Beginner questions

[phil333]

Hi,

I just joined the forum and wasn't sure whether to post this stuff here or in Introduce Yourself. Hope this was the correct spot.

I have just started with the free 14 day subscriptions to Ancestry and FMP. I am amazed at the amount of info available online and have already got back through my mother's family tree to about 1750.

I have a few beginner's questions to help me keep going on the right path.

Which family tree software is most popular for Mac users ? It looks like Family Tree Maker but I would be interested in other opinions.

I am finding the family tree builder on Ancestry much easier than that on FMP. Is that just me or would others agree ?

Is the Family Tree Maker software similar to the family tree builder on Ancestry ?

I find searching pros and cons between Ancestry and FMP, and have read that there does not seem to be an overwhelmingly preferred site. However, I was very surprised that FTM found a baptism record in Devon baptisms which Ancestry does not seem to be able to find, even when I do everything to point it to it. Is this an unusual experience ? Am I doing something wrong ? Or, is it not unusual for the two sites to have different data sets ?

I hope these questions are not too silly. Thanks very much for your help.

Phil

[Elwyn Soutter]

Hi,



I find searching pros and cons between Ancestry and FMP, and have read that there does not seem to be an overwhelmingly preferred site. However, I was very surprised that FTM found a baptism record in Devon baptisms which Ancestry does not seem to be able to find, even when I do everything to point it to it. Is this an unusual experience ? Am I doing something wrong ? Or, is it not unusual for the two sites to have different data sets ?

I hope these questions are not too silly. Thanks very much for your help.

Phil

It’s common for different sites to have different sets of data. Sometimes for different years as well as for different parishes etc. However the other important factor to bear in mind is transcription errors. Some sites are famous for the poor quality of their transcriptions and consequently a search on one gets no match whilst another finds it straight away.

A skill to develop is how to search the sites effectively. There’s a general rule that less is more. So just put in the minimum data to begin with, to see how many results you get and then narrow the criteria according to the volume of results. Use wildcards and don’t be afraid of leaving boxes blank. It often increases the chances of getting more hits.

This is not an exact science, as they say.

[Pam Downes]

Hello Phil,

Welcome to British-Genealogy.

I just joined the forum and wasn't sure whether to post this stuff here or in Introduce Yourself. Hope this was the correct spot.

As this forum is headed 'Beginners', I would say this is the perfect spot.

I have just started with the free 14 day subscriptions to Ancestry and FMP. I am amazed at the amount of info available online and have already got back through my mother's family tree to about 1750.

Trust me, everyone who reads that bit will be sitting with a knowing smile on their face and saying 'but he hasn't proved it'.
I will admit that, depending on the surname and whether your family moved around, it is possible to be fairly sure of a family line, but beware of 'more than one' Thomas/William/John/Mary/Elizabeth/etc having the same name, born in the same locality within a few years of each other. First names do tend to get repeated a lot as siblings marry and then name their children after their parents and grandparents. Always check the complete parish registers - especially for burials of young children - before being convinced that you have the correct person.
Certainly for your direct line, it's best to have the birth, marriage and death certificates for your grandparents, great grandparents, etc.

And never, ever, ever, copy someone else's tree. By all means use it as a reference point, but always confirm the information yourself. 'Zachariah Adams born 1785' means zilch until you can find a baptism for him. You can say 'In the 1851 Zachariah says he's 67 and was born in Much Binding in the Marsh, but there is no baptism record for him in the PRs 1780-1820', and you therefore record him as being born circa 1785.

Which family tree software is most popular for Mac users ? It looks like Family Tree Maker but I would be interested in other opinions.

Pass. I don't have a Mac.

I am finding the family tree builder on Ancestry much easier than that on FMP. Is that just me or would others agree?

Pass. My tree is not online at the moment, and if it ever gets online I doubt that I would put it on a commercial site.
Read the Terms and Conditions about what they can do with any information you upload. Also check if you can access your own information if you no longer subscribe to the site.

Is the Family Tree Maker software similar to the family tree builder on Ancestry ?

Another pass. (I'm not a 'techie' person. )

I find searching pros and cons between Ancestry and FMP, and have read that there does not seem to be an overwhelmingly preferred site. However, I was very surprised that FTM found a baptism record in Devon baptisms which Ancestry does not seem to be able to find, even when I do everything to point it to it. Is this an unusual experience ? Am I doing something wrong ? Or, is it not unusual for the two sites to have different data sets ?

Do you mean FMP found the Devon baptism record?
Apart from the 'main' items - the census, the GRO Index of BMDs, some WW1 records plus probably a couple more bits I can't easily think of at the moment, most sites tend not to overlap in their datasets.

If you haven't yet found them, you might find it handy to read the 'stickies' at the top of the 'Useful online sources' forum.
https://www.british-genealogy.com/for...Online-Sources

Pam

[Wilkes_ml]

I agree that both have different data sets, especially when relating to parish records. for example, Ancestry has the majority of London parish register images, wheras Find My Past has some Kent and Hertfordshire parish register images and the National Burial Index, and I don't believe the sites overlap on these data sets (though I could be wrong). I have found other sites such as "The Genealogist" have advertised parish records, but on a trial, I have found there to be no images, just transcriptions, with errors in the actual dates for the parish I was interested in.

That is why it is important to look at what information you will need, and look closely at what data the site has to offer, and if possible use the free trials to access the content. Some sites offer monthly subscriptions as well, so if you feel you are likely to only need to access a dataset for a short period of time, then try that option.

personally, I currently have annual subs to both Ancestry and Find my past as they both have useful parish records that I use regularly. I also have stuck to family tree maker and the trees can be uploaded and synchronised with Ancestry, though now I edit all my trees through Ancestry as I find the interface much user-friendly. I haven't even tried the tree feature of Find My Past, though I probably will at some point.

It all comes down to personal choice, and for many of us, we stick to what we know!

[Wilkes_ml]

I have to agree with Pam....I have been researching my family history for 25 years now. I have followed pretty much every line of my family, but only a couple of lines can I be sure that I have proved the connections to my satisfaction, and that has meant consulting not only the original baptisms, marriages and burials of the parish in question, but also the majority of the surounding parishes in at least 10 mile radius, as it's surprising just how many cousins & second cousins with the same name live in the same vicinity.

Just getting the post 1837 births, marriages and death cerificates can take a significant amount of time unless you are fortunate enough to have been left a nice old suitcase of family documents (every family historians dream!)

[Megan Roberts]

First an apology – I have never been able to figure out how to use multiple quotes when responding, so I shall use “the steam engine” method!

I am finding the family tree builder on Ancestry much easier than that on FMP. Is that just me or would others agree ?

I haven’t tried FMP’s tree builder, but they are owned by the same company that owns Genes Reunited, and I did try that one, and thought it awful. I use Ancestry’s on line tree builder, without too many problems.

Is the Family Tree Maker software similar to the family tree builder on Ancestry ?

The current versions of FTM will all sync with Ancestry, which means that you then have your tree in two places, which can be very useful as a back up if nothing else.

Each version of FTM looks slightly different to the last. The version I use 2012 does not look like Ancestry’s on line version, but I do not find that a hindrance.


I find searching pros and cons between Ancestry and FMP, and have read that there does not seem to be an overwhelmingly preferred site. However, I was very surprised that FTM found a baptism record in Devon baptisms which Ancestry does not seem to be able to find, even when I do everything to point it to it. Is this an unusual experience ? Am I doing something wrong ? Or, is it not unusual for the two sites to have different data sets ?


Ancestry and FMP have some record sets which are the same, although they have different transcriptions. For instance census records – sometimes you a record on one site and not on the other, and that is invariably due to transcription errors. Generally speaking I find FMP better on transcriptions, but even though Ancestry don’t adopt identified corrections, if other researchers identify alternatives then those alternatives will show up in the search results.

Ancestry and FMP have record sets which are unique to them. Parish records are a very good example of this. What appears on one site does not appear on another. But neither site individually or collectively has all the available records.

[strawberrymivvy]

Welcome! I have been doing this on and off for a few years now and always used Ancestry. Recently, however, somebody pointed out on here that should I ever cancel my Ancestry subscription then I wouldn't have a version of my tree that had all my documents, sources and so on linked into it, so I treated myself to a FTM subscription. Yes, it links with Ancestry, but if I'm honest I find Ancestry a lot easier to work with. I can't put my finger on what it is (I use a Mac, so maybe my version is different to how others see it), but somehow I just find myself looking at the FTM screen and not knowing what to do next, what branch or "twig" to follow up on, whereas in Ancestry it always seemed more obvious. I know that pretty much makes no sense at all, it's not like Ancestry really gives direction, somehow to me it just seemed more user-friendly and "directing"

Anyway, not sure this really helps, but that's my two penn'orth!

[phil333]

Thank you all for your very helpful comments.

Pam - I realize that my '1750' comment is rather naive. I was only talking one thin branch, not whole tree. And I realize that I have more detail to collect to get completely comfortable, especially pre 1841 census. Your comments about how to go about the more detailed stage are very helpful to me.

I really appreciate everyone else's comments also. I didn't want to get tied to Ancestry, especially having learned that they don't have some info on FMP. So, I expect I will go ahead and get FTM so I can keep whatever I come up with independent of them.

Cheers, Phil

[Peter Goodey]

Why not use free software instead of buying FTM? The only reason to buy FTM that I can think of is that some versions come with a free Ancestry subscription.

[phil333]

I love the idea of free software. I did look at this and found almost a bewildering amount of free software, although not so much for a Mac. I rather imagined that it would be lacking FTM functionality and more difficult to download to from the commercial sites. Is there any particular free software which folks have used and would recommend ?