{"id":290,"date":"2016-10-10T19:49:41","date_gmt":"2016-10-10T19:49:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=290"},"modified":"2016-10-10T19:49:41","modified_gmt":"2016-10-10T19:49:41","slug":"genealogical-software-and-identifying-family-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/?p=290","title":{"rendered":"Genealogical Software and Identifying Family Relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 6 Apr 2016.<\/p>\n

Last Friday I had the pleasure of attending an all day conference hosted by The Villages, Florida Genealogy Society for the New England Historic and Genealogical Society (NEHGS).\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m a member of NEHGS and I was interested in the topics, especially migration patterns .\u00a0 Although I found all the workshops fairly basic I always take something away from any workshop I attend so I did get some new info to use when I revisit my tree AFTER I submit my portfolio.<\/p>\n

I want to mention two points that I think were most interesting.\u00a0 The first was during the workshop titled \u201cChoosing a Genealogical Software Program\u201d by Rhonda McClure.\u00a0 I enjoyed Rhonda\u2019s talk even though I\u2019m not shopping for a new software program.\u00a0 What was interesting to me was the number of attendees that couldn\u2019t understand why someone would want to have their tree information on their own program.\u00a0 Maybe I\u2019m just old and remember the first genealogical software program I used which was on\u00a0a cassette that was inserted into a TI-84 computer.\u00a0 When we upgraded to Windows 3.0, I downloaded PAF from Familysearch.org and had to re-enter all of my tree info.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t have a lot, about 100 individuals, but it was time consuming and a duplication of efforts.<\/p>\n

I moved to Family Tree Maker (FTM) because it was supposed to synch with Ancestry.com but as I\u2019ve written in previous blogs, mine stopped synching and between the two organizations I could never get it working.\u00a0 I then downloaded the Standard (Free) edition of Legacy in which to save my Ancestry.com Gedcom \u00a0and about once a month, I update Legacy by re-downloading the Gedcom.\u00a0 I know Ancestry.com is in the works with synching with Roots Magic and maybe a resurrection of FTM.\u00a0 I really would like a feature that synchs and I would go with that.\u00a0 I do love the reports Legacy generates as I ended up purchasing the Deluxe version so I\u2019d keep that, too.\u00a0 The problem with not synching is one gets updated and the other doesn\u2019t.\u00a0 I have a lot of pdf\u2019s and photos saved on Ancestry.com that\u2019s not on Legacy so we\u2019re back to time consuming and storage saving issues unless something is available to synch.<\/p>\n

But back to why anyone would want to have their own software.\u00a0 I live in Florida where we have many storms, often severe, which means that our power is off and therefore, no internet. \u00a0Even when there isn’t a storm we sometimes have no internet. \u00a0Like yesterday, with our wonderful new internet provider, Frontier, who can’t figure out how to provide the service we’re paying for (but that’s another story!) \u00a0With a backup generator I could still access my desktop, though it would be unlikely in severe weather that I would use a generator to do that.\u00a0 I\u2019d rather save the food in the fridge but I like options and if I would be so inclined, I could get to my information.\u00a0 Although it\u2019s also unlikely that Ancestry.com will cease to exist, one never knows.\u00a0 Companies come and go.\u00a0 I\u2019m not trying to start a rumor \u2013 I think that is remote but in case, I want to have a backup.\u00a0 I also like to have my tree available when I research away from home on my Kindle or laptop as in some facilities that I\u2019ve visited, the wireless goes down when you\u2019re in the stacks and it\u2019s a problem.<\/p>\n

The next interesting observation from the conference was how the Ancestry.com relationship feature doesn\u2019t work.\u00a0 I was surprised how many people rely on it.\u00a0 Mine comes and goes and sometimes is so convoluted it\u2019s hysterical. I\u2019m not blaming Ancestry for that; it\u2019s my twisted family tree where I relate to my husband back in the day.\u00a0 It can\u2019t figure out the connection and seems to take the long route.\u00a0 I think I figured out why it does that.\u00a0 Simply because of who I set at the home person.\u00a0 If you\u2019re having that problem just go to settings and change the home person to someone else and it may correct the problem.\u00a0 If it doesn\u2019t, then you\u2019re going to have to figure out the relationship the old fashioned way.\u00a0 I\u2019d recommend bringing up the family tree view from the person you are trying to determine the relationship from and look and see where you recognize a common ancestor.<\/p>\n

In a pinch you may find these links helpful:<\/p>\n