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Genea Challenge #29 is to Write about your favorite genealogy web sites.
I actually have several favorite sites. Probably number one on mine, and many others, list is Ancestry.com. I've had a $299 membership with them for years, and will continue to do so as long as I can scrape together the money every year! The plethora of documents available on this site alone has saved me literally thousands, [I mean in the tens of thousands] of dollars in travel and research expense. That has far more than paid for the yearly membership cost! For anyone who is unable to travel to the source, I highly recommend this site!
Another site I have used over and over is Footnote. This is another pay site. But I have obtained military records for Civil War era family members, and client research, that I was unable to retrieve when sending to NARA for! And this site just keeps right on growing and expanding! The clarity of their scans at times far-exceeds even that of Ancestry!
NewspaperArchive.com is another pay site. But it literally paid for itself in the very first day that I purchased it! My husband's family has a very notorious "Old West" outlaw in it. I would have had to travel to Texas and Oklahoma to get copies of the newspaper articles that were printed about him back in the day. And then, I would have had to have known which papers to research, or spent days and days in local libraries searching through microfiche! However, in one single afternoon I was able to uncover over 40 articles on this old rascal! What a find! I wouldn't be without this site!
I am a big fan of Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet. Whenever I hit a roadblock, and don't know where to turn to next, I inevitably head over to Cyndi's List. And I would feel safe in saying that 9 out of 10 times I go there I am at least headed in the right direction when I leave. Cyndi has literally THOUSANDS of Internet sites for you to head out to check on research material. What a treasure!
Family Search is another great site. While I haven't had alot of luck in utilizing their numerous family trees that are posted, they have often guided me in knowing what area I should be researching, or in giving me clues on how to continue my research. Family Search has also been quietly expanding, and adding numerous records to their site. As a big Texas researcher, I was especially pleased when they added the Texas Death Certificates to their site!
West Virginia Division of Culture and History has a wonderful WV Vital Research Records site. Here you can find Birth, Death and Marriage records for most all of the counties in West Virginia. Many dating back to 1800 and moving forward into the 1960's. The majority of my personal research has been in West Virginia and Virginia, so this has become my personal treasure trove!
The Library of Virginia is another hidden treasure for those researching Virginia ancestry. Here I have uncovered Land Grants, and Bible records for my own family, and many I've been researching. While the site does not allow you to print off these documents, it does allow you to order them at a modest fee. And believe me, there's nothing like holding these documents i your hands!
I have also become a huge fan of genealogy blogs. Most of them I receive daily in my news reader [I utilize NewsGator]. There's a few without an RSS feed, and those I go to directly, having saved them in my "Favorites" folder.
I am especially fond of Dick Eastman's Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter. Dick offers his free daily newsletter [usually having more than 5 posts per day!!!]. And he offers a paid subscription which includes the free and a weekly newsletter that when printed out will make a small book! [Last week's was over 30-pages!] [Incidentally, I don't recommend printing it out! How about saving it instead, and reading it later? You can save the Plus Edition in a PDF format, and view it at your leisure.]
I also like the Ancestry.com blogs. These are very informative. You won't find them any better!
And I could go on and on! [I think I subscribe to about 125 genealogy blogs!]. But for a really good over view of genealogy blogs, and to get a great insight to writing a genealogy blog, you can't find a better reference than GeneaBloggers. Here you'll find a comprehensive list of blog sites. [If you look close enough, you'll even find the ol' Mountain Genealogists listed!]
Hope you've enjoyed my tour of my favorite genealogy web sites. This is only a small taste of the many I utilize on a daily basis. But these, as far as I am concerned, and in my humble opinion, are the BEST!!!
Showing posts with label Family Search. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family Search. Show all posts
Monday, July 20, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
My Favorite Genealogy Software
This weeks GeneaBlogger challenge is to write about our favorite genealogy software. So, with that in mind I submit the following:
I have been using Family Tree Maker [FTM] for the past 3 years. I have to admit, though, most practicing genealogists, professional or otherwise may laugh, because before that, I was perfectly content with the free PAF software that I downloaded many years ago on Family Search. [It did all of the major things I required of it!] The only problem that I found with the old PAF software was that when a jpg, gif or tiff file was attached to a file, it was just that. Attached. And if you ever moved your image file for some reason or other [as say when you change computers], your image was then "lost", because the pathway had been removed. You then had to go "find" your image, and re-attach it to the file.
Then in 2006, when I renewed my Ancestry.com membership, I was also offered a tremendous savings on purchasing the FTM program.
I have been sold on that ever since!
Family Tree Maker basically takes care of all of my needs. I am able to import and export with tremendous ease. I seldom ever import any type of files however, especially gedcom's. I prefer instead to enter all information, even on large files, by hand. I can then make sure of any errors [especially blatant ones], as well as get a feel for the persons I am working on.
I can also save most image files without problems. And the image is saved right to my FTM program. If I export my gedcom, for any reason, I don't have to export images as well. They are already within the file.
Sources are easily entered for just about any kind of input I may have. And I love the way Endnotes prints out all of my sources numerically when the file is printed out. This makes for ease of my clients in actually seeing each of the sources with no difficulty.
Reports are printed quite well. I still like to prepare my own reports, as well as the program generated ones when working for a client, however. The program generated reports appear a little stilted, and have no personality. You can, however, insert comment as you want, and can still go with just the computer generated one if it's your thing.
The ability to print "Books", makes this program unique when you are preparing reports for clients. For my personal clients, I always use this function. Each page I then slip into an archival sleeve, and then into a binder. This gives my client the look of a professional print, without the high cost of taking it to a printer, or collater.
I love the scrapbook pages. These can also be added in your "Book". These print your images at thumbnail size. These give clients the chance to actually see the document, photo, etc. that you accumulated while working on their ancestor. [Hint: I always burn these images full-size to a CD so that clients can then print them out if they choose. Unless pre-arranged before hand, I always print these "mini-images" for clients. It allows me to discount my services, and yet with the CD gives the client the ability to still have a full-page document if they choose.]
There are numerous ways to view a family, descendency, or pedigree with FTM. And more tools than I could safely mention without fear of forgetting any!
The Help function is unbelievable. I've used it more times than I count!
But one of my favorite features is the "Web Search Resources" button. Simply click this button, below any individual's entry, and the program will automatically connect you to Ancestry.com and begin a search for matches. [You do have to have an Internet connection first!] This has saved me more time than I can possibly tell you about! Results are brought up within the program, and you can click on any result and be taken to Ancestry.com and view the record or document it pertains to.
FTM may not be everyone's favorite. And I am sure there are many other programs that do as much, if not more, for other researchers. But for my money, and my experience, Family Tree Maker has served me well. And as my Grandpa always said, "If ain't broke, don't try to fix it!"
Until next time!
I have been using Family Tree Maker [FTM] for the past 3 years. I have to admit, though, most practicing genealogists, professional or otherwise may laugh, because before that, I was perfectly content with the free PAF software that I downloaded many years ago on Family Search. [It did all of the major things I required of it!] The only problem that I found with the old PAF software was that when a jpg, gif or tiff file was attached to a file, it was just that. Attached. And if you ever moved your image file for some reason or other [as say when you change computers], your image was then "lost", because the pathway had been removed. You then had to go "find" your image, and re-attach it to the file.
Then in 2006, when I renewed my Ancestry.com membership, I was also offered a tremendous savings on purchasing the FTM program.
I have been sold on that ever since!
Family Tree Maker basically takes care of all of my needs. I am able to import and export with tremendous ease. I seldom ever import any type of files however, especially gedcom's. I prefer instead to enter all information, even on large files, by hand. I can then make sure of any errors [especially blatant ones], as well as get a feel for the persons I am working on.
I can also save most image files without problems. And the image is saved right to my FTM program. If I export my gedcom, for any reason, I don't have to export images as well. They are already within the file.
Sources are easily entered for just about any kind of input I may have. And I love the way Endnotes prints out all of my sources numerically when the file is printed out. This makes for ease of my clients in actually seeing each of the sources with no difficulty.
Reports are printed quite well. I still like to prepare my own reports, as well as the program generated ones when working for a client, however. The program generated reports appear a little stilted, and have no personality. You can, however, insert comment as you want, and can still go with just the computer generated one if it's your thing.
The ability to print "Books", makes this program unique when you are preparing reports for clients. For my personal clients, I always use this function. Each page I then slip into an archival sleeve, and then into a binder. This gives my client the look of a professional print, without the high cost of taking it to a printer, or collater.
I love the scrapbook pages. These can also be added in your "Book". These print your images at thumbnail size. These give clients the chance to actually see the document, photo, etc. that you accumulated while working on their ancestor. [Hint: I always burn these images full-size to a CD so that clients can then print them out if they choose. Unless pre-arranged before hand, I always print these "mini-images" for clients. It allows me to discount my services, and yet with the CD gives the client the ability to still have a full-page document if they choose.]
There are numerous ways to view a family, descendency, or pedigree with FTM. And more tools than I could safely mention without fear of forgetting any!
The Help function is unbelievable. I've used it more times than I count!
But one of my favorite features is the "Web Search Resources" button. Simply click this button, below any individual's entry, and the program will automatically connect you to Ancestry.com and begin a search for matches. [You do have to have an Internet connection first!] This has saved me more time than I can possibly tell you about! Results are brought up within the program, and you can click on any result and be taken to Ancestry.com and view the record or document it pertains to.
FTM may not be everyone's favorite. And I am sure there are many other programs that do as much, if not more, for other researchers. But for my money, and my experience, Family Tree Maker has served me well. And as my Grandpa always said, "If ain't broke, don't try to fix it!"
Until next time!
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