Have you ever wondered what your ancestors were like? Were they noblemen, peasants or pirates? Genealogy or the study of family history was originally developed to determine the legitimacy of heirs of noble families to be used to determine who had a legitimate claim to the property and power of the family.

Eventually as feudalism disappeared and peasants became landowners, they began keeping family records for the same purpose as the nobles…to see who is the legitimate heir to the family property.

In modern times most genealogists are hobbyists who are collecting data on their own ancestors and building a family tree with themselves at the center. The mini series Roots in the 1970s created a huge surge in people looking into their own roots.

Some people have made genealogy a career and get paid to do the research for others. The most interesting aspect of these studies is the wealth of knowledge that has been discovered about antiquated laws, old political boundaries, population trends, migration, occupations, social conditions, lifestyles, etc.

There are many family history societies where people can learn how to do the research. The best known one is run by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (the Mormons). The LDS makes all of their information freely available to anyone interested in tracing their own ancestry.

Genealogy Software

Family Tree Maker is a software program that lets you create your family history in a digital format that can be easily shared with your relative on CD or even online. The 2008 version of Family Tree Maker has the following features:

• Build a family tree using names, dates and special events
• Attach photos, audio and video files
• Create family group sheets to provide more information on each individual family
• Include documents like scanned copies of birth and baptismal certificates, marriage licenses and death certificates
• Merge new information found on the web into the program
• Include interactive maps to explore where your ancestors lived. The program has a database to provide you with correct place names.
• Timelines that can be used to highlight personal, family and world events such as 911 or the Kennedy assignations that happened during your ancestor’s life.
• Design charts to share with your family
• Integrates with Ancestry.com’s services such as the self publishing tool that produces heirloom quality books you can give as gifts to relatives

Usability

Family Tree Maker’s ease of use make it a great program for beginners and even advanced genealogists. The custom book creation is sufficient reason to use this program to record your family’s history.

Interface

The interface is intuitive and easy for even a newbie to master. Data is added from the family view shown below which shows parents and children.

The extensive integration with the Ancestry.com website allows you to search all web based records and easily integrate the data directly into your database. Currently this is the only program with that capability. It can also import data from other genealogy programs.

Photo Collection

The ease of adding and working with photographs lets any hobbyist create a professional quality chart. The photo collection library page is shown below. As you can see if you click on a photo, you can add data about that individual on the same page which is a very convenient feature.

Timeline

The timeline feature shown below lets you enter all of the important events that occurred during your family’s entire history based on the date it happened. This is a great way to record the defining events that shape each generation such as the Kennedy assignations and the hippie movement for the baby boomers and 911 for the X-generation.

 

Search Capability

The search feature leaves a lot to be desired. It lacks sufficient granularity and returns entirely too many results most of which have little or no correlation to the search parameters. It is an area that definitely needs improvement.

Audio and Video

Audio and video must be imported using the insert object control which could be confusing to less experienced users. The biggest drawback is the inability to link audio files to individual slides making a narrated slide show impossible.

Website Uploads

Family Tree maker allows you to upload your data to a free account hosted on Ancestry.com. However, you can’t upload web pages to your own website.

Program Support

Family Tree Maker has excellent technical support with online tutorials and an active user forum.

Conclusion

Despite some of its drawbacks, Family Tree Maker is a great choice for the genealogy hobbyist who wants to record their family’s history and share it with relatives.