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Family Tree Legends

Unlike many Family Tree programs, FTL doesn’t appear to have an easy way of adding a brand new custom fact.

However it does understand custom facts that are in GEDCOM files so there is a way we can create custom Lost Cousins Facts in your FTL tree.

  • First download the FTL_LostCousins GEDCOM file.
  • Now open your file in FTL
  • From the file menu in FTL select “Import from GEDCOM/FTW”
  • Ensure the option “I have already created a GEDCOM file” is selected and click next on the import wizard
  • Click the browse button to locate the file you downloaded from this page (assuming you didn’t rename it then it will be called FTL_LostCousins.GED)
  • Select “Merge this GEDCOM into this Family Tree Legends file” and click Finish.
    • Don’t worry it will add a single individual with a single Lost Cousins fact.
    • Once you have added Lost Cousins facts to your tree you can simply delete this individual
  • The import successful window will show - click ok
  • The Potential Duplicate window will show confirming no duplicates found - click Done.

You now have an extra individual called “Lost Cousins Fact Individual”. He will appear in your index as “Individual, Lost Cousins Fact” assuming you display surname, forname format.

Now go to an individual in your file who you have entered on the Lost Cousins website. Add a fact as normal and find that there is a new fact type called Lost Cousins. Select this fact type and enter the relevant year as the date. ie: all you need is Type: Lost Cousins, Date: 1841 for an 1841 Lost Cousins entry.

Once you have entered at least one Lost Cousins fact against a genuine ancestor you can then delete the individual “Lost Cousins Fact Individual” as they have served their purpose. You now have a custom fact type called Lost Cousins that FT Analyzer will understand so you can proceed to add that fact type to everyone you have entered onto the Lost Cousins website.

Note if someone appears on more than one Lost Cousins census eg: the 1881 and the 1911 census. Then you simply enter a Lost Cousins type fact for each census and enter the date to flag which census has been entered.