The Family Tree
By Terence L. Day
Terence L. Day, genealogist and journalist, is on the Washington State University faculty. He welcomes e-mail at genealogy@moscow.com, or regular mail in care of the Tri-City Herald City newsroom, P.O. Box 2608, Tri-Cities, WA 99302-2608.
Genealogy software can meet many needs
This column was published Oct. 29, 2000
Of all the questions I get about genealogy, the one that makes me cringe the most is also one of the most common: Which software is best?
I recoil because the question is so deceptively simple and the answer so infernally complex.
Best for what? For whom?
In a few short years, genealogical software has gone from rudimentary, bare bones applications that allowed genealogists to store data and print a few simple charts to programs so sophisticated that some of us will never learn to use all the features.
Intelligently answering the short and simple question requires answers to a blizzard of questions: Are you a novice genealogist or a grizzled old veteran? An amateur or a professional? What kind of a computer are you going to use? What are its capacities? Do you want to keep data on a few families? A few hundred? Tens of thousands?
What do you want to record? Basic, skeletal data? Dates, places, relationships? How extensively do you want to document the sources of your data? By document, I mean citing birth, marriage and death certificates. Things such as that are needed so others can have confidence that you have done the job correctly.
Do you just want Plane Jane family group records and ancestor charts? Or do you want to add photographs? Sound? Yes, some programs allow you to record voices - of the living, I presume.
How about books? At some time in the future, will you want to print one or more books? Some software applications will do most of the writing for you, from the data you enter.
Here's an example from Personal Ancestral File:
First Generation
1. Lyle Keith Day was born on 26 Jun 1909 in Asotin, Asotin, Washington. He died on 30 Jan 1949 in Medical Lake, Spokane, Washington. Lyle married Eva Lorraine Willis on 23 Oct 1934 in Kennewick, Benton, Washington.
2. Eva Lorraine Willis was born on 26 May 1916 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. She died on 28 July 1999 in Poway, San Diego, California, and was buried on 4 Aug 1999 in Kennewick, Benton, Washington.
I wrote none of the two paragraphs above. The software extracted the names, dates and places from my database and wrote the narrative.
The program will include photos, if you have them in your genealogy program in the computer.
This is just a taste of what software programs can provide for genealogists. Any good program has many other features, too numerous to mention here.
Years ago, I used to do software reviews. No more. These programs are too big and updates are too frequent. Neither time nor space allow for comprehensive software reviews. Not the kind I'd want my name attached to, anyway.
When people ask for my recommendation, I have been known to tell them that I still use PAF. Actually, version 4.0.4.18 is my basic program. This venerable product remains relatively Plane Jane and still has features I've not bothered learning. But I also dink around with Family Origins 9.0 and Family Tree Maker.
PC Magazine recently rated several genealogy software programs. Its highest rating went to Sierra Generations Grande Suite 8.0, which retails for $89.95.
Editors gave it five stars and the Editor's Choice Award. Editors called it, "... a great educational tool for those who are just discovering genealogy." Users rate it with a very high 9.3 average on a scale of 10.
The Master Genealogist Gold Edition4.0, which retails for $100, received four stars. Editors said it is "a deep program with great organizational strengths, ... designed for serious researchers."
Family Tree Maker version 7.5, which sells for $80, also received four stars. Editors said it "... keeps getting better with each version."
Personal Ancestral File 4.0 was awarded three stars. Editors said it is "... simple, logical, and quite easy to navigate." I concur. Users give PAF 4.0 a 9.1 overall rating, including a perfect 10 for technical support. I presume it also would merit a 10 on a cost/benefit rating. It's free from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I suspect it fulfills the needs of 80 percent or more of the world's family genealogists. It also is available in several foreign languages.
Whether you're contemplating acquiring your first genealogy software or looking for something better than what you've got, I strongly recommend you ask around amongst your genealogizing friends. Find out what they're using and how they like it.
And, perhaps most important of all, ask them for a demonstration.