Genealogy Chat

Someone wants your family tree in a Gedcom File,Is that a bit of a cheek or is that quite normal practice?I am a bit flabbergasted.Would welcome any comments

Assuming they were genuine and not name hunters, I'd make a them a gedcom of the bit of the family they were interested in as opposed to giving them the whole shebang.

Basically this means they can download the whole of your tree onto theirs. You don't have to agree to it if you don't know them, or if you feel the connection between you is too distant. It's entirely up to you. I have had a few close contacts of mine offer to send Gedcom files to me but to be honest, I prefer to add things manually to my tree on my own website because that way I get to know each name and can research them as I go along, rather than adding hundreds of names in one go, that you probably don't know anything about. But some people are into gathering as many names as possible and for them the Gedcom is an easy way to do this. Only you can decide if you want to share your info or not.

I would be very careful about sending this to them they can down load all you information into their family tree. find out more before you go ahead. Gwen

We definately have a connection.But the whole tree?I think you maybe right Ann.I was asked once to merge my tree with another using a spreadsheet,I think.I want to find relatives on my own that is the most interesting part, surely

I think I will leave well alone ,the best plan of action is to give her access,I also have people who give me access to their tree, usually about 30 people and they copy from mine. Surely they must double check.I am sitting next to a pile of certificates, all to verify most of the relations in my tree.Thankkyou for all your comments. I really appreciate it

Once I have established a connection and a bloodlink I am happy to share information by Gedcom. However, I agree that distant cousins only have links to part of my Tree so I tend to be selective in what I put in the Gedcom. For example I can send a Gedcom of X's ancestors or Y's descendants.

I've read this thread with interest and have certainly learnt something new! A chap I contacted through Hot Matches had 2500 names on his tree and wanted a Gedcom sent to him. I felt rather stupid refusing as I didn't know what a Gedcom was or how to do it and now I'm glad!

It is, of course, possible to send information in another format. For example an RTF File which uses Word. Often people will send you info in this format and are happy for you to use it. The benefit of a Gedcom File is that you can download it directly into your own Family Tree Programme without having to type in each individual.

I know that Legacy Family Tree software lets you create a GEDCOM file for specific individuals or branches of your tree, and I assume that most other genealogy software does the same. So there is really no risk in someone getting all your names just because you send information in a GEDCOM format. Moreover, if the person creating the GEDCOM has source information (e.g., census and GRO references), this is also transferred - much easier than typing it all out. Tim

The fact that you are flabbergasted suggests to me that you don't know this person that well and I would be reluctant to just hand over all my hard work just like that. It's up to you but I think I'd try and get out of it!!