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The Kitchen Table

Anyone Into Genealogy?

14 years ago

Hi,

If your into genealogy, I have a questions for you.

Do you use genealogy software such as Family Tree Maker or other such programs? What do you use? What do you like about it? What software out there do you reccomend? I got to get this information on disc. Thank you.

Sapphires

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Comments (8)

monica_pa Grieves
14 years ago
I use Family Tree Maker, and I have had an account with Ancestry.com for years.

I also use the internet to search federal, state and county records.
Many county sites contain links for the county's graveyards and genealogical society, with very good information.
sapphires
Original Author
14 years ago
Monica,
I use Ancestry as well. I have data in binders going back to 1638 and so many pictures and vita record certificates. Way to much to try and save should there be a fire or flood. I want to get this information on something safe and easy to grab. Thank you.
Sapphires
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These letter are valuable to anyone doing genealogical research on this John and Joseph Thompson and their relatives. This is stuff that genealogists dream of! These would also be of good interest to the genealogy library of Ironton, Iron Co., MO and surrounding counties. I have an interest in these because I discovered that my great grandfather Marlow was living in Iron Co. during the Civil War. He was located south of Ironton, on a farm ouside Des Arc, MO. He struggled to hold his family and friends together. What you have is a first hand account of the great battle fought at Fredericktown, Madison Co., MO. - Priceless! Just before the Civil War (ca 1857), Iron Co. was organized out of Madison Co. Iron county was named for its iron deposits and the mines there. Some distance north of Ironton is the lead mining district. Both lead and iron deposits were critical to the war effort. Madison Co. also has mineral mines. These ore deposits made this part of MO worthy of fighting for. The war effort was compounded in southern MO because both northern and southern sympathizers were present even though Mo had been amitted to the Union as a "Free" state. Residents left at home did not know from one day to the next which side they should favor. Bands from both sides raided and killed residents if they deemed the residents may have favored the opposite side. For example, the miller and owner of the Bollinger Mill was executed by the Rebels because they decided that he had milled some flour that was used by the opposing side. One of the difficulties in transcribing/reading letters from that period is the style of writing and forming characters. Handwritting style was changing in that period. The old style was common up to 1830 and by 1870, the style became very similar to present day handwritting. One of the most common confusion that I have found is the double "ss" as in Tennessee. When a single "s" appeared, it was formed much like we do today. However, when a double "ss" appeared, the first "s" appears more like an "f" followed by the second s shaped as currently. However, upon close examination, you will find that the top loop of the first "s" is reversed to that of an "f". These two characters are sometimes confused for a "p" and often followed by a transcriber's question mark because the letter "p" did not make sense. Try writing a double "ss" with the first "s" shaped as one loop above the line and a second loop below the line followed by the second "s", and you will find that the motion "flows" well. The character, capital M, may be formed with sharp points on top instead of a rounded tops. These curious features, I believe, came about because of writing with quill/pen and ink; the sharp point of the inking instrument tended to dig into the paper on the upstroke. This affected a person's handwriting. (I learned to write with dip pen and ink.) Modern ink pens have rounded nibs that smooth the upstroke of the pen. Think of a pen digging into the paper and then the character shapes will begin to make sense. During the Civil War, if a note was not in ink, it would have been written by pencil and often had a crude point. The standard procedure was to sharpen your pencil with a pocket knife or hunting knife.
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New Issue....anyone recommend a good Genealogy Software
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Casi, I used Family Tree Maker from Broderbund. It suited my purpose at the time. Not sure that you can simply copy over all your data with a few mouse clicks sadly. However the upside of using the Familysearch program is that they are not going to disappear any time soon so there is little fear of becoming outdated. I never used it but did download a few times - in case I plucked up the courage to start the transfer of all the data. Moving the names and stuff did not seem daunting but adding all the notes as well made it a serious proposition. Much of my data was stored on XL where I could add any variables I needed. My family is from the UK so I sorted the names as I found them in the 1850,1860,1870, 1880 and 1890 census. Plus there were columns for church records and birth, marriage and death columns. I enjoyed it for over 3 years but got side tracked easily trying to understand the way of life back then, plus through family contacts my photo album of the departed grew steadily and I spent a lot of time repairing damaged photos.
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Moonshadow, I'm sorry my email is unlisted; it was that way before the change-over from Spike when all the data went loopy and now I can't change it back, although I've tried several times. (Full disclosure, years ago I was once "Sent to Disney" for, um, criticizing the management on a thread. Then I sneaked back on with a different user name and addy once I got over my sulks and found I couldn't do without THS. During the big change over my two accounts got confabulated and the result is I can't change anything on my profile.) On the happy side however, I do have a fresh copy of Califirnia Paints historical colors brochure along with the formula for Jackson Antique and its nearby colors. Perhaps we can think of some way to get a relay so you can send your snail addy to me somehow. Does anyone have a working THS email account? Perhaps both Moonshadow and I could each use you as a contact if you'd be willing to pass along our mutual email addys so we can get squared away. Thanks! Molly~
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Click on your search link and look at the third result from the top. The first result is for Genealogy.com -- a legitimate genealogy web site. The second result is for Ancestry.com -- a legitimate genealogy web site. Now look at the third result, and compare it to what I copied/pasted in my previous response.
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pauline13
14 years ago
Like Monica, I use Family Tree Maker and have had an Ancestry account for years. Both my husband and I have done extensive research both on line and in person. However, most of our bridges have been crossed so we only do an occasional update now.
msmarion
14 years ago
I also use Family Tree Maker. I'm not sure which version, I did update a couple of years ago. The newer version was nuch easier to use.
Don't make the mistake I did. BACKUP your info to a disc. We lost a computer in April to that virus that was going around. I lost 20 years of research. I do have a external hard drive that was not connected at the time and hard copies of everything. I just can't find the software disc to reinstall due to a recent move. I guess it's still packed. LOL
Lindsey_CA
14 years ago
Count me in as another Family Tree Maker user. I love this software!

I have a World Deluxe account (the highest access available) with Ancestry.com (and have had a full account with them for more years than I care to remember). I also have a Gold account (the highest access available) with Genealogy.com (and I had the account with Genealogy.com prior to my account with Ancestry.com!). The two sites are both part of The Generations Network, but they each have some records that the other doesn't, and some records are searched more easily on one site than the other, so I keep both accounts.

When you have an annual account with either site, you get a free copy of the Family Tree Maker software. I get the new version every year.

I have several USB jump drives onto which I copy EVERYTHING. I also have a full backup copy on my laptop. That way, if my desktop pc fails, I can resort to my laptop. If both desktop and laptop fail, I can turn to a jump drive. If it fails, I can go through at least six more jump drives before I'd have to consider the data to be lost.

But... one cool thing about my Ancestry.com membership is that I was able to export my Family Tree Maker data to a gedcom file, then upload it to Ancestry.com. I was then able to take all of the supporting electronic documentation (e.g., Census records, Draft Registration Cards, immigration and naturalization records, Social Security Death Index, marriage/birth/death records from various states, etc.) and "save them to" folks in my online tree. I can also add notes to the info for the folks. I also have my own web site with our genealogy information, photos, etc. Bottom line is that there would have to be one heck of an information technology failure for me to lose everything!
sapphires
Original Author
14 years ago
Lindsey,
Where do I get my free Family Tree Maker. I do have a current annual Ancestry membership. Thanks.
Sapphires
Vique_Pa
14 years ago
I used Ancestry.com. I have my husbands back to 1524. Mine is a little harder. A lot of the records from Dolores Hildalgo, Mexico were lost due to a fire. The records from Noreiga, Spain are just flat hard to find. Records from England are easier and the people are more willing to help you. I didn't have any hardware. Vique.
sue_va
14 years ago
I would like to be, but it just seems so daunting. I've poked around a little but can't really get any where with it.

Sue

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