I feel like a bit of a fraud!

[Kingfisher]

Hi there.

I am a total newbie to everything involving Family Trees. However my father expressed an interest and as a result he was passed alot of work done by a distant cousin who took this sort of thing very seriously. Sadly my father is in his eighties and is running low on steam pressure these days . I have therefore offered to help out. The Family Tree has been hand drawn as a wall chart that extends a good 10ft across the table, is generally in a poor condition but has entries that go back to the 17th Century, i.e. it is extensive. So my initial thoughts were to start by trying to record what I currently have in more robust software possibly with the aim of developing it, if I "catch the bug", and certainly with the aim of being able to show it all online.

I have therefore spent some time looking at suitable genealogy software. Three products in particular: Roots Magic, Family Tree Maker and Legacy 7. Legacy seems to be orientated towards the US market. Family Tree Maker seems good, but you only get the full value if you sign up to the Ancestors.co.uk website and that seems a bit pricey at the moment. Roots Magic therefore seems the remaining option given that you can export the tree in html.

(1) So, am I missing something here? Is there another software product that I should consider? I guess I am looking for something that does the basics well, is easy to use and can grow alongside my interest level.

Two other quick questions while I'm at it ...
(2) Is there a hints and tips FAQ that makes good reading for those total newbies like myself?
(3) How are you supposed to record maiden names in the software?

By the way, I feel like a bit of a fraud because I have done absolutely no work in creating this Family Tree. Someone else has done it all for me and maybe, as a result, I've missed half the fun!

Best Wishes and thanks for any help.
Mark

[peterd]

you could try tribal pages its free and easy to use and you can down load a copy of the gedcom on to you home computer for safety


http://tribalpages.com/


some of use are adding data to a large black country family tree have a look to see whats possible

http://bcconnections.tribalpages.com/

[Maths girl]

I am a total newbie to everything involving Family Trees. However my father expressed an interest and as a result he was passed alot of work done by a distant cousin who took this sort of thing very seriously.

By the way, I feel like a bit of a fraud because I have done absolutely no work in creating this Family Tree. Someone else has done it all for me and maybe, as a result, I've missed half the fun!

By the time you have converted the original to a computer format and verified the facts you find using up-to-date searches you will certainly have done plenty of work and probably found things along the way that were not available for the original searcher so don't worry about feeling a fraud just view it as a stepping stone -- and enjoy.

Maths girl

[MarkCDodd]

I use Roots Magic.

It is easy, has lots of features and not as bloated as most.

I also use Family Tree Maker 2010 as I can download my entire tree, including documents and photographs, from Ancestry.

Family Tree Maker is also the best at telling you the relationship the person you have clicked on has to you.

"2nd cousin twice removed of wife of grand uncle of wife of Mark C Dodd"

A lot of those old family trees are very accurate as they were done via a lot of hard work and not a few mouse clicks.

[Fatman]

Im using MyHeritage Online

I really like the software - being a software developer myself and being online I wont lose it if my computer dies!