pezkandydoll asked:
I would like to start doing genealogy again. I’ve used one or two programs but they didnt really bring the result I was after…. so whats your answer?
I really need a program that searches for you and pulls up tons of records thoroughly, because my sources are VERY limited!
Wilma
I would like to start doing genealogy again. I’ve used one or two programs but they didnt really bring the result I was after…. so whats your answer?
I really need a program that searches for you and pulls up tons of records thoroughly, because my sources are VERY limited!
Wilma
Family Tree Maker. The newest version. It’s a very thoughtfully put together program that keeps your records organized well and easy to go back to where you left off to add more. It has several online helps can gather family data for you.
All of our sources are limited. Just remember if you use research from online that it is only as good as the researcher and shoud be documented before taken as the truth.
I use familysearch.org, rootsweb.com, heritagequest. You can use heritagequest and ancestry from your local library for free. The LDS family history center is a wealth of info.Also use cyndislist.com for lots of links. If you’re looking for a program to put all your info in I would suggest Family Tree Maker. I find it the easiest.
I would also suggest you purchase a book called “unpuzzling your past” it’s less then $20 and is wonderful. She takes you step by step.
Happy Hunting
I like Genopro. at Genopro.com. It is easy to use, and you can put your info on line to get more info.
You’re mistaking the software with the research. Software can’t do the research for you. You have to do that. Limited resources is all most of us had before 12 years ago when the internet was an infant. But with patience and perseverance we were good researchers.
The best software program IMHO is PAF which is distributed free by the LDS. But it won’t pull up tons of records for you. You have to do that. It, like Family Tree Maker and others, is there to organize the records that you’ve found. But you have to do the looking and verify that the records you’re finding are accurate. Imagine that your grandfather’s name was Will Rogers…but not THE Will Rogers. The computer won’t know the difference, you have to figure that out and only look at the records that are specific to your ancestor.
My humble suggestion is that you visit the GenWeb project or genealogy society for your area and tap into the other researchers near you. Let them teach you how genealogy actually works and walk you through a tutorial. There may even be people at your local library who hold seminars every month. Touch base with someone who can dispel the misconceptions and help you build a truly legitimate tree of your family.
If you use the free online trees at rootsweb.com or ancestry.com they’ll help you do just that by showing comparative records - some of which records you may or may not have access to without paid membership. Looking at others’ trees is free, but do your own work if you want it done right, don’t just assume others did their work accurately.
You will need access to census images and other historical documents. HeritageQuest through most states’ library systems is free, and so is familysearch.org. A nominal fee is charged at LDS family history centers for access to records, maybe $2 last I knew. And there are others to poke around in online too.
Genevieve’s mom is right that no program will do the search for you. There will always be the element of using your own judgement and research skills to determine which person is your ancestor from several with the same name. Family Tree Maker has a lot of neat tools. Some of the other programs offer these tools, some of them don’t. I have used PAF and I have used Family Tree Maker and I prefer the interface of Family Tree Maker.
Some of the latest versions have been great. It has the built in soundex calculator, date calculator and relationship calculator. (which PAF also offers.)
For reports, you can run an ancestor report on a particular person, a descendant report of a particular person, a kinship report showing both civil relationships and canon relationships or you can create a custom report with just the individuals YOU choose.
You can print reports that have:
marriage information
Medical information
Birthdays of living individuals
Address reports
Then you have visual trees that can be done as
Ancestor trees or pedigree charts
Descendant trees
Hourglass trees— these are trees that show both the ancestors and the descendents of a particular individual of your choosing and
All in one trees— these show not only direct ancestor or descendant relationships, but all of the relationships such as aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Family group sheets
You can look up women not only by their maiden names, but by their married names as well.
You can also import pictures and create books. It also maintains statistics such as how many people you have in your tree, how many generations your longest line has, How many unique last names are in your tree, How many marriages you have in your tree and the earliest recorded birth.
Merging is easy to do to with this program. For instance if you have a set of brothers that married a pair of sisters and you have entered a set of their parents in twice. you can merge the duplicate individuals so you can see all of their kids together.
You can use the search feature if you so choose to try to find additional information online from other trees; however, I never use that feature. It compares names and dates from your file with those already created on ancestry and gives you ideas for further research. Note: these are just ideas for further research. I never recommend importing someone elses tree into your own.
Entering sources is also very easy.
If you want more information, here is a link
Some people swear by PAF and that is fine; however, it is a very basic program. I am also not interested in having the lds ordinances in my tree. There aren’t nearly the bells and whistles that Family Tree Maker has on it and quite frankly I like how Family Tree Maker looks visually as opposed to Ancestry. (I am a visual person )
There is no right or wrong answer here. It is all in what your preferences are. There is one thing that I have always wanted my genealogy program to do and I have yet to find a single genealogy program to perform this one thing. It really is quite simple. I would love for my program to be able to pull off all individuals born, married or died in a particular locality and print it into a report. That would be so helpful if one were to go to a library or records repository in a particular county and be able to pull a report with everyone in their tree with ties to that county.
If anyone has found that feature, please E-mail me and let me know. In the meantime, I hope the information in my answer was helpful. Blessings.
P.S. By the way, the price of family Tree Maker varies depending on what CD’s come with it. You can get just the program for about $30.00 on ancestry, or you can get a prior version from E-bay for dirt cheap…The software doesn’t change a whole lot between versions, so if you get a prior version and try it out, you will know if you want to invest in the latest and greatest version.
I use RootsMagic. I used FamilyTreeMaker for many years, but RootsMagic has more features than FTM. However, I know that FTM has improved since my last upgrade 2 or 3 versions ago, so it may have now come up to the level of RootsMagic. RM is $29.95.