Family Tree Maker support for Texas researchers
Texas has unusually good statewide indexes running from 1903, and that is exactly what causes trouble in Family Tree Maker. Index records import fast and in bulk, and a bulk import is the fastest way to fill a tree with duplicate people and thin citations. This page covers the record boundary and the cleanup it creates.
- Service area
- Texas, remote
- Delivered by
- Screen share & phone
- Updated
- August 2026
We work remotely. We hold no office in Texas. Sessions run over screen share, so a technician sees the same screen you do wherever you sit in the state.
The 1903 boundary, and what sits either side of it
Texas began registering births and deaths at state level in 1903, when the State Department of Public Health and Vital Statistics was established. Events before 1903 were recorded, when they were recorded at all, by the county clerk in the county where they happened.
| Event date | Who holds the record | Index coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Before 1903 | County clerk | No statewide index. Coverage depends entirely on the county. |
| 1903 onward | State, via Vital Statistics | Statewide birth and death indexes exist from 1903. |
The Texas State Library and Archives Commission holds birth and death indexes from 1903 forward. Those indexes are finding aids. They point at a record; they are not the record.
An index entry is a finding, not a source
This distinction decides the quality of a Texas tree. An index gives a name, a date and a county. It does not give parents, informants or cause of death, and index transcription errors are common.
- Cite the index as the index. Record it as a Texas birth or death index entry, with the year. Do not record it as a birth certificate.
- Order the certificate before you build on it. Parent names from an index are frequently absent or wrong, and a wrong parent link propagates through every generation above it.
- Mark unverified people so you know later which branches rest on index data alone.
Common Texas surnames make this worse. A statewide index across 254 counties returns many same-name matches. Attaching the wrong one is easy and the merge that follows is hard to undo.
Cleaning up after a bulk index import
Importing a large set of index hits creates duplicate people, duplicate sources, and occasionally merged individuals who were never the same person. Work in this order.
Back up first, with media included. What you can undo depends on your version: FTM 2019 records your last 1,000 actions in its Turn Back Time change log and FTM 2024 records 5,000, merges included. FTM 2017 and older have no such log. Even where the log exists, rolling back discards everything you did after that point, so on a long import session the backup is still the route you can count on.
Merge in small batches and check the result after each batch, rather than accepting a long list of suggested merges in one pass.
Check parent links after every batch. A wrong merge of two same-name people shows up as a person with two sets of parents.
Compact the file once the merging is finished, to reclaim the space the deleted records leave behind.
Read the change log before you trust the result. On the Plan workspace, the Current Tree tab shows every change with the merges grouped together. Ten minutes there catches a bad batch while you still remember what you imported, which is the difference between a quick roll-back and a rebuild.
Two settings are worth checking once the dust settles. Couples carry a relationship type and a separate status, and bulk index imports frequently leave couples sitting at Unknown when you know they married. Where an ancestor married more than once, only one partner can be marked preferred, and that choice decides which marriage your charts and the pedigree view lead with. Both are quick to fix in bulk and awkward to notice. See merging duplicate people for the full routine.
Where Texas records actually sit
Recording the right holding institution saves the rewrite later. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission holds the state's archival government records and runs a genealogy collection of published indexes and databases alongside them. Its Texas Digital Archive carries digitised and born-digital material you can consult without travelling, and Texas Archival Resources Online publishes finding aids from archives, libraries and museums across the state, which is the fastest way to learn whether a collection exists before you plan a visit.
None of those is the vital records office, and that distinction matters when you write a citation. Getting the repository right the first time is worth more than any amount of tidying afterwards.
If someone offers to convert your files remotely, decline
People searching for state-level help are exactly who a particular scam targets. The approach: your older tree files need converting before a newer version will open them, and the caller needs remote access to your computer to do it, for a fee. Genealogy forums are full of researchers comparing notes on it.
The conversion happens by itself when you open the old file in a current version. The publisher's support is free and will not ask to take over your screen for this. Paid help with a genuinely difficult job is ordinary; paid access to your desktop for something the software does unprompted in seconds is the tell. We do not charge for conversion either, because there is nothing to charge for. More detail in spotting fake Family Tree Maker support.
What we do for Texas researchers
- Unpicking trees where a bulk import merged the wrong people together.
- Restoring from a backup when a merge went wrong and the undo failed.
- Repairing files that will not open after a large import.
- Training on merge settings, so the next import behaves.
We support the software. Record lookups and research questions belong with archives and professional genealogists.
Frequently asked questions
Do you have an office in Texas?
No. We work remotely by screen share and phone with researchers across Texas. A technician sees your screen during the session.
When do Texas birth and death records start?
Statewide registration of births and deaths began in 1903 with the establishment of the State Department of Public Health and Vital Statistics. Before 1903, events were recorded by the county clerk in the county where they happened.
Is a Texas index entry the same as a birth certificate?
No. An index entry gives a name, date and county. It carries no parents, informant or cause of death, and transcription errors are common. Order the certificate before you build a branch on it.
I merged the wrong two people in Family Tree Maker. Can it be undone?
The undo is limited and unreliable after a large merge or once you carry on working. Restoring your backup is the dependable route back. We recover trees where no backup exists, though the result depends on what the file still holds.
Why did importing Texas records create so many duplicates?
Statewide indexes cover 254 counties, so common surnames return many same-name matches. Bulk-accepting those hits creates duplicate people and duplicate sources.
Can you find my Texas ancestor for me?
No. We support Family Tree Maker itself: repairs, syncing, duplicate cleanup and training. Record research belongs with archives and professional genealogists.
Bad merge in your Texas tree?
We separate wrongly merged people and restore the structure. No fix, no fee.