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Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter
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Family Origins 8.0 New Genealogy Magazine |
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Click Here for Dick Eastman's Archive |
| August 31, 1999 |
Family Origins by Parsons Technology has always been one of my favorite Windows genealogy programs. It combines low cost, ease of use and almost all the features that a serious genealogist would ever want. That’s a dynamite combination! Parsons Technology became a subsidiary of Broderbund some time ago, and then the new parent company itself was acquired by other companies. The management at Parsons/Broderbund/The Learning Company/Mattel has wisely decided to keep the Family Origins product alive, and they continue to refine the program. Family Origins version 8.0 is now available in two versions. The regular version contains the genealogy program itself while the deluxe version has the same program bundled with two other programs from Parsons: Family Reunion Planner and Place Finder. I had a chance to use the brand-new Family Origins Deluxe version 8.0 this week and can report that it still is an excellent, low-cost genealogy program. It is still easy to use, and it remains an excellent software tool for serious genealogists. Installation of the new program was a snap. If you have ever installed another Windows program, you can install this one. Once installed, the program asks if you would like to register the software online. However, online registration is not required. The program’s documentation states that Family Origins 8.0 requires Windows 95 or Windows 98, a 486 or higher IBM PC or compatible, 8 megabytes of RAM memory, a minimum of 8 megabytes of hard disk space (a full installation requires 40 megabytes), a double-speed or faster CD-ROM drive or faster, and VGA video with at least 256 colors. Family Origins 8.0 also works with most popular printers (monochrome and color) supported by Windows. A modem and Internet Service Provider account are required if the user wishes to use the online features. Even though Parsons Technology says that the program requires Windows 95 or Windows 98, I ran it on Windows NT 4.0 Workstation and did not encounter any problems with its operation. When I first started Family Origins 8.0, it automatically found a database on my hard drive that had been created with an earlier version of the same program. It then asked if I wanted to use this database and if I wanted to convert it to the version 8.0 format. I clicked on "yes" and a minute later I was looking at all my data in the new program. One of the things I have always liked about earlier versions of Family Origins is the clean, simple interface. Version 8.0 continues to use essentially the same "look and feel." When launched, a "tree view" appears that is a traditional pedigree chart. The screen is not filled with a lot of detail. If anything, I could even say that the simple tree view has a lot of wasted space that could be used to display information. However, by keeping the tree view simple, the display is always easy to read. The user can instantly switch to "Family View," a form of the standard Family Group Sheet. This view shows the father, mother and all the children of that couple. It also displays the names of the father’s parents and the mother’s parents, making it a 3-generation display. Again, the display is clear and uncluttered. Information is added or manipulated either by using icons across the top of the display screen, by selecting items from the pull-down menus, or by using a right-click of the mouse. I found the icons to be a bit cryptic at first. However, as I became more familiar with the program, they became much more intuitive. Another nice feature is "bubble help;" simply keep the mouse cursor over the icon for a second or so, and a small pop-up window appears that gives a one-sentence description of the underlying operation represented by that icon. To see all the available details about any individual in either view, place the mouse cursor over the person’s name, right click and select "Edit Individual." A pop-up screen appears with dates and places of birth, marriage and death, along with almost all the other available information such as dates and places of residence, military service, Ancestral File number, Bar Mitzvah, education, physical description, public offices held, naturalization, occupation and a bunch more possible fields. You can instantly add or change any of the information from this same screen. Each fact in the database can be fully referenced with both text notes and with the source of that information. Sources are kept in a true sources database, not in simple text files. The sources database has room for the following on each source: Name of the source (which will appear in the Master Source List) In this day and age, I would suggest that all genealogy software should have a sources database as good as that of Family Origins version 8.0. Some programs do, but sadly, others do not. If your present genealogy program does not properly document sources, you might want to switch to another program that will fully document your research efforts. Unlike some of the simpler programs, you can add multiple events for any individual. If you have two or three different dates or places of birth found in contradictory records, you can enter all of them. For instance, you are not limited to only one occupation; if your ancestor was a sailor in his younger days, a farmer in middle age and a merchant still later in life, you can enter all three occupations, along with corresponding dates, into the database. When first installed, Family Origins version 8.0 has more than 50 different types of facts that can be added to the database, including all the items I just mentioned. However, if you want to add still another fact not on the list, just click on "Add" and you can enter whatever event types that you wish. I added "Filles du Roi" (Daughters of the King) to the list of facts available. Anyone researching French ancestors arriving in Quebec province in the 1600s will recognize this term. If you, too, have unique fields (or facts) that you wish to record about your ancestors’ lives, those facts can easily be added to the database. Anyone using an earlier version of Family Origins will be interested in the new features added to version 8.0: The new Missing Information List will quickly provide a list of individuals and the type of information, such as birth date or marriage place, that is missing in your file. The Surname Statistics List makes it quick and easy to compile a summary of all the surnames in your database. Not only can you see how often each surname appears in your database, but you can also see the earliest date and the most recent date each surname appears. You can now create and filter a To-Do List based on surname or individual name, a nice tool to use before visiting a genealogy library or archive. The Family Origins Explorer is the new heart of Family Origins’ search system. Once you’ve found some new facts to add to your file, you can easily search for individuals in your database based on the criteria that you specify, such as any marriage date prior to 1850. Then, directly from the Explorer screen, you can add and edit individual and family notes, sources, and pictures, as well as addresses, photos, LDS ordinances and to-do list items for all individuals in the database. You can also use the Family Origins Explorer as a navigational tool to quickly view any individual’s vital information as well as instantly see every immediate relative of the highlighted person. Version 8.0 includes a method to easily prepare files for future publication at LDS Family History Centers and FamilySearch.org. You can open databases created in the LDS Personal Ancestral File (PAF) program without any additional conversion steps, even for the just-released PAF version 4.0. Version 8.0 now operates with multiple databases at the same time. The user can open multiple copies of the same database. A new feature allows for "Drag and Drop" of people between different databases. That’s much easier than the normal "copy-and-paste." Family Origins version 8.0 automatically checks for duplicates as you enter names. The new "Hourglass Tree" report even includes photos. This "Hourglass Tree" is a great method of showing both the ancestors and descendants of a particular person. Family Origins version 8.0 now has a new page layout option that lets the user set margins, define headers and footers, and more. The program also will automatically open your word processor when printing to file. Family Origins version 8.0 also has an improved Family Scrapbook. This lets you add photos, audio clips, and videos to individuals or families in your database. Each person and family in your database has its own scrapbook where you can add, edit, remove, and rearrange scrapbook items. Photographs, sound clips, and video clips can be attached to any family. A new photo editor allows for rotating, image manipulation and printing of images. New printed reports include: Henry descendant book (individuals are numbered as: (1211, 1212, 1213, …) Family Origins version 8.0 does not come with a printed manual, nor does it seem to need one. The online help is excellent. Whenever I clicked on Help, the Windows Help system brought up a fully detailed description of the use of the page that I was viewing at the time. In addition, the Help system is fully searchable. Want to read about adding sources? Click on Help, click on Search, and then enter "sources." You will then see several pages of information about how to enter sources into the program as well as information about why recording of sources is so important to genealogy research. The Family Origins version 8.0 Help system also includes a rather complete Glossary of Genealogical Terms and an online reference manual that describes: Relationship Terms All in all, this is an excellent genealogy program. The above information describes only a few features available in this powerhouse. Many examples of the screens and the printed reports can be seen on the company’s website. Note that you can see many sample screen shots and printouts at: http://www.familyorigins.com/samples.htm Family Origins version 8.0 sells for $29.95 U.S. funds and can even be downloaded from the company’s website. You could be using the program within an hour or so after reading this newsletter. Registered users of earlier versions of Family Origins can purchase an upgrade for $19.95. Family Origins Deluxe includes two other programs from Parsons: Family Reunion Planner and Place Finder. That version is available only on CD-ROM and will sell for about $49.95 at retail outlets. If you are undecided about switching to Family Origins version 8.0, you might want to first download the free demo from the Family Origins website. This demo allows you to try all the features in Family Origins 8.0, including printing trees, for 15 days. Data entered into the demo will be preserved if you later purchase the regular version. For more information about Family Origins version 8.0, look at: http://www.familyorigins.com A new genealogy magazine will appear in print in North America later this year. F&W Publications of Cincinnati, Ohio will publish "Family Tree Magazine." Apparently there is no connection between this new publication and the magazine of the same name that is printed in England. F&W Publications says, "Family Tree Magazine is the first magazine to target novice genealogists and take a mass-market, nonacademic approach to this booming field." The first issue will be dated November 1999, and the publishers are planning for a distribution of 125,000 copies. A mockup table of contents says, "November 1999 Volume 1, Issue 1," but the editorial calendar starts with January 2000. The January 2000 issue is scheduled to hit newsstands on November 2, 1999. F&W Publications, Inc. is located at 1507 Dana Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45207, phone (513) 531-2690, FAX (513) 531-1843. They publish other magazines, including Writer's Digest and Popular Woodworking. - "Printed Sources" Wins ALA Award "Printed Sources: A Guide to Published Genealogical Records," edited by Kory L. Meyerink, has won a prestigious award from the American Library Association's Reference and User Services Association (RUSA). Quoting from the Association’s website at: http://www.ala.org/rusa/bestref.html "The 1999 list of Outstanding Reference Sources for Small and Medium-sized Libraries has been announced by the Reference and User Services Association's (RUSA) Reference Sources Committee. The titles were selected during the 1999 ALA Midwinter meeting and represent high-quality reference works that are suitable for small to medium-sized libraries. . . The list, with annotations, will appear in the May 1999 issue of American Libraries." Congratulations to Kory Meyerink and all of the contributors to "Printed Sources." A list of the winners is available online at: http://www.ala.org/rusa/bestref.html To read more about "Printed Sources: A Guide to Published Genealogical Records," look at: http://shop.ancestry.com/ancestry/printedsources1.html - Ancestry Sends Scholarship Winner To FGS Conference The following announcement is from Ancestry.com: The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) wrapped up its annual conference last week in St. Louis. Among those in attendance was Patricia Kerr Thompson, a representative of the Montana State Genealogical Society and the recipient of an Ancestry scholarship to the conference. In her application to the FGS Board for a scholarship, Mrs. Thompson stated, "In Montana, we have very small local societies, which struggle to keep going, and even those in some of our bigger towns have major problems surviving. Once those struggling societies fold, they almost never start up again. Butte and Sidney folded years ago, Kalispell folded last year, and Missoula and Bozeman are on the brink. I have such a fervent conviction of the importance of genealogy societies, and I literally grieve for each society that goes down. I want to gather as much information as I can to help strengthen these local societies. Just as the Federation of Genealogical Societies exists in a large part to strengthen and help local societies, so we at the Montana State Genealogical Society should do all we can for the local societies within our state. Indeed I know from my experience as president that they look to us for help." Patricia Thompson's application came to the attention of Ancestry Vice President of Publishing, Loretto D. Szucs, who also serves as the Vice President of Membership for FGS. This is the first such scholarship granted by Ancestry.com and will be followed by others. - Australian Genealogy Informer There’s another new weekly genealogy newsletter on the scene: the Australian Genealogy Informer. Author John Snelson recently sent the nineteenth edition of the newsletter to several thousand subscribers in Australia and New Zealand plus to a handful of subscribers elsewhere around the world. If you are researching Australian ancestry, you will want to subscribe to this one. Subscriptions are free. For more information about the Australian Genealogy Informer, look at: http://www.southernx.com.au - Grand Traverse Co., MI Marriage and Death Records Index Online Indexes to the Grand Traverse County, Michigan marriage and death records are now online. The Traverse Area District Library has made the records available to the public, in cooperation with the Grand Traverse County Clerk's Office. The site says that it has 40,196 marriage records and 62,685 death records in its databases. I recently visited the site and found it very simple to use. The search seems to be a simple ASCII text search. I went to marriage records and entered my own last name, then clicked on SEARCH. Almost instantly, five records were returned in which either the bride or groom was named Eastman. Here is an example of one of the records found: Groom: GIUSTI, FRED You can also use a simple AND statement in the search. For instance, if you were looking for a specific person with a common last name, such as William Green, you could search for all records showing "William AND Green". This would display only those records that show both names. Apparently there is no capability for Soundex searches or other sophisticated Boolean searches. If your ancestors may have used different spellings for their names, then you will have to conduct several searches, one for each spelling. Keep in mind that the database being searched is only an index. You will always want to look at the original records to make sure that it is indeed the correct person. You will also want to see the other names listed in the record, such as parents and other witnesses to a marriage record or next of kin on a death record. To obtain copies of the original records, you must visit or write to the Grand Traverse County Clerk's Office, 400 Boardman Ave, Traverse City MI 49684. This is an excellent example of genealogy records becoming available online. To search the Grand Traverse County marriage and death indexes, go to: http://www.tcnet.org/gtcounty/index.html - Plantagenet Ancestry on CD-ROM Walika Publishing Company has recently announced their new "Digital Classics" collection on CD-ROM disks. The company claims that the collection will contain "19th century reference works relating to American military history and genealogy." Apparently the company is just getting started as they only list two such works for sale at this time. One is for "Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army", originally printed in 1932. The other one caught my eye, however: "The Plantagenet Ancestry" by George Andrews Moriarty – an unpublished manuscript by one of the 20th century's leading genealogists. 300 handwritten pages, extensively footnoted with authorities. Indexed by the author. I haven’t seen the CD-ROM yet, so I do not know how well it works. "The Plantagenet Ancestry" sells for $29.95. For more information, look at: http://digitalclassics.walika.com - Genealogy on the Air in Rhode Island If you are in or near Westerly, Rhode Island, you’ll be interested to hear that Laura Bradley will be back on the air soon. Of course, she will be talking about genealogy. Here’s a note I received from Laura: Great news! Ancestral Search, a radio program I created a few years ago and on which you have been a guest, is coming back on the air on Thursday, September 2nd at 10 a.m. on WBLQ 88.1 FM, a public station out of Westerly, Rhode Island. I will host it from the Westerly studio and do remote broadcasts from around the region. A great lineup of guests awaits the listeners. This is a new market area for the program because the signal from the old station did not reach Westerly. Laura did a great job with her old show on Connecticut. She had quite a few listeners even though the low-powered AM station that carried her show hampered coverage. I suspect the new show on WBLQ-FM will give her a larger audience. - Are You Lazy? Blame Your Ancestors! That title sounds like a joke. However, scientists at the University of Glasgow in Scotland believe there may be a gene for laziness which could partly explain why some people just don't like or can't tolerate exercise. They are planning a study of Glasgow children to try to find a common genetic element in youngsters who don't exercise as much as others. "There may be a link between exercise intolerance and genetic make-up which restricts or promotes exercise depending on your genes," Professor Susan Ward, the director of the Center for Exercise Science and Medicine at the university, told The Daily Telegraph newspaper. "If we can establish a certain genetic pattern that corresponds to what is commonly seen as laziness, it could transform the way we deal with health problems caused through lack of exercise," she added. Hey, don’t blame me if the lawn wasn’t mowed today. Blame my ancestry! The following is a list of some of the genealogy-related World Wide Web home pages that have been listed recently on http://www.rootscomputing.com. Garner surname and variant spellings: Kobernuss and Kubbernuss family home page: Sabin family information: German Roots: German genealogy resources: To submit your home page to this newsletter, enter the necessary information at: http://www.rootscomputing.com/register.htm. Due to the volume of new Web pages submitted, I am not able to list all of them in the newsletter.
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