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Thread ID: 75500	2006-12-31 22:11:00	Family Tree	Thomas01 (317)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
511415	2006-12-31 22:11:00	For the past umpteen years I have used EZT FAMILYTREE to record our family's genealogy. It's fast, simple and small. I can teach a novice to use it in about 20 mins. You can carry the program and a lot of family histories on 1 single 3.5inch floppy - yes really!! It is so small and easy to use I even use it when reading books where fictional families can be difficult to follow. But it has its snags. For a start it runs on DOS. (I still use it with XT though) There is no way photos can be included. Only 3 lines are available for extra notes. So I am reluctantly concluding that for the future I must go to something rather more sophisticated that my descendants will be able to read in 50 years time. I do remember about 5 or 6 years ago looking at a free program that seemed good, but have no idea what is available now - above all I want simplicity. What do you reckon fellows - what do I use? Tom	Thomas01 (317)
511416	2006-12-31 22:33:00	Hi Give Personal Ancestral File a try . Won't fit on a floppy thou. xrl.us	johnboy (217)
511417	2007-01-01 01:16:00	An app is often worth only what you pay for it. Authors of 'free' often go broke and so no more updates. I've worked on my family tree for 5 years and used GenoPro: http://www.genopro.com/ The author has released a new version at around US$50. He offers lifetime free upgrades. In 5 years I've had at least 5 upgrades. I haven't asked whether that's my lifetime or the author's, but it's worked out well so far! GenoPro doesn't fit on a floppy, but then neither would the data for my complete family tree dating back to 1500! An advantage is that GenoPro can export data in multiple file formats including GEDCOM, XML, text and metafile, so there's a very good chance someone can still access the data in 50 years time. If you're serious about family tree check it out - you can get a free trial. (And I'm pretty certain that I'm not related to the author - at least his family doesn't turn up in my family tree - not since 1500 anyway!) Happy New Year!	coldot (6847)
511418	2007-01-01 10:03:00	Just out of curiosity, how do you start looking up your family? Most of my immediate family are either dead or where abouts unknown. Can you trace back through namesake or asking alot of peoples?	rob_on_guitar (4196)
511419	2007-01-01 10:59:00	I have been using Family Tree Maker but have recently moved to Gramps on Linux. Gramps is free but I don't know if they do a Windows version.	mikebartnz (21)
511420	2007-01-01 18:52:00	Just out of curiosity, how do you start looking up your family? Most of my immediate family are either dead or where abouts unknown. Can you trace back through namesake or asking alot of peoples? Contact those few NOT dead or lost, a.s.a.p. before they too are gone. Note every little historical detail about parents/grandparents. Where did ancestors originate? The net has records for UK & USA - census details, birth & death & marriage records, burial records, family history societies. Look for repeated first names - many of mine back to 1500 were called John after their father. There's a lot of family history in personal web pages. And yes, contact people with same surname - email, postcard, phone call. There's a good chance that one in a hundred can add a missing piece to your puzzle. Good luck!	coldot (6847)
511421	2007-01-02 05:11:00	Well i will jump in here First off rob_on_guitar I know it may sound a bit daft, but enter your ancestors name in google I did this about 2 days ago with a relatives name that was a little unusual which led me to someone else who had asked a question about someone of the same name 5 years ago (turned out the person they were asking about was the grandfather of the person I was asking about), any way to cut along story short about an hour ago I received a copy of my family tree going back to the 1640s other sites to look at are the http://www.familysearch.org/ site and http://boards.ancestry.com/ Second off I have received my family tree as a text file in the form 1. Andrew THOMSON 1719-1797 + Helen McCALL 1730-1780 m.1749 2. George THOMSON 1751-1837 + Elizabeth ALLEN d.1798 m.1775 3. Andrew THOMSON 1776-1850 + Jane CRAIG 1781-1865 m.180 Which i am hoping can be imported by a FREE genealogy program, without me having to type, any ideas? Not a big problem if I have to type it out, was just hoping this was some standard format Cheers	Morgenmuffel (187)
511422	2007-01-02 06:01:00	Cheers nigel and Coldot, I will start tomorrow once i have finished work. I only know 2 of family and they hard to get hold of. Will let you know how I get on.:thumbs:	rob_on_guitar (4196)
511423	2007-01-02 20:24:00	Well I have now got a couple of programs to try. Needless to say it will take me some time to look into them and decide what to use. So thanks fellows. Just in passing I am a bit puzzled why we bother with genealogy so much - so I have an ancestor called Joe Blokes- what on earth does that tell me - after all I have millions of ancestors - some slaves - some royalty - but just a name tells me nothing. But it is still fascinating though. For those just starting - beware of some American sites who make enormous claims about their database - a couple I tried didn't have a single entry on my name which in England is as common as muck as they say. Tom	Thomas01 (317)
511424	2007-01-03 11:46:00	Well I have now got a couple of programs to try. Needless to say it will take me some time to look into them and decide what to use. So thanks fellows. Just in passing I am a bit puzzled why we bother with genealogy so much - so I have an ancestor called Joe Blokes- what on earth does that tell me - after all I have millions of ancestors - some slaves - some royalty - but just a name tells me nothing. But it is still fascinating though. For those just starting - beware of some American sites who make enormous claims about their database - a couple I tried didn't have a single entry on my name which in England is as common as muck as they say. Tom Gramps an't half bad if you are running Linux. Geneology is rather interesting. I found that when I entered via pcwrite(about 1981) in a tree form all that my father had acquired the reason for the low age of death in the old days was because of the number of children below five that died not that people did not live to ninety or so. It is not only American sites you need to be aware of as my father tried one outfit in NZ that appeared to have just trolled through the phone book. We all have black sheep in our family	mikebartnz (21)
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