Computer Software Reviews
Copyright (c) 1994, Louis Turbeville
All rights reserved


Kith and Kin
Genealogy - Windows 3.1 Shareware Program
Nick J Hunter
11 Morlich Park
Dalgety Bay
DUNFERMLINE
Fife KY11 5XW  Scotland
Internet: nick.hunter@almac.co.uk
Registration Fee: $40.00
 
At some point in our live, we wonder exactly who are ancestors.
Most of us don't take the time or energy to track down the important
information and record it in an easy to use manner.  Kith & Kin, a genealogy
program, is an intuitive and powerful tool that can take some of the monotony
out of the data entry portion of the task.  It allows you to store vital
tidbits of information in a multimedia format, which gives your history more
life than just writing down the information, like a special song, pictures of
family members or wedding vows.
 
Kith & Kin can be used by the occasional or dedicated genealogy data gatherer.
Data entry is easy.  If you are a novice then determining what information to
enter is easy.  You chose whether to enter data for an individual or a family
and it prompts you with a form to fill.  By filling in the form, you will have
all the vital information you need.  The program is intuitive, even for a
beginner in genealogy.
 
With its graphical layout, determining and viewing relationships is a snap.
The family tree is easy to edit and configure to your viewing pleasure.  No
matter how you display your family tree, Kith & Kin keeps all relationships
in tact.
 
I feel the most useful feature is the ability to embed or link objects to a
person or family group.  Objects may be notes, sounds, diagrams or pictures.
This gives a real multimedia feel to the program and your family history.
Inserting sounds or music from an event, like a wedding, adds more meaning to
the final product, more so than just writing down what was said or played.
Seeing a picture of your ancestors and the way they lived will have more
meaning then just plain text, as with most genealogy programs.
 
Kith and Kin allows you to print all of your work.  You could produce a book of
family ancestors to hand out to family members without computers, complete
with maps and diagrams. The program also has file support for the Personal
Ancestral File GEDCOM format.  Using this format (a standard) will allow you
to work closely with other family members around the world.
 
Kith and Kin is a  powerful and very easy to use genealogy software for Windows
3.1.  Kith and Kin is easy enough for the beginner and casual data collector,
yet has enough bells and whistles to set it apart from other programs.  It
will make your work seem like the fun it should be.  If you have been thinking
of starting up a genealogy program of your family, then this program is
definitely worth the download.