Genealogy Apps - 52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy

Week 26: Genealogy Apps: Which genealogy app has made your family history experience easier? Who makes the app and what does it do? Share with others the details so they can learn about the app, too.


I started of the year with good intentions joining this challenge and making contributions in the first few weeks of the year then I set off for the US and Rootstech and travelled around for a while. Back home in Australia we took a couple more trips. This morning I said to my husband "Guess what? We are going to be home for three weeks when I get back from Brisbane" (where I'm headed tomorrow). Hopefully I'll be able to find time to contribute more posts duirng that time.


The application I have chosen hasn't made my experience easier YET because I am a novice user but I can see that, as I become more proficient, it will do so. I was given a copy of The Family Historian about 6 weeks ago for Mother's Day and have been playing with it since then.  Family Historian v5 is a genealogy database management program from the UK; it has quite a new nifty features that appealed to me:


* It's bias is towards the UK - the land of my ancestors
* Flexible and can cater for beginners to professionals
* Great multimedia features including facial recognition
—* User interface very natural in its style of dialog boxes
* Files are in native gedcom - export without errors
* Wizards to create family tree websites (no need to purchase a third party product)

* Lots of support from provided manual and User Group
* Display a tree diagram, and access individual records by clicking on a diagram. With one click view ancestors, or descendants, or both
* Great for getting an overall view of your tree
* —Fantastic charts

* Spreadsheet view can be customised and sorted by column 

* 31 included standard report formats plus facility to create custom reports

* —Outstanding queries feature - get the most from your data

* Very easy export to TNG the program I use to publish my data on the web

* Simple synching of data on two devices using Dropbox

* Free plugins extend usability of product

* Family Historian appears to be in active development with regular updates.  
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Some people think I am crazy to have ditched a perfectly good program in favour of another but after 15 years it felt like time for a change;  I believe it is a good idea to check the market occasionally to see what alternatives are around  - otherwise I'd still be using Internet Explorer for web browsing! 

If you are feeling adventurous download a free 30 Day trial of Family Historian. I can't guarantee that it will make your genealogy experience easier in just a month but it will give you an opportunity to look at your data with fresh eyes.

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy - Week #4 - Free Offline Genealogy Tools

For this week's challenge Amy asks:

Week 4 – Free Offline Genealogy Tools: For which free offline genealogy tool are you most grateful?  How did you find this tool and how has it benefited your genealogy?  Describe to others how to access this tool and spread the genealogy love.


When this post appears I will be in a jet plane en route to Salt Lake City, Utah for the Rootstech Conference where I'll meet up with several thousand two-legged free offline genealogy tools: PEOPLE.


For this post I am recycling a post, 10 things I can’t live without to support my genealogy addiction
 from, June 2010.  These are the people for whom I am most grateful:


1. My Ancestors  who provide the Births, Deaths and Marriages that provide the scaffold for my research and the juicy stories, faded old photos and interesting anecdotes that add interest to that scaffold.


2. My Family and Descendants who provide a purpose for my research. I am trying to record our history for future generations.


3. My Patient Husband who turns a blind to the dust on the furniture and pile of ironing that waits for me as I ignore these for my genealogy habit.


There is no particular order to the remainder of this list - as my needs change so does the importance of the persons detailed from here on.


3. The many Distant Cousins who have contacted me via online forums and the Geniaus website to say hello, offer corrections to my sometimes inaccurate date and generously share photos, certificates and stories.


4. Generous Volunteers who over the years have done lookups for me and given guidance when I have visited genealogical societies throughout the world.


5. Staff of Libraries and Archives Offices who have patiently assisted me with my research.


6. People who read and comment on my blog and website and send compliments via email and Twitter give me positive reinfocement that encourages me to keep solving my genealogical jigsaw.


7. Volunteer Indexers eg those who do work for Ryerson and FamilySearch and those who index  cemeteries and photograph headstones provide me with  the means to access to many valuable and appropriate resources.


8. My Online Genie Friends who, through a range of tools such as blogs, twitter, wave, provide blogging ideas, encouragement, links to great new resources,great stories and encouragement.


9. Decision Makers at The National Library of Australia who have a commitment to providing important Australian Resources in an online format. Trove is the most amazing free online resource for genealogical research. 


10. The many Registered Members of Trove who are making corrections to the scanned text to better improve access by other users. Whilst I have only corrected 890 rows of text there are  4 volunteers who have done over 4000,000 rows each and are headling for the half million.

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy – Free Online Genealogy Tools

Week 3 – Free Online Genealogy Tools: Free online genealogy tools are like gifts from above. Which one are you most thankful for? How has it helped your family history experience?

I am stepping up once more to take up the challenge posed by by Amy Coffin on Geneabloggers.


There's no such thing as a free lunch! When applied to online genealogy tools this is not true. Due to the generosity of individuals and institutions we have a number of online tools that enhance our genealogy research.


We often whinge about governments and ask where are our taxes going to so I am going to nominate some resources hosted and developed by government agencies. That governments at all levels are taking steps to preserve our history and heritage and make it available freely is commendable.


The National Archives of Australia has a search facilty that provides access to digitised and hardcopy resources. Many service records from the First World War have been digitised and are freely available here. I have found handwritten letters from my grandmother to the authorities, photos of great-uncles, details of family members going AWOL and medical reports. These records are pure gold. Some immigration records of later arrivals have also been documented. Here I have also found letters and photographs that add richness to the cold facts in my database.


Trove, the online collection hosted by The National Library of Australia is our nation's treasure. Just last week I put in a recently deceased relative's name and was rewarded with two photographs of him.  Trove  is best known for its newspaper digitisation project that is just amazing.


In New South Wales, the state in which I live, the State Records site hosts a number of online indexes that cover immigration, convicts, divorces, deceased estates adn other subjects. The best item I got from these records was a gaol photograph of my great-grandfather from the 1890's taken when he was arrested for a minor offence. This  very clear head and shoulders picture is the only photo I have of him. Trips to the archives after using this search facility has netted copies of land transfers, convict indents, vital records and details of juicy divorce cases. 


An advanced search of Hansard, the record of the New South Wales Parliament, is available online from 1973. Entering one of my unusual family surnames brought back two results. Searching Hansard for people and places mentioned in parliament may yield some surprising results.


On a local government level The City of Sydney Archives has a number of interesting collections. The Newtown Project provides historical information about the Municipality of Newtown. ArchivePix is The City of Sydney's Archives digital photograph bank. 


Other Local Authorities in New South Wales have similar local  projects that are of use to genealogists. Pictorial Canterbury is a photo collection from The City of Canterbury. The Historical Council Minutes Index from Woollahra Council provides information on properties and people in the area. The St George and Sutherland Shire Leader has been selectively indexed by the staff at Sutherland Library. The index can be used to search for articles in the Leader about topics of local interest.


When searching for ancestors we mustn't neglect the  free databases hosted by governments and government agencies. They may not have been designed with the genealogist in mind but they may yield some surprising results.

Abundant Genealogy - Week 2 - Paid Online Genealogy Tools

Week 2 – Paid Genealogy Tools: Which paid genealogy tool do you appreciate the most? What special features put it at the top of your list? How can it help others with their genealogy research?


Horses for courses!


Having just read my mate Sharon Brennan's response to this question I could just copy and paste her response here because, on first thoughts the content in my post was going to echo hers. So I have thought for a few minutes and have decided on a different tack.


My paid subscriptions are: 
Ancestry.co.uk - I've had an annual subscription for years and cannot kick the habit as each time I think about letting it go they add new record sets that are pertinent to some part of my research.  It is the top level sub that gives me access to all Ancestry Records and has been useful for Australia, UK, Canada, New Zealand and the US.


FindMyPast.co.uk - I am also a longtime subscriber. As most of my ancestors came from the British Isles it is relevant to my research. I find it helpful that it duplicates some of the records on Ancestry and have found information on FMP transcriptions that Ancestry have missed.


I let my Genes Reunited sub lapse last year as I found that I was not making any new valuable connections through it. Around seven years ago when I joined up I made many useful connections but it has outlived its usefulness for me.


I regularly take out short-term subs to Scotland's People and The Sydney Morning Herald Archives when I have a good list of questions, some time on my hands and the ready cash.


My genealogy societies and local libraries give me access to other paid resources that I use on an as needs basis.


So Which paid genealogy tool do I appreciate the most?


It may be one of the resources listed above or it may be some other. The tool I appreciate the most is the one that gives me the answer I am presently seeking. 


Just like I wouldn't choose a sprinter for a two-mile race, a Shetland Pony to drag a heavy load, or a Shire horse for dressage I wouldn't choose the Sydney Morning Herald to find a Scottish birth Certificate or FindMyPast.co.uk to find my Canadian soldier.


The horse I appreciate the most is the one that will get the best job done for me.

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy - Week 1 – Blogs

52 Weeks of Abundant Genealogy by Amy Coffin is a series of weekly blogging prompts (one for each week of 2012) that invites genealogists and others to discuss resources in the genealogy community including websites, applications, libraries, archives, genealogical societies and more. You do not have to be a blogger to participate. If you do not have a genealogy blog, write down your thoughts on your computer, or simply record them on paper and keep them with your files.


Week 1 – Blogs: Blogging is a great way for genealogists to share information with family members, potential cousins and each other. For which blog are you most thankful? Is it one of the earliest blogs you read, or a current one? What is special about the blog and why should others read it?
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I am thankful for all the blogs I read because they all assist my CGD. The blogs I read via RSS are classified in a number of categories: Books and Reading, Genealogy, ICT, Library, Teaching and Learning and Others. I read most of these posts or their summaries each morning in bed and maybe later in the day if I am a passenger in a bus, train or car or sitting around in a doctor's office.


I enjoy reading the posts of Geneabloggers especially those from the small but enthusiastic Geneablogging community here in Australia. I appreciate all you do for us.


I love to share with others what I learn from other disciplines that can be applied to my genealogical activities. For this reason I am nominating educator, Richard Byrne's blogs as those for which I am most thankful. From his Free Technology for Teachers I have gathered many resources to share with genealogists. Richard's new Android 4 Schools Blog gave me the idea for my new baby, Android Genealogy. 


The synthesis of ideas from one subject area to another makes for a richer experience in our world of genealogy. Don't confine yourself to reading genealogy blogs, read from other subject areas and share what you find via your blog.