Veterans

Almost everyone who's family has been here for two generations or more has a family member who is a veteran or has registered as a conscientious objector. If you are in an immigrant family, your family may have experienced war as civilians or in military service. As we approach Memorial Day her in the U.S., let's share our experiences, in memory of those who have been caught up in war.

I recently purchased The Master Genealogist (Gold) from WhollyGenes (http://www.whollygenes.com/) and I am delighted. The learning curve is a little steep, but there are forums and lists to help you along the way. I have already breached on brick wall that had me stuck for 2 years.

Up until February, I used Personal Ancestral File (PAF) which is available as a free download from the LDS on their site (http://www.familysearch.org/). This is an excellent program for most beginning family historians. But I started getting serious about genealogy almost a year ago, and PAF has definite limitations.

My biggest issue with PAF was the entering of sources. The one-size-fits-all source template made it extremely difficult to enter some sources with enough detail to meet publishing standards. I have been using Elizabeth Shown Mills' "Evidence! Citation & Analysis for the Family Historian" as my citation guide. She has templates for each kind of citation you are likely to need: everything from interviews to a thesis published on the internet. TMG has the Mills' templates already included, as well as allowing you to customize a source if you need to.

My second issue with PAF was the inability to enter some information, especially census information, just once and have it show up correctly in all the individuals named. I rely heavily on the census to locate the family at a particular time and place. This allows me to use my limited genealogy funds more effectively in finding land records, tax records, wills, marriage and all the other evidence I need for documentation.

TMG allows one to enter all the information about a particular group of individuals and have the various bits tied correctly to each participant in an event. This led directly to my being able to tie a particular event to a person who was not the principal actor. Using this information allowed me to finally successfully break down a huge brick wall.

All of that being said (and much being unsaid), TMG is probably not the best choice for someone who is only interested in finding out a little information for their own use or to pass on to family members. PAF is much easier to learn -- you can download the program, read the lessons that come with it, and sucessfully start entering your family all on a Saturday afternoon. I used PAF for more than five years before I started looking at more sophisticated programs. And if you are just starting, the price for PAF (free) is certainly right!

Getting Started

Welcome to my blog. I intend this to be a forum to discuss problems, find solutions and share information on our search for roots. I will post new information at least 5 days a week. Comments are always welcome, although they will be moderated at first to avoid spam.

Let's get started now!