A Smart Program -- GenSmarts

[Disclosure: I have no affiliation with GenSmarts or its publishers, Underwood Innovations, LLC]

If you are a vastly experienced researcher with perfect recall for where you might find a record, then the program won't help much. Do you have brick walls? Do you despair of finding the right record? Then read on.

It is an affordable $24.99 (for download only, no tutorial or CD provided -- a free trial version is available, but does not include all features.) The program is a one-time buy -- all upgrades are included in the purchase price.

It is easy to install and extremely easy to use. If you use one of the programs below, GenSmarts will work as a button on your program:

• Family Tree Maker (including FTM 2008)
  
• PAF 5
• Ultimate Family Tree
• The Master Genealogist
• RootsMagic
• Legacy
• Ancestral Quest
• Ancestry Family Tree
• Brother's Keeper (Version 6)
• Family Trees Quick and Easy (contact GenSmarts for more info)
• Heritage Family Tree Deluxe (contact GenSmarts for more info)

GenSmarts can also import a gedcom file made from any genealogy program.

ILet's look at a real-world example. I use The Master Genealogist, v7.03 (TMG), and there is a little green and orange "G" on a button on my tool bar. I entered Abraham and Nancy Todd Lincoln for basic events (birth, marriage, death & burial only) and then pressed that "G".

At the top of the page there is a list of sources. For this example, a list of 21 suggestions was generated. The first five are:

• Illinois Marriage Records
• District of Columbia 1850 Census
• Illinois 1850 Census
• District of Columbia Land Patent
• Illinois Black Hawk War Service Records

If I place the hi-lite on the first suggestion, Illinois Marriage Records, a window at the bottom of the screen shows me the why and how of using this record.

Why:
"Researching the Illinois Marriage Records makes sense because he was married on 4-NOV-1842 in Springfied, Sangamon County, Illinois. . . .it appears to be either a source for an event where you have no sources, or because there is a high probability that it will be an additional source to what you currently have."


How:
"Here is a recap of some of the people and places that might be involved in searching a Marriage Records:

• State: Illinois
• Person: Lincoln, Abraham
• Alt Spellings:
• Spouse(s): Mary Todd [394]
• Inlaws:_____
• Parents:____
• Brothers: ____

This record can be researched at the following 2 locations:
1) Illinois State Archives Website
2) Ancestry.com Website

A visual key (a little green mouse) tells me that I might find both of these sources on-line. I have an Ancestry account, but I don't think I have used the Illinois State Archives. So I leave "Illinois Marriage Records" hi-lited and press the button for "Online Lookup." An IE session opens the Illinois Archives site (http://www.ilsos.gov) at the exact query I need -- "Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763–1900", with the query for Abraham Lincoln displayed. The search has returned 3 possibles:

LINCOLN, ABRAHAM GRANT, LUCY 1886-07-27 / 00104894 COOK
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM TODD, MARY 1842-11-04 / SANGAMON
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM B MACK, FANNIE 1899-06-29 / 294218 COOK

You may think that only one of these records is any help at all, but remember that the other two may be clues to wider family ties. Who are these other two Abrahams? If you are a thorough researcher, you will try to find out about them, or at least put them into your research log. At this point, you are probably thinking that you don't need a program to tell you where to look for marriage records.

But let's look at another suggestion. Do you know when and where the Black Hawk War was fought? Would you know how to look up someone who might have been involved? I would have to answer "no" to both questions.

A quick side trip to Google and I find that the war was fought in 1832, meaning Abraham would be 23 and unmarried in 1832, thus eligible for service.

I move the hi-lite to Illinois Black Hawk War Service Records, and again select "Online Lookup". This takes me the Illinois State Archives again, this time to a database titled "Database of Illinois Black Hawk War Veterans," with 4 hits.

Name Rank Company Place Enrolled Regiment Brigade
LINCOLN, A PVT E ILES SANGAMON CO 20 DAY
LINCOLN, A PVT J EARLEY SANGAMON CO ODD
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM CPT A LINCOLN RICHLAND 4 WHITESIDE
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM PVT A WHITE ADAMS CO 20 DAY

My next task will be to look for records of the war, and try to determine if any of these A Lincolns are the one I am researching. This may involve a web search, an email or regular mail inquiry letter, or maybe a telephone call to the Illinois Archives.

Now, if I don't have time to do all that, I can tell GenSmarts to "Create Task", which is what TMG calls making a research log entry. The task has been automatically generated for my program with the the information I will need to research this later, including the name of the subject and where the records may be found.

As well as helping on-line searches, this tool will let you plan more effective road trip to research your data, alerting you to records and repositories you may not have learned about.

If you try the program, I welcome your comments on whether you find it helpful.

[Coming Soon: Research Logs]