"Tracing Our Roots" Newsletter Archive (A monthly genealogy newsletter written by the late Brenda Kellow, dec'd, for the Plano Star Courier newspaper. We've included all the ones we could recover.)
How many times have you looked in your genealogy program and found a source that someone had given you but you could not recall ever seeing that source, let alone remember whether or not you had ever verified it? I have done this in the past but I won t worry about this in the future thanks to the new upgrade to my Legacy program. Now all I have to do is check that I have verified it and write comments in the note section. If I haven t verified it then I leave it unchecked.
Does your software program give you the option of noting a sources status? If it doesn t, it should. You need the full spectrum of power tools for documenting your hard work.
I recently upgraded my free Legacy Family Tree 4.0 to the deluxe version. Believe me, this was a wise choice. Seldom have I received upgrades like these for only the $19.95 download fee.
Next, I bought the Training Series, three new CD videos for $16.95. These CDs load just like any other CD but it appears like an interactive movie. Geoffrey Rasmussen, genealogist and teacher, is Millennia Corporation s family historian who explains the powerful software program. He articulates like the expert he is while giving the listener time to switch from the video to his or her own Legacy program to practice what he has just demonstrated. This gives the user time to assimilate what Geoff said while correcting the personal database if need be. I found this feature invaluable.
On the first CD he demonstrated how to clean up any unused portions on the database. These spaces occur when we enter a name and then delete it. Taking Geoff s advice, I paused the video and cleaned up all eight lines on my program, after which I saved the data on a different hard drive followed by a CD formatted as a floppy. I followed the steps found in the Tips topic located on the Legacy homepage. It was easy.
Another thing I really like about Legacy is that the staff gives explicit instructions while recognizing genealogists are not techies. This was also true in the E-mail instructions I received over a two-week period while I was trying to solve a problem I had just before my big hard drive crash. After explaining in my first couple of sentences that I am only a power user, not a techie, they communicated with me in terms I could understand without ever being condescending.
I recommend you examine the Legacy Family Tree Web site, visit the Tips section, and review just how powerful the software is. www.legacyfamilytree.com.
Combining the power of Legacy and the power of using the Internet with Robert Ragan s Pajama Genealogy system should make you a pro in short order. http://amberskyline.com/pajama/.
TRIP PREPARATION
Take your family history research to the next level. Attend Genealogy Friends free Saturday Lecture Seminar to hear Barbara Coakley explain necessary details before researching away from home! The program runs 9:30 a.m. to noon at Harrington Library, 1501 E.18th Street (doors open at 9:10am). Anyone planning a research trip cannot afford to miss this lecture. This lecture should be mandatory for anyone going on the Family History Library retreat sponsored by Genealogy Friends. www.geocities.com/genfriendsghl.
In the near future genealogists will benefit from the combining of the best features of Ancestral File and Pedigree Resource File. Until this process is completed, LDS asks us to hold any corrections we might be tempted to make. www.familysearch.org.
Brenda Kellow, dec'd, Certified Genealogist and Certified Genealogical Instructor, had a Bachelor s Degree in history and taught genealogy courses at the local Community College and computer genealogy at the University.
