# Making up the family tree



## StephandJohn (Sep 3, 2007)

Has anyone used an online or paper family tree that they liked and found easy to use?
I've tried a couple online (Find My Past and My Heritage) and found them fiddly and I couldn't put on all the info I wanted.
Any ideas please?


----------



## Hezbez (Feb 7, 2009)

I think some people on here have used the online version which you can buy cheap with Tesco clubcard points.


----------



## tonyt (May 25, 2005)

Family Tree Maker (Ancestry) for me.

Software is easy to use and uploads easily to Ancestry or just load details directly into Ancestry.

I also find MS Excel very useful for collecting and storing all those bits of info that don't have a home on a tree.

If you're new to genealogy, beware - it can become very addictive (worse than MHF)


----------



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

tonyt said:


> Family Tree Maker (Ancestry) for me.


And me. It will store audio, video, photos, certificates, your notes, other documents and everything I want it to - well, except things like fob watches, jewellry boxes and embroidered samplers anyway.

I'ts dead easy to use and has lovely features like automatically finding addresses so you can see individual houses or churches on StreetView, automatically looking for census, BMD and other information on an entered individual, allowing you to look at relationships and, should you wish, allowing you to put up your tree so other Ancestry members can share it.

As said above, you can buy it cheaply from Tesco with vouchers and 6 months free Ancestry membership.

Tesco Offer

G

Edit: Third time - still unlucky, the gizmo that allows URLs to be coded seems to have gone kaput !


----------



## locovan (Oct 17, 2007)

Im Genes United as its only £25.00 per year but I found it all there and members of the family have contacted me But I then put it in a gedcom and tranfer it to my Who do you think you Are programme 
Ancetry was more expensive at £85.00 per year.


----------



## Jennifer (Mar 24, 2009)

I used to belong to Find my Past, but am now waiting to apply for my subscription to Ancestry through my Tesco vouchers. However, I did not like "the tree" on the site, so I have completed my own on a large piece of paper, and it is circular, which I find much better. It gives plenty of room as the more generations you find, the larger the circle has to be, it is only in pro forma stage, but am already planning how to improve it when I want to put in professions/adresses etc. In time I will scan it and put in into the computer but I do have a fair way to go yet, only just got back to the 1800's!!!

Jenny


----------



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Jennifer said:


> so I have completed my own on a large piece of paper, and it is circular, which I find much better.


Jenny...when you get your Family Tree Maker software go to PUBLISH and you will find 10 different layouts for displaying your tree pictorially. One is a fan shape and this can be shown as a circle. You can then add quite a lot of information about each individual at the click of a mouse and then print on as many sheets of paper as you wish- it collates them for you so you know what to stick where to make a wall sized chart.

Years ago I did a hand made one for my father-in-law's 90th birthday celebrations and it took for ever. I've just done one for Christmas ( now 96th birthday) on the computer and it took minutes. You can add photos and a background if you wish.

G


----------



## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

What size paper do you have to use to print out a large family tree? I am hopeless with computers but I do have the 2006 version of Family Tree Maker. I collect some Tesco vouchers so I could upgrade if necessary.


----------



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

patp said:


> What size paper do you have to use to print out a large family tree? I am hopeless with computers but I do have the 2006 version of Family Tree Maker. I collect some Tesco vouchers so I could upgrade if necessary.


Most programs set up the tree so it can be printed at home on normal A4 paper. You are then shown where to sellotape it all together so that it makes one huge whole. You can also take it to a specialist printer- on disk or memory stick- and it will print on one sheet of larger paper.

Before you upgrade your 2006 to 2011 FTM look at the layout of the screen that you will work on. It has changed quite a bit between versions and you might not like the new layout.

I'm less keen on it than on the older version but I love all the bells and whistles with the 2011 version so am willing to put up with it !

G

Edit: you can print out the family tree in exactly the same way on your 2006 version so no need to change.


----------



## allan01273 (May 23, 2007)

Do it on your own computer with Brothers Keeper. You can store most anything regarding your family history.
FREE
http://www.bkwin.org/

Start with you, add parents, family and just keep adding detail as you find it. 
Use www.freebmd.org.uk for recent stuff, and keep seaarching and adding stuff from the web.


----------



## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

I took the low tech approach while I was collating information.

We had half of a roll of wallpaper left over and I used the back of that.

Much bigger than A4. :lol: :lol:


----------



## tinkering (Dec 8, 2007)

*faily trees*

As a complete PC idiot how do you start?

My main problem is that although I have a birth certificate,I was, along with a younger brother and baby sister put into care when I was four years old in 1944.

How and were do I start, with so to speak no starting line?.

Les.


----------



## locovan (Oct 17, 2007)

Right you best bet is to join Ancestry and start a tree on line with them and they find hints that will give you a lead.
Fill in everything you know first and then just start the trail and you will go on a wonderful journey.

http://www.ancestry.co.uk/?ef_id=6A1NQX9rAwAARqw:20110218075824:s&o_xid=45201&o_lid=45201


----------



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

*Re: faily trees*



tinkering said:


> My main problem is that although I have a birth certificate,I was, along with a younger brother and baby sister put into care when I was four years old in 1944.
> 
> .


Your birth certificate should give at least your mother's name. If you know the date and year and possibly place she was born you should- using online sources like Ancestry -be able to find her and then send for her birth certificate from the General Register Office ( there will be a link on Ancestry). You then know her parents and might be able to find her marriage certificate too so your father will be traceable.Once you have your grandparents you can repeat the process to find their parents and so on.

Don't worry at first about putting it on a computer database. Keep very careful records - your sources, dates etc which you can do by downloading forms from the BBC website or making up your own. Try to keep your records well-filed or you will find yourself drowning in a sea of paper !

G


----------



## tinkering (Dec 8, 2007)

*missing tree*

Thank you both for your advice,

I will have a try.

Les


----------



## Westkirby01 (Jan 25, 2009)

Free to use

www.ancestry.co.uk

Add as much or as little as you need. Very easy to use.

If you need in depth information then there is an option to pay monthly for them.

We use it all year and when we want to go searching just pay per month. We stop the payment when we think we will not use the option. We were away for 4 month so stopped the payment. will resume when we want to search again. The details are always on line.

Hope this helps


----------



## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Do birth certificate's always have the mother's maiden name on them? If not then the marriage certificate will be necessary to trace the mother's birth certificate using her maiden name.


----------



## johnthompson (Jul 29, 2010)

allan01273 said:


> Do it on your own computer with Brothers Keeper. You can store most anything regarding your family history.
> FREE
> http://www.bkwin.org/
> 
> ...


I have used BK for many years it is a Shareware program so if you find you like it you send the guy (John Stead) a 20 dolar donation for this he will let you have the latest update on CD and keep you informed of updates.

John


----------



## johnthompson (Jul 29, 2010)

Westkirby01 said:


> Free to use
> 
> www.ancestry.co.uk
> 
> ...


These programs are OK but they rely on the person interpreting the raw data from census and birth church records correctly.

I would have not found my great grandparents records if I had relied on a program like this, because the surname had been transcribed wrongly both by the census taker and then a different interpretation by the data inputer. I knew the street they lived in so I search the original 1851 census data on microfiche and picked it up from the first names of other family members in the household.

John


----------



## 747 (Oct 2, 2009)

I agree with John on this. You need to double check everything from different sources.

One example: According to a Census my Grandmother was born in Port Albert, Wales. I could not find the place on the map and I checked another census where it was correctly notated as Port Talbot. :?


----------



## sander4709 (Feb 17, 2008)

Westkirby01 said:


> If you need in depth information then there is an option to pay monthly for them.


I'm in NZ and unfortunately ancestry.co.uk defaults to the Australian site which seems to offer exciting enhancements such as: 
"Convicts 
Search our collection covering this important period of Australian history including transportation, pardons etc."

Not a lot of use to me! It does however offer a PAY-PER-VIEW option which "allows you 10 record views over 14 days plus access to free content and features."

Does the UK site offer this and if so does anyone find that to be useful?

Regards,

Simon


----------



## tinkering (Dec 8, 2007)

*family tree*

Talk about being led up the garden path :lol: .

I am having trouble :?

The Ancestry site will not accepted my email address for some reason :x ,so I cannot order any birth certs. as soon as I type in the start of the address it tells me its invalid.

Help

Les :wink:


----------



## locovan (Oct 17, 2007)

*Re: family tree*



tinkering said:


> Talk about being led up the garden path :lol: .
> 
> I am having trouble :?
> 
> ...


Get in touch with their Help desk i have never had that problem :?


----------



## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

Ancestry charge more for ordering certificates than the General Register Office (part of the Home Office). I always order mine from them.


----------



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Be very aware that not everyone putting their family tree on the internet has done the careful checking necessary to make sure it is correct. Some people are determined to name their ancestors back to the dark ages and they rely on guess, speculation and coincidence. 

Don't get caught; always check for yourself and keep a record of your sources. It's OK to have a link that you think is cast-iron but you can't prove IF you make sure that you either keep the information for your own use or make sure that anyone you share with- via e-mails etc- knows that this is a possible-but-not-proven relation. I've found some real howlers in other people's interpretation of my family tree- even when I have the original certificates to disprove their tree.

G


----------



## patp (Apr 30, 2007)

I agree Grizzly. I once saw a tree where the "father" was younger than the "son"!
Americans are sometimes the worse culprits. If they find someone of the same name as their ancestor in the UK they assume it must be the "right" person. After all how many John Smiths can their be in little old England?!


----------

