Research to identify your ancestors

Friday, February 1, 2008

Step 5...A computer genealogy software program

Oh, what a wonderful and helpful tool to have to use in your genealogy work.....I am referring to any one of the genealogy software programs on the market, such as “Family Tree Maker”.... “Family Tree Builder”.... “The Master Genealogist”...to name a few. Just do a Google search for “genealogy software programs”

After installing the program onto your computer, you type in information such as family (ancestor) names, birth and death dates, birth and death places, marriage information, any family history notes and tidbits....anything you want at all. After your data is into the program, it will organize everything for you, link all your family lines together and you can print out pedigree charts and family group sheets that will have your family information on it....based on what you typed into your database.


A Pedigree Chart, when filled out with all the information you know at the moment, will aid you in the following ways:

* At a glance you can follow a family line for several generations.
* At a glance you can see what information you are lacking and can begin researching for it.

Begin with yourself as #1, and work back on your family lines as far as you can go with the information you have at the moment. Take a yellow highlighter pen and mark the areas that are lacking information. This alerts you to what you need to search for and when you find the information, then write it on the highlighted area and then type the data into your program .

The genealogical program will also print out other records and lists for you. What a great way to print out your information and share it with other family members...or share on the internet with others who are researching your surnames.