Importing another RMTREE file into RM9 and making a link to a person

RootsMagic
,
1

1st Post.

As an introduction, I first used Family Tree Maker back in the late 2000s s an upgrade from an Excel spreadsheet.

Upgraded to RM7 years ago and now on RM9. Am very competent with computers.

To my question. I have my Family Tree in RootsMagic9, and I’m happy that 99% of the data is correct and verified and I don’t want to mess around with unverified data. I have been able to go back 4 generations, but limitations on census info in Ireland before 1901 is hampering my research.

I have been able to locate and download over 250 individual Birth, Marriage and Death registrations of my family name in my hometown and local area spanning the early 1800’s to the mid 90s, but none of these (so far) have any connection to me. It is not a common surname, so some of the people I have collected must have a familial connection, I just need to go through all the data. I’m not sure how to go about this as it’s a lot of individual pdf files, so one option is to print them all out on the floor in true Hollywood fashion and make discoveries. Tedious and not practical.

I’d love to be able to input all the data points into AI and see if it can make connections / create family trees, but I don’t know how to do this.

So I think my best option is to start creating several trees in RM in separate files whereby I start building up these families as I have already seen children and parents of some couples. I suspect that, at first, it’ll be a lot of smaller trees and then, hopefully, I’ll be able to join some of them together.

I don’t want to do this in my RootsMagic file until I know there is a link.

My question is, can I create separate RootsMagic *.rmtree files and then merge / import later into my main file?

How would I then connect a person in my main tree to someone in the new tree?

Googling this didn’t come up with sensible answers, so I’ve joined the community to ask for help.

Many thanks

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Each RM File/database can contain multiple unlinked “trees” and a tree can contain one or many people. If the tree contains more than one person they can be linked in a relationship. If everyone (250 BDM) is in one database along with your main tree then as you discover relationships you can link the individual to your main tree. If you now have 250 separate databases I suggest that you use the “Drag & Drop” feature to get everyone into one database.

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Even if you wish to keep your original database pristine, you could make a copy of it and work as BobC describes in your copy. Then only if and when you make connections, you could copy those connections into your pristine database.

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@Damo666 --I have added unrelated individuals who potentially MIGHT be related to my database as BobC and Jerry have suggested ( BUT never tried Jerry’s suggestion of make a copy as I think I would get confused and add the info on the related family to the wrong group)…
I have on my Mom’s lines made a separate database call OTHER POSSIBILITIES with the surnames of the lines such as Smith/Jones and recorded all the info I could find there as in 1880 in a big city, there were over 400 men, women and kids with the EXACT same spelling of the surname on just one line and then others with similar spellings ( and I have 3 distinct families in this city by 1880)-- I suspect on 1 line that 3 of the individuals are the brothers of my ancestor but can’t prove it yet…

If you do a separate database , when you find someone who is definitely related, you could do a drop and drag into your other database BUT MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A GOOD BACK-UP BEFORE STARTING as a drop and drag can go south very quickly if you’ve NEVER done one before and there is no UNDO in RM…

Best suggestion is to make a TEST database also and play with drop and drag and other options / ideas to see how it turns out-- just clearly mark that database as a TEST…

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Best suggestion on this using a drop and drag is to find the common ancestor and go from there-- so IF you find one of these guys is the brother of your 4th g-grandfather— drag the brother to your regular database as a child of the 5th g-grandparents and then RM will give you all these options…

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in this case I would pick descendants and their spouses–MAKE SURE TO CHECK THE BOX TO SAY THIS PERSON IS THE CHILD OF THESE PARENTS…

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Thanks for your replies.

To answer one critical common point first, @thejerrybryan, I tend to do a backup every time I make substantial additions / media / sources to my RM9 file, appended with the date, so I have multiple versions on my NAS drive. Thanks for your advice, I will certainly make sure I have a new copy before attempting anything radical.

@Bobc, I had to look up BDM and google gives some weird answers, but I figure its Births, Death and marriage (why not in chronological order of BMD?). You acknowledge that separate RM files is possible, but you seem to lean towards having all the separate families in my main file, is that correct?

Is the DRAG and DROP method as literal is it suggests, and typical of some other graphical software, ie: you click on an item (person) to select, then left click (holding the button) and drag to the new location (person)?

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@nkess, thank you too for your replies. Like Bobc, you are saying add these (as yet) unrelated people in my main file and, if/when I find a connection, then DRAG and DROP them to link to a person. Again, have I understood you correctly?

Thank you for the screenshot, this is most helpful.

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You kind of understood it-- I was suggestion you could do either-- add them to your current database or MAKE a new database called OTHER POSSIBILITIES SMITH/JONES-- either one will work BUT really think I like the 2nd database better as I can see in a glance they are a POSSIBILITY–when I have them all in one file ( and haven’t worked on the line for a while) I sometimes go why do I have these people in my info???

As for drag and drop from one database to another, it is that simple-- you don’t even left click ( hold the button)—just drag them to the new database as a child of the common ancestor --check the box and click on the option you want–hit ok and it will tell you how many people were copied–just as an FYI for you, say I found that 3 of these people were brothers to my 4th g-grandfather–I would do 3 separate drag and drops as you are less likely to end up with duplicate info EXCEPT in the case where cousins MIGHT have married in a younger generation…

If you put everybody in one database, you don’t have the option to drag and drop–on this, you would go to the parents page for the child and add the child to the parents using the option SELECT EXISTING PERSON and picking them from a list-- note that at the very top in my example it says Parents of Child-- Bob Lee and Sue Acorn with a drop down menu as she was married twice

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edit-- when you drag and drop a person to your database using descendant and spouses, you then need to drag and drop their spouse-- either just them or their ancestors if you want that–do NOT USE ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS as this will cause duplication

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BDM is a typo that I didn’t catch before posting.

I personally keep everything in one database and have presently have about 48 trees the largest is 4983, second is 188 and the rest one or two. The second tree is a possible brother to my main tree who immigrated from Norfolk, England to Canada in1749 along with this person with the same last name, location and both shared the same naming convention for their children.

Here is the Help entry on Drag & Drop

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Also, investigate Command Palette->Count Trees
and
Tools->Enhanced Properties List
as aids

Screenshot 2024-06-09 233853
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Not everyone will agree – but this is also what do. I keep ONE database
The main tree just over 23K – one has about 60 and another has 25. I believe this is a connection in the those “broken/loose branches” I have not yet found. A few are due to some associations which do not really count and than a small handful have 5 or less people. (Basically less than 10 total trees) My workflow would not well having multiple database/trees like that.