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Why Genealogists Should Use Computers
by Paul BlakePresident, Rochester Genealogical Society
Rochester Computer Society
April 8th, 2003
Webster, NY
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Agenda
• Definition of Genealogy & some background• As a genealogist why do you need a computer
– Organization – Discipline– Facilitation of storage– Communications– Research
• Genealogical Software Offerings• Q&A
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Definition of Genealogy
• The study of family origins & History
• The word comes from 2 Greek Words– genea meaning race or family– logia meaning theory or science– i.e. to trace ancestry
• Genealogists compile lists of ancestors– arranging them in pedigrees– or other written forms
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Definition of Genealogy
• Thought pedigrees were what dogs had
• Pedigree comes from Latin– pes which means foot– grus which means crane– derived from a sign resembling a crane’s
foot– used to denote lines of descent by early
west European genealogies
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Some More Background
• Genealogy has gone through 3 periods– Oral tradition - memorized list of names– Written pedigrees - primarily nobility– About 1500 AD in western Europe and
later in the English-speaking world during which the whole basis for genealogy widened to such an extent that the majority of people in western Europe can trace their ancestry.
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Some More Background
• Modern Genealogy– Has increased dramatically since 1945– The United States has had a long interest
• Societies like the New England Historic Genealogical Society
• The Augustan Society & many other state societies
• The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (LDS or Mormans)
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Some More Background
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Why do Genealogists need computers
• Organization– As you research you
accumulate information
– The more years - the more paper
– How do you find anything?
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Why do Genealogists need computers
• Computers bring organization & discipline
– Key data required
– Syntactical checks for date fields
– Error checking, i.e. person born after death of mother
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• Computers facilitate storage of data
Why do Genealogists need computers
– Digital images require much less space
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Why do Genealogists need computers
• Communications– Electronic Mail to
fellow researchers and relatives
– Bulletin Board and chat rooms for genealogists researching the same lines
– Sharing research
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Why do Genealogists need computers
• Research– Incredible wealth of
information on CD ROMS
– Complete books
– Indexes
– Pictures
– etc.
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Why do Genealogists need computers• Research - CD ROM Example
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Why do Genealogists need computers
– The internet
– Literally millions of sites
http://www.cyndislist.com/
• Research
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• Research
Why do Genealogists need computers
– Many are voluntary organizations
http://www.usgenweb.org/
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• Research
Why do Genealogists need computers
– Many are commercial and require subscription
http://www.ancestry.com/main1.htm
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• Research
Why do Genealogists need computers
– Some are sponsored by local government agencies
http://www2.cityofrochester.net/cs/MarriageRecords/index.cfm
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• Research
Why do Genealogists need computers
– Some are sponsored by US government agencies
http://www.archives.gov/index.html
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Why do Genealogists need computers
• LDS Church is a huge sponsor for genealogical research
http://www.lds.org/
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Why do Genealogists need computers
• Plug for Rochester Genealogical Society web site
http://www.rootsweb.com/~nyrgs/
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What to Buy - Software
• There several popular Genealogical programs available
• PAF is supplied by LDS for free
• Family Tree Maker is the most popular program in the RGS CIG
• Generations, Ultimate Family Tree, Master Genealogist, Family Tree, etc.
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What to Buy - Software
• Genealogy programs seem to have similar features
• The Rochester Genealogical Society CIG from time to time does presentations on various genealogical software.
• It is important to select a product that supports the GEDCOM standard which will allow you to share your data
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Last but not least
• Lets look at Family Tree Maker
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In Summary...
• Definitions
• Organization
• Discipline
• Facilitation of storage
• Communications
• Research
• Brief Look at Software
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Q&A
GenWeb
Pedigree
FTM
Cyndi’s
List