When starting your journey into the whole realm of family history, somehow paperwork seems to miraculously multiply around you. I have never quite worked out how it happens, but it does. And if you’re not to this stage of your research yet … expect it!! It will come.

This paperwork is your research, and as such contains, names, dates, notes, mini pedigrees, contact details of distant cousins who might have family photos etc. So all extremely important stuff. But to really make sense of it all, and to keep a track of the info that you already have, you really need to put in into a genealogy program.

There’s several things to note when looking for a genealogy program. Choose a program that is right for YOU. They are all a little different, and one may well be better suited to you than another. Recommendations from others are great, but nothing beats being able to try a program out for yourself.

So below is a listing of the genealogy software we sell, together with a little about each, the price, and the publisher’s websites .

ANCESTRAL QUEST

Ancestral Quest 12.1 – $49.50
Win 2000, XP, Vista, Win 7
http://www.ancquest.com
download the demo

Ancestral Quest (AQ) family tree software is an easy-to-use and versatile genealogy program for Windows. Its format is perfect for the beginner and yet powerful enough for the most advanced genealogist. Easy data entry, keyboard shortcuts, scrapbooking, professional printouts, and excellent sourcing capabilities are just some of this genealogy software program’s wonderful, award-winning features. The publishers offer a fully-functional version for 60 days, which gives you plenty of time to work out if this is the program for you.

FAMILY HISTORIAN

Family Historian 4 UK Edition – $99.95
Win 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista, Win 7
Family Historian 4 Aus/NZ Edition – $99.95Win XP, Vista, Win 7
http://www.family-historian.co.uk
download the demo

This is a very different looking program, as it is a person based program, in preference to most which are family based. Apart from that it does have a number of unique features that others don’t, mostly in the way you view information, but also in its ability to view charts on screen. There is a demo available, so have a look at it if you wish. This came out at top choice in the ‘Choice’ Magazine’s genealogy software overviews in 2010.

FAMILY TREE MAKER

Family Tree Maker 2010 Aus/NZ Platinum Edition – $99.95
Family Tree Maker 2010 Aus/NZ Deluxe Edition – $59.95
Win XP, Vista, Win 7
http://www.familytreemaker.com

The best known of all programs, this has been around the longest, and is owned by Ancestry.com, the world’s largest genealogy company. For many people it is their program of choice, while others won’t go near it – so it is really a personal opinion. This new 2010 edition has been added to from 2008’s total rewrite. There is no demo of FTM, but the publishers have put a slideshow as well as a video tutorial on their website which you can look at.

LEGACY FAMILY TREE

Legacy Family Tree 7.0 Deluxe – $59.50
Legacy Family Tree 7.0 Platinum Aus/NZ Edition- $79.95
Win 98, Me, 2000, NT, XP, Vista, Win 7
http://www.legacyfamilytree.com
download the demo

You can download the “Standard” edition of Legacy for free. This is not a trial or demo version, and can be used for as long as you like. The difference between the standard and the Deluxe editions is that you don’t get the program CD, the printed manual, the licence code and some features have been disabled. The difference between the Deluxe edition, and the Platinum Aus/NZ Edition is that the Aus/NZ one comes with extra data CDs, a 3 month subscription to WorldVitalRecords.com and some gift vouchers. The program in both versions is identical.

ROOTSMAGIC

RootsMagic 4 - $49.50
Win 2000, XP, Vista, Win 7
http://www.rootsmagic.com
download the demo

This is a good quality program that is continually gaining support through new users. Easy to use, and well supported, with good reports and charting capability, this is a good program for those wishing to start adding their family tree data to a genealogy program. There is a free version called “RootsMagic Essentials”, which is a functional program, with some features that are in the full program disabled but if nothing else it is an excellent way to assess the program.

THE MASTER GENEALOGIST

The Master Genealogist Version 7 Gold – $82.00 (program on CD)
$69.50 (program as a download) or $112.00 (program & manual)
Win 2000, XP, Vista, Win 7
http://www.whollygenes.com
download the demo

This is at the top of end of programs, but it is way too much for many in relation to what it can offer. If you’re wanting ‘a nice easy program to use just to add names, dates etc’ this program probably isn’t for you. It is so different from the other programs in so many ways, such as visually, its terminology, and its charting capability. The publishers offer a fully functional (allows import, export, printing, saving etc) 30 day trial of the program. After that, the demo is viewable, but not useable.

iFAMILY FOR LEOPARD

iFamily for Leopard – $44.00 (download only)
Apple Mac OSX 10.4 or later (Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard)
http://ifamilyforleopard.com
download the demo

iFamily for Leopard is a relatively new genealogy program specifically for the latest Macintosh with Leopard. It is a genealogy application for people who think differently. There is a demo available, so feel free to have a look.

REUNION FOR MACINTOSH

Reunion for Macintosh 9 – $149.50
Apple Mac OSX 10.3 or later (Panther, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard)

http://www.leisterpro.com

download the demo

Reunion has been the best Macintosh program available for a long time now, and it continues to holds its place. It is a well-written, well-supported program, and is very easy to use, and does have powerful charting capability. There is a demo available if you wish to try before buying.

This is in no way intended to be a comprehensive list of all genealogy software that is currently available, but rather a good range of them. As each of them a little bit different, it is good for you to take the time to work out which program is going to suit you the best.

If you would like to read up some more before making your decision, here’s some great places to do so:
Genealogy Software Reviews
Choice Magazine

Australia as we know it today is divided into States and Territories, but prior to Federation in 1901, each State was it’s own Colony (well almost).

Back in the 1800s the various ‘colonies’ of Australia, were divided into Counties, Hundreds and Districts, many of which are no longer in use today.

This atlas, compiled by H.S. Carroll in 1876, was the first of its kind ever produced in the Colony, and was thoroughly authentic at the date of publication. It shows all boroughs, postal towns, villages, hamlets, road boards, roads, railways, rivers, lakes, creeks, mountains, stations and the area of county and station (including the names, occupiers, grazing capabilities and area of each).

It also includes the population of each town in the colony, height of mountains, length, rise, and fall of rivers, the quantity of cereals and green crops, hay, wine, &c., produced in the different localities, and all the geographical, geological, and physiological matter of South Australia and the Northern Territory at the time.

Included are 26 full colour maps compiled from plans in the Lands Department by permission of the Surveyor General.

This atlas was to ‘be found eminently useful … as the best means of furnishing the rising generation of the Colony with a thorough geographical knowledge of South Australia and the Northern Territory’.

An amazing reference work for anyone with an interest in both the history and geography of South Australia and the Northern Terrirory.

This title is available in both book form (large format A3 landscape size), and on CD-ROM.

South Australian Counties Atlas 1876 (book) – $49.50
South Australian Counties Atlas 1876 (CD) – $29.50

Directories are a wonderful resource for family & local historians. Below are a number of highlights from our range of directories, for 100s more visit our website.

Unlock the Past has an article on directories and their use by Graham Jaunay. Sample files of many of the directories are also available here.

Click on titles below for more details on each. Some of the titles below are ’special order’ titles.

Australia

Australasian Medical Directory Compendium – DATA CD – $79.50

Cook’s Interstate Business Directory 1937 – DATA CD – $29.50

Motor Trade Directory of Australia Compendium 1 1928-1936 – DATA CD – $49.50

Telephone Directory December 1942: Personnel in Military Installations – DATA CD – $14.50

Australian Pastoral Directory 1913 – DATA CD – $27.50

New South Wales

Yewen’s Directory of Landholders, New South Wales, 1900 – DATA CD – $29.50

District Directory of Albury and Regions Around 1901 – DATA CD – $23.50

Sydney Directory 1858 (Sands and Kenny) – DATA CD – $27.50

New South Wales Country Directory 1899-1900 (Hall) – DATA CD – $29.50

New South Wales Telephone Directories: Compendium 2 – selection of 21 Directories – DATA CD – $199.50

Northern Territory

Northern Territory Times Almanac and Directory Set 1 – DATA CD – $39.50

Queensland

Brisbane Post Office Directory and Country Guide 1887 – DATA CD – $29.50

Darling Downs Almanac and Directory 1900 (Groom) – DATA CD – $23.50

Greater Brisbane Area Atlases and Street Directories – set of 4 1931-c1948 – DATA CD – $39.50

Queensland Brands Directory 1920-1921 – DATA CD – $34.50

Pugh’s Almanac and Queensland Directory 19th Century Set 1859-1900 – DATA CD – $460.00

South Australia

South Australian Directory 1924 (Sands and McDougall) – DATA CD – $43.50

Border Watch Almanac and Directory 1934 – DATA CD – $19.50

National Directory of South Australia 1867-68 (Butler) – DATA CD – $27.50

Brands Directory of South Australia 1901 – DATA CD – $27.50

South Australian Almanac and Directory 1839 (Thomas) – DATA CD – $14.50

Tasmania

Tasmania Post Office Directory Compendium 1890-1900 (Wise) – DATA CD – $99.50

Tasmanian Directory and Gazetteer 1887 (Middelton & Maning) – DATA CD – $27.50

Walch’s Tasmanian Almanac Compendium 1906-1910 – DATA CD – $47.50

Tasmanian Royal Kalendar and Almanack 1849 (Wood) – DATA CD – $23.50

Tasmania Telephone Directory 1953 – DATA CD – $23.50

Victoria

Ballarat and Ballarat East Directory 1865-66 – DATA CD – $23.50

Victoria and Riverina Classified Traders Directory 1937 – DATA CD – $19.50

Victorian Post Office Directory 1914 (Wise) – DATA CD – $47.50

Melbourne Directory Compendium 1876-1880 (Sands and McDougall) – DATA CD – $79.50

Gippsland Directory 1884-1885 (Middleton and Maning) – DATA CD – $19.50

Western Australia

Western Australia Post Office Directory 1905 (Wise) – DATA CD – $39.50

Western Australia Post Office Directory 1914 (Wise) – DATA CD – $39.50

Western Australia Post Office Directory 1924 (Wise) – DATA CD – $34.50

Western Australia Post Office Directory 1935-36 (Wise) – DATA CD – $34.50

Western Australia Post Office Directory 1941-42 (Wise) – DATA CD – $34.50

New Zealand

New Zealand Directory 1866-67 (Stevens and Bartholomew) – DATA CD – $27.50

New Zealand Post Office Directory 1892-93 (Wise) – DATA CD – $43.50

New Zealand Post Office Directory 1901 (Wise) – DATA CD – $47.50

New Zealand Post Office Directory 1915 (Wise) – DATA CD – $47.50

New Zealand Post Office Directory 1931 (Wise) – DATA CD – $47.50

Britain

Crane’s Directory and Buyer’s Guide of the United Kingdom, Europe and Australasia 1899-1900 – DATA CD – $34.50

Yorkshire 1822/3 Directory (Baines) Volume 1: West Riding – DATA CD – $34.50

Thom’s Official Directory of Great Britain and Ireland 1914 – DATA CD – $47.50

Newspaper Press Directory 1927 – DATA CD – $29.50

London 1916 (Suburbs) Kelly’s Post Office Directory – DATA CD – $34.50

It seems to be the week for genealogy software program updates, and RootsMagic have joined in.

They have just released an update to RootsMagic version 4 (4.0.9.2), which is a minor update but does fix some bugs.

If you have the RootsMagic News screen come up when you start RootsMagic, it may have already notified you of this update.  If not, you can do “Help > Check for Updates” from the RootsMagic menu to download and install this update.

You can also download the update from the RootsMagic website

The RootsMagic blog has a full list of what was added and fixed.

Ancestry has just released a Patch Update for Family Tree Maker Version 2010 for computers using Windows Vista or Windows 7.

Clicking here will take you to Family Tree Maker’s Knowledge Base website with instructions and the patch. This update is free, and it will bring the Product Version to 19.0.0.207.

With the relatively recent release of Legacy 7.4 behind them, the makers of Legacy Family Tree have are in no way just sitting back with their feet up.

They have just released a new update to 7.4 (version 7.4.0.45), which includes some new features, a few changes and some fixes. This is a free update for all Legacy 7 Users.

NEW
Relationship Report – Added option to include lifespan years after the names.
Search and replace – When performing a Search and Replace you can now enter a TAB character or a CRLF by using these special representations «tab» and «crlf».

CHANGED
Help File – Includes an updated help file.

For the full listing of what is included in this update you can find it here.

To download the version very latest version, you can do so from the download update page on the publishers website.

Family Historian is England’s most popular genealogy software program, and does have a growing number of users in Australia, and even more after the recent Choice magazine survey of genealogy software, in which this program scored highly (note: you do need to be a member to read the full article).

The latest advice from Calico Pie Software (the publishers of Family Historian) is that …

“Version 4.1 was released yesterday. Version 4.x users can now download a free upgrade to 4.1. The new version has numerous new features and enhancements, including support for copying, deleting and renaming projects. There have been improvements in support for PDFs, pictures & thumbnails, charts & diagrams, the property box, reports, website generation, and much more. All 4.x users are recommended to upgrade. See What’s New in 4.1 for more details.”

For Aussie users of the program, I’m not yet aware of any Family Historian User Groups in Australia (although if anyone happens to know of any, please don’t hesitate to advise, so I can let others know about it), but there is a very active Family Historian User Group website, so if you do have queries or issues, I’m sure someone there would be able to help out.

If you’re reading this, but are not a Family Historian user, why not give it a try with the 30-day demo program.

Related Products:
Family Historian 4
Family Historian 4 Australia/New Zealand Edition
Family Historian 4 Upgrade from V3
Getting the Most out of Family Historian 4

Having worked in the genealogy industry for many years now, I come across many people who have often heard of ‘GEDCOM’, but really don’t know what it is, how it works or understand the importance of it.

Firstly what is GEDCOM?
GEDCOM is an abbreviation that stands for GEnealogy Data COMmunications. In short,it is the language (file format) by which different genealogy software talk to one another. All recent genealogy software supports GEDCOM imports and exports.

Why do I need to know about it?
Can you imagine spending years and years typing in thousands of names, dates, places, and citations, only to find out that when you upgrade your trusty five-year-old desktop computer to a new swish little laptop you have to update your genealogy software too? Then you find out, your genealogy program won’t work on Windows 7 (or has since been discontinued) … what do you do? Would you consider starting all over again? If you have your files saved into GEDCOM you won’t have to!!

If this happens to you, the first step to do, is to save your current files into GEDCOM, because if your files are in this format you can then bring them into ANY current genealogy software. Then secondly look for another program (I won’t go into that here as that’s post for another day – but we do sell a range of genealogy software).

Another reason to know about GEDCOM, is that if you wish to send copies of your genealogy data to your reli’s who are also researching the family, there is a good chance that they may not be using the same program as you, so to be sure they can read it – the saftest way is to save your file as a .GED, and send that.

Another thing you will need to you know about GEDCOM is that it is good, but not perfect. Not all the data fields in a genealogy program are specified precisely in GEDCOM. Or your present genealogy program might be perfectly happy with a birth date listed as, “after 1847 but before 1852″. However once that information is exported to a GEDCOM file and then imported into a family tree program, the birth date may say something else, or typically is left blank. Despite all the shortcomings, GEDCOM is still a simple and somewhat effective method of transferring genealogy data from one program to another. Most of the data will transfer properly, and then there are easy ways of reviewing the data to look for errors.

Generally names, dates, places and relationships do transfer without a problem, text, events, notes and source citations may not always work perfectly. The exact problems encountered will depend upon the two genealogy programs involved. But for a family tree of 1000’s using GEDCOM to transfer your data still saves a lot of work, although retyping from scratch also does have its merits too.

How do I save my file into GEDCOM?
Without going into the specifics of each program, if you are wanting to save your file into a .GED format to send to a relative (or just for your own backup of course), this is usually done by going to the top bar of your program, click on File, then scroll down to something like ‘Export to’ or ‘Save As’ (programs do vary their wording, but they’re generally all pretty similar), then follow the prompts. If it isn’t obvious, press the F1 (Help) key, and search for GEDCOM.

When saving your GEDCOM file, the really important thing to know is “where” you are saving your file, as you will need to access that file sometime, so you will need to find it.

When should I save my file?
This is entirely up to you, as it also depends on how much work you do on your tree. Personally I backup my file into GEDCOM format everytime I do any work on it, some would suggest once a week, others once a month. I’ve also heard a number of bad news/good news stories of people who’s computer crashed and lost all data, only to then be able to recover most of it from recent backups or GEDCOM files. So it really does pay to take to extra time to have good backups.

Hopefully this gives you a brief introduction, and underlines the importance of having your file backed up in both your genealogy program’s normal format, and also GEDCOM.

Happy researching!!

Family Tree Maker, one of the world’s most popular genealogy programs, also allows users to upload their tree straight from their data file, to the Ancestry.com website. Uploading a tree from Family Tree Maker to Ancestry.com differs depending on your version. Please follow the instructions below if you have Family Tree Maker 2008, 2009, or 2010.

Family Tree Maker 2008, 2009, or 2010 allow you to upload your file directly to Ancestry.com through the program.

1. Open the program and click on the People section at the top

2. Click on the Share button in the upper-right corner and select Upload to Ancestry…

3. Decide what options you would like to upload your file with, and click OK. You can choose between Entire file and Selected individuals on the left, as well as different Privacy and Media options on the right

• Checking Privatize Living People will change the name of anyone considered by the software as living to Living Surname. Facts and Shared Facts for living individuals are also not exported. However, Ancestry.com automatically privatizes living people for you
• Include private facts uploads all facts. Private facts are not private on Ancestry.com. They are treated as regular facts. Privacy is handled by privatizing the tree file itself. You will be given this option when you upload your file to Ancestry.com
• Include private notes uploads all notes. Notes are always treated as private on Ancestry.com, and can only be viewed by the owner of the tree and those invited as Editors.
• Files uploaded to Ancestry.com have a limit of 75 mb. Media files, such as photos, can add a lot of weight to a file. If you are having a hard time uploading your file, try un-checking Include media files

4. The file will be processed and uploaded to Ancestry.com. An Internet window will then open titled Upload Your Family Tree Maker Tree with various options

• Tree Name is a required field. Please type in a name for your tree. It would be best to name your tree using only alpha-numerical characters. Using other characters such as slashes and commas can cause issues loading your tree
• Allow others to see my tree as a public member tree allows you to adjust the privacy of your tree. By default, this box is checked, which means your tree will be a Public tree. If you want your tree to be private, please un-check this box
• Description allows you to type in a description for your tree. This isn’t a required field
• The checkbox labeled I accept the Submission Agreement is required to be checked. If you would like to read the Submission agreement, you can click on it to view that, or also view that by clicking here
• Click the Upload button to finish this process. You’ll then be taken back to your Home page with a screen that says your file is being transferred to Ancestry.com and will be available shortly

Click the Upload button to finish this process. You’ll then be taken back to your Home page with a screen that says your file is being transferred to Ancestry.com and will be available shortly.

Visit the Ancestry.com website for more Questions and Answers relating to Family Tree Maker, and using the Ancestry.com online trees.

[Please note, a portion of this blog post has been copied from the Ancestry.com Help file]

BIG, BIG, NEWS!!
The New South Wales Electoral Roll 1903 is now available CD-ROM

You’re hearing this ‘almost’ first, we did give our Facebook fans a hint of what was coming a few days ago. And while the New South Wales Electoral Roll 1903 is the first, there are more Electoral Rolls to come … soon!!

For those who may be unaware of their importance, Electoral Rolls are the nearest thing Australians have to census records, and therefore are ‘extremely important’ and useful for local, family and social historians.

This partial roll (2 of the 4 volumes) for New South Wales in 1903 totals over 3,600 pages and lists approximately 250,000 names. It covers Districts C-G and M-R. Entries are arranged alphabetically by district and by division within the district. You will find the details of tens of thousands of voters who resided in New South Wales at this time, and who were entitled (and registered) to vote. Apart from the annual roll, the CD includes the supplementary rolls published for each district.

The electoral districts covered by these volumes are: Camden, Canterbury, Castlereagh, Clarence, Clyde, Cobar, Cootamundra, Corowa, Darling, Darling Harbour, Darlinghurst, Deniliquin, Durham, Glebe, Gordon, Gough, Murrumbidgee, Namio, Newcastle, Newtown, Northumberland, Orange, Paddington, Parramatta, Petersham, Phillip, Pyrmont, Queanbeyan, Raleigh, Randwick, Redfern, Richmond, and Rous.

Importantly, the roll includes the names of many women qualified to vote for the election of members of the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales at this time.

The following information is included for many (but not all) entries:

• No. on Roll
• Christian name and surname in full
• Residence
• Occupation
• Electoral district and division

Now available on CD-ROM for the first time, it is fully searchable, bookmarked for easy reference, and pages can be printed and enlarged if needed, so using the Electoral Rolls has never been easier.