Deb,

 

You bet I have, and have had the same unpleasant experience....I warn everyone about merging.  It is better to do individual merges as these entries  should line up in your files pretty darn close to one another.  In individual merging you can also look at individuals and make sure they are really the same people.  I have merged only to find out that the subject has 4 parents.  Also, merging won't catch varients (Rentfro/Rentfrow, Langford/Lankford, Nancy Ann Seancy/Nancy A Seancy, April 23, 1944/April 1944, etc.)  That is when messes really occur.  Your program will automatically call attention to the need to merge if information on the individual  is EXACT in both pages...has to be Nancy Ann Seancy in both, rather than Nancy Anne Seancy in one.

 

I have also changed those varient spelling such as Renfro/Rentfro/Rentfrow/Renfrow etc. to one spelling, making note of the way that particular person spelled it.  This gave me a whole bunch of duplicate people.

 

Lastly, merging whole files will give you odd relationships...like cousins with your own father, like I was.  It is true, he is my cousin but the direct line is what you're looking for, not the relationship through marriages within the same family.

 

If you still decide to merge whole databases, make sure you hold back your original until you are satisfied with your completed project....too late now for you Deb, but maybe someone will learn by your mistake.

 

Looks like you have lots of work to do, but you might also become more familiar with your family when you are done sorting them manually.  Merging whole files, especially when gotten from other people, removes familiarity with the people in the files.  Knowing who you have and something about them helps in digging up more information.  You'll be surprised of what you will retain, without  knowing, until you run into some tidbit.

 

Sorry about your bad experience.  It's bad, but not as bad as entirely LOSING all your information.  Anyone have that experience?

 

Melody