Now my folks just got a new scanner / printer so they can make very good copies (and of course digital copies) of photos that are pretty old. A a couple of greats (3?) in there, and you'll get an idea of how old they are.
Imagine for anyone looking for family stuff and being able to get info that they never knew existed. With the web being able to link people together, all the information that people have will be able to be overlapped and a general idea can come about. Who knows, I might be related to you right now. There are a lot of different names that I am finding out about like Page, Friend, Clark(e), Owen, Phillips...
Currently my mom has things in a program called Parents, but I know that my cousin is looking for a program called Family Tree Maker 11 Deluxe. Any one have this so I can try out a demo? I had promised that I would ask around about it...
I remember in one Star Trek episode (ya, I know, I'm a nerd) they looked up someone's family tree in seconds. They knew it all back 20 generations in a second with pictures of them all. Can you image? People saving pictures and handwriting of yours to pass on to their kids. I guess history can have more meaning when you have a personal tie to it.
One thing that my mom always recommends doing while you have the chance is to sit down with your older relatives and get as much info as you can. A short afternoon would probably save you months if not years of research. I think that people want to be remembered, even if the only thing that remains is some BMD info, a picture and a scrap of handwriting.
Listening to: Rage Against The Machine - The Ghost Of Tom Joad
My Dad has over 10,000 people in his family history database (I'll try to get the exact number, it's high). It inludes a lot of the families in the Almonte, Cedar Hill, Pakenham area. On the Lowe side he goes back more than 9 generations. He was pretty nuts about it for a while there. I keep saying he should publish his database online so other people can look at it but he hasn't gotten around to it.
ReplyDeleteThat's crazy huge. You should push him to do it. In many cases it's just a fact of "export to html" and / or providing the db online. There's a specific "family tree" type of database which many different programs support, I just don't remember what it is.
ReplyDeleteI'm just third generation Canadian, so most of our records are in England (3) and in Wales (almost England). It's been a lot harder to get that info in the past. We're not from any place exotic like "Pakenham" though. ;-)
It's a bit more involved when the site is that large. As well there are privacy concerns for relatives that are still living, since the tree gives birthdates and such (but some export programs let you omit details for living realtives).
ReplyDeleteIt's just a big logical thing he'd probably not want to deal with. Though he would be interested in sharing the tree with people.
"logistical thing" I meant.
ReplyDeleteI'm a second generation Canadian and most of my relatives are Scottish (the rest are Irish)... who'da thunk it, eh? Hee hee.
ReplyDeleteMy Aunt has been hard-core into familty tree stuff too... I'll try to find out how she keeps all her info (ie. computer program), and how she collected it from the U.K.
I'll let ya know, Jimbo!
I am trying to find out how to compose a family tree. Is there a free program that will enable me to do this? What are you using? It will have to be pretty simple because I am not a computer whiz! RSVP, Joan, Nov. 8, 2005
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry Joan, I don't know. All the programs that I know of you have to pay for...
ReplyDeleteBest of luck. ;-)