to the World Wide Web mentioned above. Since many of
the files are quite large, I recommend accessing the site via FTP.
Instructions for access are on their web site:
http://www.genealogy.org
There is a collection of approximately 100 GEDCOM files located at:
http://pixel.cs.vt.edu/library/gedcom/
2. "Published GEDCOMs" on line.
The largest initiative in this area to date is Gene Stark's GENDEX. Gene
maintains a site index to all of the individuals who have used his GED2HTML
software to publish their family histories on line. The site index is
located at:
http://www.gendex.com
Both of the two sites listed below now have an extensive collection of home
pages created by individuals from their own personal GEDCOM files. Various
formats and reports are represented. The GEDCOM file itself is not
available, but you can contact the owner if you find something of interest.
http://www.ancestry.com
http://www.familytreemaker.com
The following two sites do not have the full GEDCOM files accessible, but
both contain extensive indexes to their family group sheets which are derived
from GEDCOM files. These indexes are a great resource as they also contain
dates, location and marriage information.
Kindred Konnections
http://www.kindredkonnections.com
Yates Publishing
http://www.sanbachs.com/cdi.html
The Grandfather of all GEDCOM collections is the Ancestral File of the LDS
church. It is now searchable at
http://www.familysearch.org
You can take a diskette to your local FHC library and retrieve the GEDCOM
formatted records that are of interest.
GREAT! #8
--->Genealogy Research Easy Access Tip!
This information is excerpted from "How to Do Research on the Internet"
http://www.researchonline.net/res1.htm
Permission is explicitly granted to repost this message to other maling lists.