Monthly meeting 12/21 and Many Tips

Here it is December already.  Mark your calendar for our monthly Genies meeting on 12/21 at 1:00 Pacific time.

Our study group is planning for our next meeting in January.  I’m using an email group for that so let me know if you would like to be included.

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Tips are coming in from Genies.

Judy S. sent “DNA Technology on Britain's Cheddar Man”

Hi Judith--just watched this document on the Comcast-Infinity Science Channel (272 or 696):

 https://www.sciencechannel.com

Secrets of the Lost: Skeleton of Cannibal Cave (Season 4/Episode 3)

 Very interesting to watch cutting edge DNA technology used by experts investigating the latest evidence to shed new light on prehistoric secrets of the Cheddar Man, 10,000 year old skeleton's genetic heritage.  It shows Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 4 pm.

 Other genies' might be interested as well.

 Judy😊

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 Rick B sent along Going Digital, two handouts from a Genealogy Volunteer at his library.  This is very current information and very professionally done.  You can’t imagine the detail until you take a look. 

 Going Digital Part 1  What does going digital mean? What is the cloud?  Filing and File Naming Systems.  Metadata and media files.  As soon as you feel like it’s over your head, go to the next topic.  On page 4 the writer introduces “What is DGS: Desktop Genealogy Software” and names my top 3.  It’s 29 pages long.

Going Digital Part 2  Pages 4-9 are comparisons of five DGS: Desktop Genealogy Software packages.  Four have free trial with the exception Family Tree Maker which has none.  Other topics are Backing Up, Sharing Genealogy, and Tools: Hardware and Software.  It’s 47 pages long.

 Thank you, Rick!  Enjoy, everybody.

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Some of my favorite bloggers continue to be the Family Locket duo.  They send a newsletter every Monday, including their podcast, blogposts for the week, and other news.  If you need some productivity tips, here are excerpts from Diana:

Having a set process to follow as I tackle these projects keeps me focused and organized. I am really loving using OneTab to save the tabs I have open for each project. For example, my DNA project has my Lucid Chart, my Airtable DNA research log, DNA testing companies, DNA Painter all saved so when I have a few minutes to work, I can quickly open those tabs and don’t waste time opening everything up again. If you haven’t yet tried OneTab, check out my article.

Reduce Browser Clutter with OneTab and Increase Productivity

 Do you need more productivity tips? Here are two more ways to take advantage of some simple tools to help.

Productivity Counts: Making the Best Use of Your Family History Time

Boost Your Genealogy Productivity with Google Keep

 

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Claudia Breeland is a professional genealogist from Gig Harbor.  We know her from her presentations at the Whatcom Genealogical Society.  She has a monthly newsletter with book reviews, article links, and what she’s doing.  Here’s an amazing story quoted from her newsletter.

What I'm Reading

 
These days, the I-Did-the-DNA-Test-and-Got-a-Surprise books are almost a dime a dozen.  So I'm always on the lookout for something different. The author of A Broken Tree, is one of nine children of Linda and Mark Anderson. After he heard some suspicious family stories, he decided to do a DNA test, and persuaded some of his siblings to do likewise. Over the next few years, they realized with growing dismay that none of them were the children of Mark Anderson and that the nine children had six fathers between them. At the end of the book is a great chapter of questions and answers, and the author comments, "This is family history in the most fascinating sense of the word."  This book will stay with me for a long time.

 Also, a new interview with Paul Fronczak, who was kidnapped as a baby.  Remember that Paul is the child the FBI returned to the family whose child was kidnapped.  He wrote his story in The Foundling.  It’s at the library.

 

My Tip:  Using website links

Some of you have talked with me about trouble clicking on website links.  I always try to make mine active so you can just click and it goes to the website.  But even I have trouble sometimes.  Instructions below are for Windows 10.

 First, just click on the link and see if it opens the website. 

 In that doesn’t work, then try holding down ctrl and Left click at the same time.

 If the link is not colored and underlined, highlight the link (hold the left mouse button down and drag across the whole link).

 Then right mouse click. It might look like this:

 

Click on the "Go to" line. Look up at the top and it will have opened a new tab.  Click on the new tab to go to the website you want. 

 The right click may say “Open in new tab” or “Open Hyperlink”.  This does the same thing.

 If that none of that works, highlight, right click, in the dropdown menu left click on "Copy". Open a new tab on the top bar of your window (click on the plus sign at the right of the open tabs).   Then right click in the search bar and “Paste".  

 If you find an error or have an easier way, let me know.  Please.

Family Tree Software Revisited

 Updated December 5, 2020

 A big dilemma for beginners and experienced alike is where to store our family trees.  The decision about which desktop and/or websites to use has been tormenting me for a few years.  (Note: In this article and others I refer to desktop family tree programs as “software” and the online trees as ”websites”.) 

 I’ll start with the bottom line right here at the top.  The three software programs that lead the pack are: Family Tree Maker, Legacy and RootsMagic, in random order and without prejudice.  They are comprehensive packages and all are used successfully by Ferndale Genies.

 A few years ago, I was “all in” with RootsMagic.  Now I am asked why I chose RootsMagic for myself. 

One consideration was which websites the software syncs with.  Sync is short for synchronize.  This feature allows you to automatically update one tree to keep it the same as another.  Ancestry has only allowed Family Tree Maker and RootsMagic to sync with them.  Any way syncing is done can cause problems for you.  The big three all have some direct connection with Family Search but I don’t know the differences.

2.      RootsMagic has hints for Ancestry, FamilySearch tree, MyHeritage, and FindMyPast (the big four family tree websites).  You can see the hint but you likely need a subscription to see the document.

3.      Many prominent long-time genealogists have been using RootsMagic for many years.  Lisa Louise Cook of Genealogy Gems, Scott Fisher of Extreme Genes, George and Drew of Genealogy Guys and Genealogy Squad, and Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings. I thought if it is good enough for them it’s good enough for me.  Randy has archived blogs about RootsMagic strategies but not a lot recently. 

4.      Two years ago, Family Tree Maker and Legacy were in transition with possibly shaky futures.  Ancestry said they were no longer going to support Family Tree Maker and had been trying to sell it for some time.  MacKiev bought it but didn’t have a track record with it.  Legacy had just been purchased by MyHeritage. MyHeritage had its own software Family Tree Builder and it didn’t make business sense to maintain and improve both.  This was a serious concern with Legacy at the time and I don’t know the company’s position now.

5.      I knew that when I settled on software, I wanted people to follow me so we could have a group learning together.  RootsMagic was in the $30 range and Family Tree Maker was around $80.  From the reviews I couldn’t find anything to tell me FTM was worth the price.  For others I wanted the reasonable price.

 

Time passes and situations change.  We and our genealogy needs change too.

 Expert advice is and was to try them all and find the one you like best.  That seemed very time consuming to me but at one time or another I did dip my toe into each of them.  Legacy and RootsMagic have free versions you can try.

RootMagic 7 is the current version and for a few years they have been working on a complete rewrite called RootsMagic 8.  Family Tree 2019 and Legacy 9 are current versions.

I suggest you google “best family tree software” but check the date and be sure they are reviewing the current version.

 If you are seriously thinking about changing software or strategy, I suggest two recent blogposts.  If these blow your mind, we absolutely need to discuss your situation at a Genies meeting.  And bring questions!

 Roberta Estes gave her strategy in this post:  https://dna-explained.com/2020/11/10/genealogy-tree-replacement-should-i-or-shouldnt-i/  Did you hear me gasp across the miles?  She uses RootsMagic for her main tree.  She completely rejects syncing with reason and updates four separate trees. She has a lot to say to you.

Randy Seaver writes here:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2020/11/how-i-use-genealogy-software-and-online.html.  Randy has trees everywhere and a reason for each one.  I needed scratch paper to keep track of all this.

Now the word is out that I am re-evaluating my family tree strategy.  I won’t be ready to report on that for a while.  I mean months.  I found a mentor and I am starting to evaluate options.  I will have to figure it out for myself.  I truly believe that each person will find their way and choose one or more software programs.

 

 

This blogpost is a permanent page at the Ferndale Genies Blog on the menu on the left side.

Webinar subscription $25/yr and two free DNA webinars this week

 Hello, Genies.  Many sales are still going on.  I let my webinar subscription lapse in November and this appeared in my inbox.  

Restart your webinar membership for 50% off — Cyber Monday Week sale

The sale says for "new memberships only" all over it but it worked for my lapsed membership.  The takeaway is "Just try it!"  I would even try it for an extension to a current membership.  Can't hurt.

I still think Legacy Family Tree Webinars is the best genealogy education investment you can make.  Free is good.  They are putting out at least two new webinars every week that are free for seven days.  Free is good but a subscription is better.  You need a subscription to access the syllabus with each webinar.  With a subscription you can watch part of a webinar and start in the middle when you come back to it and jump around to different segments.  For free you have to watch it straight through from the beginning.  Subscribers access 1300+ archived classes, some member-only webinars and 10 minute tech videos.  I can't say enough about the value of this.  Now $25 a year.

The ad:

Get 50% off Legacy Family Tree 9.0 deluxe software!

 Get 50% off a full year's webinar membership (new memberships only).

Webinar Membership - 24/7 access to 1,300+ full-length genealogy classes PLUS all 5,300+ pages of instructors' handouts. Just $ $24.98 (new memberships only)

Offer begins on Nov 30 2020 and expires on Friday, December 4 2020 at 11:59pm MT.

Order now, for 50% off!  https://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/cyber-monday-c322.php

Two free DNA webinars this week.  Times are Pacific.

I'm a little late for Jonny Perl on DNAPainter at 11:00 Wed 12/2 today.  

This class is Intermediate and will bring us up-to-date on the recent additions.  Register and they will notify you when the recorded version is available.

https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1289

Diahan Southard has a Q&A DNA webinar at 11AM -12:30 PM on Friday, Dec. 4 (our time).  I attended a few of these last spring and she is excellent.  You can email your questions ahead of time to geoff@legacyfamilytree.com.  She rated this class as Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced.  She can speak to all levels.

https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar_details.php?webinar_id=1518&utm_source=Your+DNA+Guide&utm_campaign=488900b590-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_11_18_06_55&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_10699ae94e-488900b590-54637385