Using Computer Programs for Genealogical Record Keeping

Consider using a computer genealogy program to manage your genealogy information. These programs give you great flexibility in compiling and analyzing your research, as well as making it easier to share data.

After entering the data into the computer once, you can arrange it in many ways. All the programs use a family group sheet format to keep track of your information, and all print pedigree charts. The differences in genealogy programs lie in the amount of information they enable you to enter and what you can do with that information once it is entered.

The programs range from very simple ones, which are merely an organized collection of names with the capacity to print basic forms, to very sophisticated programs, which produce customized reports and allow for extensive research notes, footnotes, and bibliographies to help you produce complete family histories. Many programs incorporate multimedia and provide tools to connect you to the Internet and to put your genealogy on your own Web page.

Computer-Generated Reports

Computer genealogy programs are especially helpful for preparing charts, both ascendant and descendant. The program knows from the information you enter just what names and dates it needs to gather from your lineage-linked database to compose the chart you select. Using a computer program makes it easy to print new, correctly numbered charts as you add newly found information.

Putting together a complete descendant chart by hand is tedious work. You must scour your files for all descendants and group them by generations. This is a task well suited to computers. In moments the computer searches through all the material you entered and finds everyone connected to the person you designate as the starting individual. It then creates a descendant chart based on your preferences.

Having all your data in a computer program makes it easier to write research reports for yourself and to share information with others working on your lines. A good computer program enables you to enter everything you find. It provides space to write evaluations of your data and sources, and space for remarks to yourself or for recording research tasks, such as “Check the 1850 census of Indiana to find sibling's family.”

Computer Searching: What Do You Want to Know?

With a good computer program you can search your data for nearly anything. You can look for all individuals in your database born before 1900 in Grundy County, Illinois, get a list of every person in your database who had military service, or find the average age of marriage for all the females in your database. Just creating a list of all the marriages in your database can be helpful.

Most programs let you view your materials in different ways, making the work of connecting people much easier. You can search for patterns or interesting statistics. How many men died of heart disease before age 60? Find all the women in your database for whom you need maiden names. How many relatives share your birthday? Remember, these searches depend on the data you have entered. If you have not entered information about military service, then the computer cannot give you statistics on how many men in your database served in some capacity.

You can determine your relationship to everyone in your database. How are you related to all the individuals you've researched so far? (If you collect records on several hundred people, you will have difficulty figuring this out without a computer.)

Multimedia

Computer technology allows some sophisticated programs to store the photographs of your ancestors. All those charming photographs you have gathered, Aunt Lizzie on her first bicycle or Grandma tending her garden, can be stored on the computer and used to enhance your family histories.

Distant family members may not have seen the photos you can now incorporate into your genealogy. Pictures of the rude log cabin or the primitive sod house add immeasurably to descendants' understanding of what life was like in the early days of our country. Imagine the children's glee as they look at the very bushy eyebrows on third Great-Grandmother Harriet and discover the origin of their own eyebrows.

Some programs can incorporate audio clips with the material you gather. Grandpa recollecting his capture in the Battle of the Bulge or your cousins in Germany explaining the original pronunciation of your name add color to your family history.

Computer programs today are not usually bundled with CD-ROMs of resources, indexes, or family trees as they were at one time. However, those CD-ROMS are still used by some individuals working on their family history. Be cautious about accepting the information on them at face value. Many of the lineages on CD-ROMs that were bundled with computer programs have no source citations. Other materials in those bundled products, such as the Social Security Death Index, are now out-of-date and some resource materials were incomplete or had serious abstracting flaws. Though helpful as clues for further research, you'll need to research and document the information to be sure it is correct.

Continuing Development

Technology advances continue to be integrated into genealogy. The proliferation of personal data assistants led to the development of genealogy programs for these mobile units. You can carry all your genealogy information in something the size of a cell phone. Utility programs (small software applications also called add-ons) work with major genealogy programs to enhance the products. They may facilitate printing fancy charts, prepare slide shows, or use artificial intelligence to analyze your data and deliver suggestions of specific resources to help you find the missing pieces.

Finding a Computer Program

Most programs have demonstration versions you can take for a “test drive” by downloading the demo from the site. Trying out the programs will make you more knowledgeable as you compare their features by reading reviews in the magazine Genealogical Computing or by reading the message boards devoted to computer software at RootsWeb.com. Many local genealogy societies have computer interest groups that meet regularly for demonstrations and discussions of various programs. Computer programs change constantly, so make your choice based on the latest information you can find.

Excerpted from The Complete Idiot's Guide to Genealogy © 2005 by Christine Rose and Kay Germain Ingalls. All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. Used by arrangement with Alpha Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

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