Genealogy Chat

Joan Newton A gedcom is not a file that you normally 'get' in the way that you might get a family history file. If you make contact with someone who turns out to have a connection with you, gedcom files are a convenient way of excchanging information since you (or they) can import the information in the gedcom straight into your family history program. Gedcom is a text file format devised (I think) by the Mormons. It has a very specific format that ensures that you can transfer genealogical data between any family history program. You could open the file in any text editor on your computer (eg Notepad on a Windows machine or the equivalent type of programs on a Mac or Linux machine) and read the contents in comparatively plain English. To give you an example of whatit looks like, I've included a few lines from a gedcom I used to upload information to the Broderbund website at the end of this message. (They are the makers fo the Family History program that I use.) The gedcom defines the fields that a particular entry in the file should be written into. Hope this helps. 0 HEAD 1 SOUR FTW 1 DEST FTW 1 DATE 31 Oct 2002 1 CHAR ANSI 1 FILE E:\Genealogy\Hilditch4.GED 1 _SCHEMA 0 SUBM 0 INDI 1 NAME Frank Avery /Hilditch/ 2 SOUR 1 SEX M 1 BIRT 2 DATE 15 Mar 1951 2 PLAC Moascar, Egypt 1 FAMS 1 FAMC