Genealogy Chat

Having found this board last week after a year or so on GR I was interested to see from some of the posts that people have their trees on other sites and on various Tree programs. How do those of you who do this manage the data? Do you have one master copy and then upload the GEDCOM to the others? And if so which do you use as the master?

I use Family Tree Maker as my master copy - and have also uploaded this to my own Home Page (via Family Tree Maker) I have just put a skeleton of my tree on GR

hiya, i too use FTM as my master copy, which you can copy as gedcom file and import to GR, however, NOT all of my family details are on GR tree, this is something I chose to do, and therefore edited My GR tree to show only what i wanted it to, My FTM tree has alot more names and data, but that stays on my puter, and is useful for me to dive in and out of. FTM to buy ranges from about £9.99 to £30+ depending whaich version you buy HTH Julie

I think you need to back up your GR tree some where as this site can be unreliable at times. I keep a version of my tree on here to share with contacts which does not have living people except my own family and does not have potentially embarassing details. I built it from scratch not having a gedcom to upload. I then uploaded my gedcom from here to tribal pages where I keep a version of my tree to share with family members and people with a genuine interest in local history which includes photos and details of living people though not embarassing information. On family tree maker I have a version of my tree for my own information which includes most of the imformation I have and won't be shared. I edit them seperately. If I knew someone had been to prison or a relative had died of syphiis I wouldn't put it on a public tree.

Ditto what Elaine says. I think it's far easier to have everything on something like FTM and send it from there,certainly having my tree on a website makes it easier to see where the research has paid dividends (or where it needs to be started). A programme like FTM also makes it easier to view what information you have and possible errors/mistakes are far easier to rectify or delete. I also find it easier to send a report to a fellow researcher than say that 'g g g/f had a sister who married John Smith,they had a child called Fred and he married......etc' Best £20 i ever spent Glen

Thanks for your advice everybody. I'll have to think about getting Family Tree Maker. What is your advice about versions? I see from adverts that the Deluxe version has 'English Parish Records'. What does that mean exactly? Thanks Mark

In general I would say that the Deluxe version means it has come bundled with a set of discs that are very rarely of any use!! I bought the deluxe version - total waste of money. The most up to date version is Family Tree Maker 2006, the basic version costs about 25 pounds. If you haven´t got access to Ancestry you might consider purchasing the version which comes with a free 90 day Ancestry sub. (For info a full years subscription to Ancestry is worth 70 pounds) Have a look at www.twrcomputing(.)co(.)uk their prices are very competitive and include postage worldwide. or http://www.my-history(.)co(.)uk/

The who do you think you are disc which I have seen for about £10.00 is the 2005 version of FTM and has most of the same features and a shorter trial subscription to ancestry. I bought the basic 2006 version for about £25.00. It comes with a free charting companion which lets you draw fancy family trees but I have never used it.