sql errors were stopping my upgrade processes, but the main problem were sql tables that existed.
I had about 50 sql tables I needed to drop, I think they came from a failed upgrade attempt. I found this post that really helped.
https://support.mayfirst.org/ticket/8112
Here is a list of the sql table to drop, about 50 of them.
https://support.mayfirst.org/attachment/ticket/8112/upgrade-notes.org

Also went to the system table, and made sure all non core module had a status of "0"
and made sure important core modules had a status of "1" like
path.module
node.module
update.module
field.module - will only show once D6 is upgraded to D7
menu.module
taxonomy.module

And once I added D7 core files, I also had to patch the module/field/modules/text/text.install module.
read.
https://www.drupal.org/node/1371216

I then upgraded to d7 with no errors.