Copyright 1993 by Madison PC User's Group, P.O. Box 2598, Madison, WI 53701. All rights reserved. This file was originally printed in the May 1993 Bits & PC's, a publication of the Madison PC User's Group, and may be reprinted only by not-for-profit organizations. Please give proper credit to the author and Bits & PC's. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Family Origins Gary W. Wodka (with Len Lane), Madison PC User's Group Right out of the chute, I should explain why I had help with this review. Bottom line: Len has family history, all I got is nuttin! Len consented to look at the program and let us use his family (with all its warts) to examine this new program from Parson's Technology. If you've ever wanted to trace your family history or do a family tree (with knotholes), you may have found the task a little daunting. Where do you begin? Obviously, you'll start with you, but where do you go from there? And just listing the people is nice, but it'd be nicer to be able to tell a little something about them, wouldn't it? Family Origins (FO) from Parson's Technology might be a good place for you to start. It is a relatively easy-to-use program and is as powerful as a casual "roots" researcher should need. If you are a fellow beginner at this process, I'd recommend that you study the concepts and methodology of genealogical research prior to loading this program. You'll save yourself much time. Included with FO is a book called Finding Your Roots, by Jeane Eddy Westin. It's probably a good idea to read it if you've never rooted around before. Once you've loaded the program (a completely painless task, I might add) you begin entering people. You start with yourself as the focal point. Adding individuals from that point will be intuitive and logical, both back to your ancestors, and forward to your children and grandchildren. Simply bring up the screen and do what seems reasonable. It will be. Then, if you add ancestors for someone else (such as your spouse), make that someone else the focal point and work from there. Simple. Of course, if you married your father's new bride's mother, you're on your own! I don't know how that would work, and I refuse to give you any advice. But, if she's got a good-looking sister, give me a call! Parson's allows you to add notes to your family tree as you develop the tree. A note can be attached to each of the major categories: birth, death, burial, marriage, and christened. The notes give meaning to the charts. Otherwise, all you have is a fancy organizational chart. Once you've got the names entered, you can perform a name search or note search. Each of these searches allows you to find data easily after you have built a goodly-sized database. With a purported system capacity of 255 databases, each holding 30,000 individuals, you will likely run out before the program does. We ran out of relatives long before that, and I think those parameters should be adequate for even the most prolific of families. You can print out the organization tree or the notes. Printing these notes may call to your attention things about your ancestors that were not clear before. For instance, we found that Len's grandfather and grandmother were first cousins. This explains a lot about the behavior of some of the family members. Also, his great-great uncle "became a Mormon preacher." We were surprised. And, to add to our surprise, FO has a special "branch" dealing with the Mormons. The problem is that we don't know that much about Mormon tradition, so although the routines all seemed to work well enough, we can't vouch for their accuracy. FO also has a "sources" capability. You might look at sources as a specialized set of notes designed to provide footnotes regarding your sources for the family history. Sources such as family Bible, newspaper clippings, family member interviews, etc., are all options for this field. Only one part of the program was particularly confusing: The Print Choice list. For example, the difference between Pedigree Chart and Ancestor Chart wasn't clear. But after a try or two, you'll learn which version you prefer -- even if the explanation of the difference isn't the clearest, it's not a disaster either. If all else fails, you might try reading the manual. I know, there has to be a better way, right? On the technical side, there seemed to be an adequate, although not overwhelming, choice of printers. This was not a Windows program, so you'll have to find your printer (or a close facsimile) in the printer list. I found that the software performed fine using the HP Deskjet printer driver. I would imagine that if you stay with the straightforward graphs and charts, you wouldn't have a problem with any of the printers available. Because FO is not a Windows program (even though it will operate as a DOS program within Windows), you won't be able to use your mouse if you run it in the Windows environment. And, you will want to use your mouse. I guess you'll have to revert to that old DOS system, huh? If you're interested in your family history and are looking for an easy, organized way to document your pedigree, Family Origins might be just what you're looking for. Remember that the joy is in the chase! The genealogy research is the project. Family Origins will help you to enjoy the fruits. Family Origins is a product of: Parson's Technology One Parsons Drive P.O. Box 100 Hiawatha, IA 52233-0100 (800) 223-6925 (319) 393-1002 (fax) Oh, we also found that Len's great-great-great-great grandfather, Jeremiah Rozelle, served with George Washington in the Revolutionary War at Valley Forge. Wow! Grandpa was reportedly a shoemaker, but leather was scarce that winter. We're here to tell you that Grandpa Rozelle survived the war.