Family History and Your Computer
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Family History and your Computer Brian J. Edwards Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 1 Introduction Family History research comprises two main activities: Seeking out the information Sorting, storing and presenting the data Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 2 Seeking out the information Until the last few years, it was generally necessary to visit such places as the Family Records Centre, County Record Offices, Libraries, etc On-line information was mostly confined to sites compiled by individuals publishing the results of their research Now, most preliminary work can be carried out on-line with both free and commercial sites providing a wide range of information Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 3 Births, Marriages & Deaths Research back to the mid 1800’s generally requires the purchase of the appropriate birth, marriage & death certificates. In order to make a purchase it is necessary to consult the official B.M.D. indexes to obtain the reference number. There are now a couple of sites giving access to the G.R.O. Births, Marriages & Deaths Indexes Once the reference number is known, certificates can be ordered on-line. Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 4 Sites for the BMD indexes Two main sources Start with “Free BMD” Advantages: Its Free Reasonably complete from 1837 to about 1900 It’s a database Disadvantages: It’s a transcription Still being compiled Missing entries Poor coverage after about 1910 Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 5 http://freebmd.rootsweb.com Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 6 Search page Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 7 Results page Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 8 Sites for the BMD indexes (2) The other on-line source for the indexes is www.1837online.com Provides scanned images of the GRO indexes Is complete Currently makes a charge of 15p per page Late News. Ancestry.co.uk are now offering the same info, apparently free of charge. Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 9 http://www.1837online.com Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 10 Page from December quarter 1860 Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 11 Page from an earlier index Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 12 www.gro.gov.uk Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 13 The Census A census was taken every ten years from 1841 onwards. Those from 1841 to 1901 are available for viewing by the public. They will all soon be available on-line. The 1881 census transcription is available on CD- ROM You can generally view the on-line indexes free of charge, but need to pay to view the actual census page. Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 14 The Census (cont.) Problems: Finding an individual depends on the accuracy of the indexes, which are not all of very high quality. You cannot “scroll” through an area looking for an individual as you could with microfilm or fiche. Advantages: If an individual has been correctly indexed, it is very quick compared with an manual search. Cost is reasonable Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 15 1901 census home page Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 16 Page from the 1901 census Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 17 Page from the 1841 census Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 18 Research in Scotland Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 19 Research in Scotland (Cont.) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 20 The Mormon archives www.familysearch.org Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 21 The Mormon archives (2) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 22 The Mormon archives (3) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 23 The Mormon archives (2) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 24 The National Archives Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 25 The National Archives (2) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 26 The National Archives (3) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 27 The National Archives (4) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 28 The National Archives (5) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 29 The National Archives (6) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 30 The National Archives (7) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 31 C W G C www.cwgc.org Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 32 C W G C (2) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 33 C W G C (3) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 34 C W G C (4) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 35 Federation of Family History Societies Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 36 Federation of Family History Societies Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 37 Ancestry.co.uk Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 38 British Origins, etc Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 39 Cyndi’s List Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 40 Lost Cousins Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 41 A Vision of Britain Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 42 Old Maps Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 43 Other sources Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 44 Saving your research Traditionally done using a card index One card per person One card per family Research information stored in box files. These days the data is kept in a similar manner on a home computer. Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 45 Software requirements Any software must be able to: Uniquely identify each individual and each family Allow the storing of at least the basic minimum information about each person and family (i.e. dates & places of birth, marriage & death) Define the links between persons / families Be capable of exporting the data for use by other programs Programs are essentially Specialist Databases Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 46 Data Transfer Data is normally transferred in GEDCOM format GEnealogical Data COMmunication Developed by the Mormons Tagged text based format Not all programs recognise all tags Good for the basic data, but can be problematic with non-standard information Designed initially to work with the Mormon PAF program Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 47 GEDCOM – file format 0 @I1@ INDI 1 REFN P1 1 NAME Henry /WATTS/ 1 SEX M 1 BIRT 2 DATE 12 Mar 1867 2 PLAC Cat Street, Wantage, Berks 1 DEAT 2 DATE 3 Nov 1940 2 PLAC Paddington, Middx 1 OCCU Carman 1 FAMC @F24@ 1 FAMS @F2@ 1 _UDF1 Carman 1 _BLOB 7747 14507 1 NOTE My maternal grandfather 1 NOTE 1 NOTE Died 3rd December 1940 as a result of being knocked down by a private motor car 2 CONT in the street. There was a coroner's inquest held on 8th & 15th November 1940 1 NOTE Prior to death was living at 118 Great Western Road, Paddington Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 48 Some Programs Brothers Keeper (Shareware - £39.95) Cumberland Family Tree (Shareware - £27.50) Family Historian (£36.40) Family Origins (£7.95) Family Tree Maker (£23.95) Genbox (£27.45) Generations Kith & Kin / TreeDraw (Shareware - £33.00 & £25.85) Legacy v6 (£38.50) Master Genealogist (about $80) Pedigree Personal Ancestral File (Mormons) – Free Reunion RootsMagic (Basic Edition costs £18.40, Platinum Edition £49.95) (prices from S&N Genealogy - http://www.genealogysupplies.com/) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 49 RootsMagic Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 50 Family Historian (1) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 51 Family Historian (2) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 52 The Master Genealogist Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 53 The Master Genealogist (2) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 54 Brothers Keeper (1) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 55 Brothers Keeper (2) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 56 Kith & Kin – Overview (minimised) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 57 Kith & Kin – Overview (max) Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 58 Kith & Kin – Data Entry - Family Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 59 Kith & Kin – Data Entry - Person Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 60 Popular Programs Currently the most popular programs seem to be RootsMagic Family Historian Kith & Kin The Master Genealogist Generations Family Tree Maker Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 61 Choosing a program (1) Try them out ! (Earlier or demo versions are generally available) Select one with the particular facilities you need Ease of use Type of Tree - Vertical or Horizontal, Ancestral or Descendant. Ease of manipulation Types of reports and lists Graphics / Pictures / Source details, etc Output to HTML for web pages Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 62 Choosing a program (2) Possibly avoid American programs (states, ZIP codes etc) All eggs in one basket – Do you want photos & documents wrapped in a single program or do you prefer to keep them in their native format? “De-Luxe” or “Special Versions” with extra data discs – The data is invariably American Programs which cannot accept “free-form” data, e.g. born “circa 1846” Overcomplicated programs Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 63 My choice I use Kith & Kin Meets my needs Not overcomplicated Photos, document scans, etc are kept as .jpg files Transcriptions of documents, are kept as Word files Lists, etc are kept in Excel If I needed to choose another program, it would probably be either Family Historian or The Master Genealogist Copyright (C) 2005 Brian & Maureen Edwards 64 TreeDraw Kith & Kin does not have a tree-drawing facility, but uses a linked program TreeDraw When used with Kith & Kin, the tree file is