No Black Sheep in my Family Getting you started with your Family History

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No Black Sheep in my Family -Getting you started
with your Family History

• By Robyn Fisher
• VicGUM Inc

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Covering

• Why
• When
• How
• Tips

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What started my passion for my family history

• maternal grandparents family of 12 on each side
  a good starting point
• lots of cousins but where did they fit in?
• plenty of spare time...
• wanted to know more about my background why,
  when, where they came from?
• put meat on the bones not just names, dates,
  and places real people
• enjoy challenge of chasing the elusive
  fascinating story
• meeting like minded people and sharing knowledge
  and resources
• Warning - can become an addiction!

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Why start compiling your family history?

• Get a better sense of yourself as to where you
  fit in
• Share family knowledge and anecdotal stories
• Pass on to younger generation information about
  their ancestors
• Any relevant genetic history eg. twins, breast
  cancer, heart disease, glaucoma
• Publish short run publication, book, create a
  web site
• Family occasion such as a wedding, birthday,
  family reunion

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Where to start?

• Yourself most accurate information
• Parents reasonably accurate, but can be
  inclined to not tell the whole truth! Married?
• Relatives - less accurate, but sometimes know
  something secret
• Others

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What records are most useful?

• The obvious first records you can start with
• Birth certificates apart from the obvious
  information as to name, date and place of birth -
  usually provides names of parents, when and where
  they were married, and if there are siblings born
  prior.
• Marriage certificates age of partners at time
  of marriage, birthplace, other information
  provided can include names of parents and if they
  are still living, other marriages. Some change
  of inaccurate information particularly with age
  given
• Death certificates - can be inaccurate as the
  informant providing the information does not
  necessarily know the truth

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What other records are useful?

• Census records where they were at a point of
  time
• Electoral records more recent, place in time,
  addresses
• Photos and images what individuals look like,
  family groups, residences, certificates
• Newspapers hard copy and electronic
  obituaries, weddings,
• Internet

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Now what to do with it all?

• Hand draw charts to see where you fit in
• Type up information so that it is all in one spot
• Disseminate to whom? Close family, rest of
  family, wider public such as libraries, internet
• Better way to do this...use a family history
  program.

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Features of a good family history program

• Easy to input information
• Easy to navigate around your families
• Able to print out reports such as descendant
  reports, ancestor reports, family history reports
• Able to generate charts such as pedigree and
  descendant charts
• And..

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Features of a good family history program

• Import/export features especially GEDCOM
• Ability to add pictures
• Able to generate web (or HTML) pages

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Whats available?

• PC or Mac
• Freeware, shareware also available
• Download from internet, purchase software over
  the counter
• Beginner or more advanced software packages

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How much?

• Free, shareware also available
• Download from internet
• Purchase from software retailers
• Can range from free to around 190

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Which one is the best?

• Depends on the features you want -
• most people buy more than one
• support available online and user groups
• all good packages have a transfer facility
  usually GEDCOM which is a standardised data
  export so that you can get your information out
  if you need to

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Which program is for me?

• Examples include
• Personal Ancestral File (PAF) free
• Family Tree Maker (FTM)
• Legacy Family Tree free version available
• The Master Genealogist (TMG)
• Brothers Keeper (BK) shareware
• Reunion (for Mac)

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Where can I get a family history program?

• Family history groups (one stop shops) such as
• VicGUM Inc www.vicgum.asn.au
• Genealogical Society of Victoria (GSV)
  www.gsv.org.au

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Where can I get a family history program?

• Internet direct from suppliers eg.
• Family Tree Maker (MyFamily.co)
  http//familytreemaker.com/
• Legacy Family Tree (Millenia) http//www.legacyfam
  ilytree.com/
• Reunion for Mac (Leister Productions)
  www.leisterpro.com

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Where can I get a family history program?

• Internet direct eg.
• The Master Genealogist (Wholly Genes)
  http//www.whollygenes.com/
• Brothers Keeper http//www.bkwin.net/
• Personal Ancestral File (Latter Day Saints)
  www.familysearch.org

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Where can I get a family history program?

• Over the counter eg.
• Officeworks (though not always the latest
  version)

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Dates and Places meet the real Mary Hogben
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Black Sheep? You be the judge of William Howlett

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AnyQuestions?