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From: Barry PYCROFT <>
Subject: RE: [STEER] Family Tree Prorammes
Date: Sun, 23 Jan 2005 14:47:50 +1300


Margaret,
I think you are confusing Internet activities with personal record
keeping.
Genesreunited is a website that offers live contacts of families & persons
who have interests similar to yours.
I don't know about tribalpages, but it sounds similar.
Other sites are FamilySearch.com by the LDS, and Ancestry.com and above
all RootsWeb.com. Then there's UKI, UK PRO, Archives & many many others.
A search will reveal many.
These sites provide data and information about people present & long
gone. You cannot buy one!

Once you have some information, you will need to keep it organised in some
form.
Paper is most common, written by hand and repeatedly renewed by hand as
changes occur. Most useful format for paper records is the Family Group
Sheet.


Then you ask what programs list members use. Well the choice is much
like buying a motor car. There are many to choose from and what you end up
bying will be a compromise of many personal ideals & factors. What do want
in a program? A program is a a database application. Some record lots of
information about lots of individuals and it is the user who creates famy
groups & trees. The Master Genealogist, Custodian II, CLOOZ are just 3
examples of these.


Most other programs are LINEAGE based databases. That means all the
people recorded have family links to other individuals. This is how trees
are constructed. Paper is still the output of one's research, but the
writing of it is so much more simplified for even small changes to a piece
of information. Descendants & ancestors or pedigrees are easily charted by
these programs. Great amounts of information may be recorded either as
dicrete events or as motes , such as biographies. Pictures, and other
media may be included. Just like a motor vehicle, what do you want to do
with it? Local shopping or or off-road touring? Some are just not suited
for all uses.

SOURCES - Sources of your information should be recorded for each & every
item of the individual in your family tree database. Besides giving
credibilty to your work when others read it, you know what information you
got from where and that makes it easier to verify, validate or dispute
records & findings. This helps identify you are actually tracing the
correct family. There are stories about years of research on an incorrect
line of a family interest!

Many genealogical database programs provide good source recording methods,.
Family tree Maker, PAF (free from LDS), Legacy (there's free version),
Brothers Keeper (version6). All are run-of-the-mill vehicles. Good for
most features a user needs, but do not cover some. Are you interested in
good looks? Entertainement?, or basic data recording? All do charts and
the above sentence describes the impression one could discern from the
printed article. - pretty or just functional? Comprehensice with its output
or minimalist?

I am not biased (largely). I am comfortable with using some I mention
here and have worked with most others. Its your choice.

I use Brothers Keeper, ($US45), have done for twenty years, and it still
suits my needs (and my style). The latest version is so simple its
brilliant! (Biased? Nah!!). In these things its often the first tried is
the one chosen. (first up, best dressed, that sort of thing!)
Peer support is a good factor to consider. Who in your circle of contacts
has a program such as you seek? Go have a look. See if that person will
help with some issues, and methods of use. There are some good rules
applying to databases and people ignore them at their peril. Databases
require conformity; both among users and data.

Oh, if you settle into one and later desire another, that's OK. Among the
better prgrams most of the data is transferable by means of gedcom to
another database, so you do not have to re-type it all in again.

Well, Margaret, there's probably more here than you wanted to know, but
know it sometime you will. I just hope this helps.

Regards
Barry P.
8 Orcades Street . . . http://www.pycroft.co.nz/
Shirley . . . . . . . . . Looking for :- BEAMS, CARR, DEANS, EVANS, LODGE,
Christchurch . . . . . HADEN, HAYNES, NEILSON, , McCLURE, MORTON,
New Zealand. . . . . PYCROFT, REDDING, RASH, REID, SMART, STEVENS.
Ph:- +64-3-942.8417.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=.

On Saturday, January 22, 2005 7:19 PM, margaret wilkinson
[SMTP:] wrote:
> As a newcomer to genealogy, I wonder what progammes List members use and
> recommend. I started off with genesreunited, which gave me some useful
> contact ( including long lost brother- in - law), then went to
tribalpages,
> another free site. Both have their limitations, and I am thinking of
buying
> one. What does anyone suggest?
> Margaret
>
>
>
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