Migration from GEDCOM Guide

Guide for converting GEDCOM files to GENEALOGIX format using the automated import tool or manual conversion.

Note: Automated GEDCOM import is now available! Use glx import to convert GEDCOM 5.5.1 and GEDCOM 7.0 files automatically. See CLI Documentation for usage details.

Key Differences

Aspect	GEDCOM	GENEALOGIX
Format	Tag-based	YAML
Evidence	Basic sources	Complete chains
Version Control	File-based	Git-native

Migration Process

Automated Import (Recommended)

Convert GEDCOM files automatically using the GLX CLI:

# Import GEDCOM file
glx import family.ged -o family-archive.glx

# The import command handles:
# - Individual (INDI) → Person entities
# - Family (FAM) → Relationship entities
# - Events (BIRT, DEAT, MARR, etc.) → Event entities
# - Sources (SOUR) → Source entities + Citations + Assertions
# - Places (PLAC) → Hierarchical Place entities
# - Notes (NOTE/SNOTE) → Entity notes

# Initialize git tracking
git init
git add family-archive.glx
git commit -m "Import from GEDCOM: family.ged"

Supported GEDCOM Versions:

• ✅ GEDCOM 5.5.1 (full support)
• ✅ GEDCOM 7.0 (full support)

What Gets Imported:

• 31+ person attributes and events
• All family relationships (marriage, parent-child)
• PEDI (pedigree) types: Biological, adoptive, foster parent-child relationships
• Evidence chains (SOUR → Citation → Assertion)
• Place hierarchies (flat → hierarchical)
• ADDR subfields: Full address preservation and place hierarchy fallback
• Shared and inline notes
• Source citations with locators and transcriptions

For implementation details, see GEDCOM Import Developer Docs.

Manual Conversion Process

If you prefer manual conversion or need to customize the import:

1. Extract individuals → persons/
2. Extract families → relationships/
3. Extract events → events/
4. Extract places → places/
5. Extract sources → sources/

3. Create Evidence Chains

GEDCOM sources need to be expanded into complete evidence chains.

GEDCOM:

0 @I1@ INDI
1 BIRT
2 DATE 15 JAN 1850
2 SOUR @S1@
3 PAGE Page 23

GENEALOGIX:

sources:
  source-birth-cert:
    title: "Birth Certificate"
    type: vital_record

citations:
  citation-birth:
    source: source-birth-cert
    page: "Page 23"

assertions:
  assertion-birth-date:
    subject: person-john-smith
    claim: birth_date
    value: "1850-01-15"
    citations: [citation-birth]

Field Mapping

Individual Records (INDI)

GEDCOM	GENEALOGIX	Notes
INDI	Person	Core entity
NAME	Person.properties.name	Unified name with optional fields
BIRT	Event (birth)	Separate entity
DEAT	Event (death)	Separate entity
OCCU	Event (occupation)	Separate entity

Family Records (FAM)

GEDCOM	GENEALOGIX	Notes
FAM	Relationship	Family connections
HUSB/WIFE	Relationship.participants	Role-based
MARR	Event (marriage)	Separate entity

Source Records (SOUR)

GEDCOM	GENEALOGIX	Notes
SOUR	Source	Original material
TITL	Source.title	Title
REPO	Source.repository	Repository reference
PAGE	Citation.page	Moved to citation
QUAY	Citation.notes	Preserved in notes

Common Challenges

Name Conversion

GEDCOM:

1 NAME John /Smith/

GENEALOGIX:

properties:
  name:
    value: "John Smith"
    fields:
      given: "John"
      surname: "Smith"

Place Hierarchy

GEDCOM:

2 PLAC Leeds, Yorkshire, England

GENEALOGIX:

places:
  place-england:
    name: "England"
    type: country

  place-yorkshire:
    name: "Yorkshire"
    type: county
    parent: place-england

  place-leeds:
    name: "Leeds"
    type: city
    parent: place-yorkshire

Date Formats

GEDCOM:

2 DATE 15 JAN 1850
2 DATE ABT 1850
2 DATE BET 1849 AND 1851
2 DATE FROM 1900 TO 1950

GENEALOGIX:

date: "1850-01-15"
date: "ABT 1850"
date: "BET 1849 AND 1851"
date: "FROM 1900 TO 1950"

GLX uses YYYY-MM-DD format for exact dates and preserves GEDCOM keywords (ABT, BEF, AFT, CAL, BET, FROM, TO, AND) for qualified and range dates. See Data Types for complete date format specification.

Post-Migration

Validation

# Validate converted data
glx validate

# Fix any errors
# Re-validate
glx validate

Enhancement

After migration, enhance evidence quality:

• Add transcriptions
• Complete evidence chains
• Add research notes
• Set assertion confidence levels

Git Tracking

git add .
git commit -m "Migration from GEDCOM complete

Migrated:
- 150 individuals → persons/
- 45 families → relationships/
- 200 events → events/
- 50 sources → sources/

Next steps:
- Enhance evidence quality
- Add transcriptions
- Complete place hierarchy"

Testing Your Import

After importing, validate the results:

# Validate the imported archive
glx validate family-archive.glx

# Check what was imported
# - Count entities
# - Verify relationships
# - Review evidence chains

Common Import Results:

• Large family trees: 100-1000+ persons
• Comprehensive events: 2-3x person count
• Relationships: 1-2x person count
• Evidence chains automatically created from GEDCOM SOUR tags

See Also

• GEDCOM Import Developer Documentation - Implementation details
• Entity Types - Entity specifications
• Best Practices - Workflow recommendations
• CLI Documentation - Command reference