Genealogy Software Decision Chart

Family Tree Software

I used to think it was best to keep all my ancestor research on my home computer. No more. Now I keep that research on a website so that it is easier to collaborate with other researchers. Nevertheless, some may not want to do this. I discuss genealogy website and software options on another of my websites along with the importance of documentation. Go to Record Keeping Options for Researching Your Ancestry.

The Importance of Documenting Family Trees Using Source Records

If you have researched family trees on the internet, you most likely have come across family trees that have no supporting documentation. Such trees are good hints as to where you should do your research, but they are not documentation itself. To document a family tree, you need records such as birth, marriage, death, census, church, etc. Once you have a record, it is good to be able to link that record to the people in your family tree. If they are not linked, you end up with a family tree and a pile of records. At some point, it will become hard to keep track of everything. This is why you need genealogy software or the equivalent capability of linking facts to records on a website. More on researching birth, death, census, and other records.

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