Genealogy .... ever gone into it?

I'm doing some tracing, and am wondering what the best choice of software for record-keeping, charting, research etc is.

I've tried RootsMagic and found it a bit, oh, awkward. A bit .... arcane.

Tried Family Tree Maker too, but it was many years ago and no doubt very different now.

Have been using the standard version of Legacy for a couple of days and am quite impressed. So before I fork out the few quid to upgrade to the Deluxe, anyone got any other suggestions? I've heard PAF is pretty good too, but haven't tried it.

So have you been through this, and if so, what did you decide, and why?

My Mum is using Family Tree Maker at the moment along with an Ancestry subscription (alongside hitting numerous other sources), to be honest, we've not really looked into anything else at the moment, but it might well be worth doing as Family Tree Maker isn't the most stable software in the world..

I think I bought it for her as part of a "Who Do You Think You Are" pack, and she's just upgraded it a couple of times as newer versions came out..

Apparently we were mostly fishermen, on both sides of the family, lol

I had a go at doing mine a couple of years ago with Family tree builder from the MyHeritage site.

The problem is I don't know the names of anyone before my grandparents and my father did not even know his own mothers maiden name.

I did manage to trace some of my mothers family using the 1911 census. Even found the names of some of her aunts and uncles she didn't know existed.

Through a bit of digging a few years back we managed to reconnect with my Dad's side of the family after 60 odd years :)

Hence why I now have dual citizenship with Canada :)

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Originally Posted by Stoo

My Mum is using Family Tree Maker at the moment along with an Ancestry subscription (alongside hitting numerous other sources), to be honest, we've not really looked into anything else at the moment, but it might well be worth doing as Family Tree Maker isn't the most stable software in the world..

I think I bought it for her as part of a "Who Do You Think You Are" pack, and she's just upgraded it a couple of times as newer versions came out..

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Do you happen to know what her current version is, Stoo?

As I understand it, FTM did have lots of issues around the 2008 (or might have been 2007 version). It got a bit of a reputation at that point. But I'm given to understand later versions are a lot better. And they've just gone from 2011 to 2012.

I was thinking about buying the FTM 2012 Worldwide package, not because I particularly want the package, but for the 6 months Ancestry worldwide subscription that comes free with it .... or, putting that backwards, paying for the software to get the discounted subscription, and getting the software with it, effectively free.

That's largely what I had in mind when I said I was thinking about buying the Legacy software. It's not expensive by any means (US$25, during the current "sale"), but if FTM2012 would do the job, why pay even that? I can be a tight git and, after all, £18-ish is £18-ish. :D

On the other hand, I do rather like Legacy (v7.5).

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Originally Posted by Sputnik

I had a go at doing mine a couple of years ago with Family tree builder from the MyHeritage site.

The problem is I don't know the names of anyone before my grandparents and my father did not even know his own mothers maiden name.

I did manage to trace some of my mothers family using the 1911 census. Even found the names of some of her aunts and uncles she didn't know existed.

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That's the challenge, though. Sooner or later, most of us will hit that situation, and it becomes a detective job.

If you know your name, you can always look at, or get a copy of, your birth certificate. That gives you your parents names (well, usually. ;) :D). And you can do the same again to go back another level. Birth certificates are fairly reliable back to about 1840 (1837, IIRC), and census data overlaps for a lot of that. And that gives you (with some care, and double checking, and verifying, because things aren't always what they seem) names, dates, occupations and even some addresses. The same with marriage and death records, and with tracing siblings, and with noting occupations, and reinforcing a clue here with a hint there. And then you get to Parish records, Church records, burial records, military records, medal citations and honour rolls, school and university lists, foreign records, newspaper reports, immigration records, and so on.

But sooner or later (and sooner, it seems, for you) you'll be flying blind, as it were, relying solely on records.

Obviously, some people will hit brick walls, and some events are just impossible to get past. But with some effort, some research and a little luck and a lot of ingenuity, you might be surprised at how far you can get.

I think she's upgraded to 2012 now, every now and again it still complains that the database has got itself in a state (I think the AV she is using was a bit paranoid and managed to corrupt the database once or twice..)

I've not used it personally but it might be worth looking at Gramps. It's open source so it'll be hard to beat on price ;)

There's a Windows version available, and "GEDCOM import and export. Extensive support for the industry standard GEDCOM version 5.5 so you can exchange GRAMPS information to and from users of most other genealogy programs." which I'm guessing is pretty important.

There's also PhpGedView, which is a web based solution. Ideal if you've got somewhere to host it and you plan on getting other family members involved.

Thanks for that, Bagnaj, I've taken the plunge and bought the paid-for version of Legacy now, though. And it unlocked more than I expected, over the free version. I've got an idea of two for improvements, but by-and-large, I'm finding it hard to fault in any material way, so far at least.