Family Tree Software
Ancestral Quest - There are many family history software titles out on the market right now. Some are free and do the basics, while others are really expansive and expensive. The one that many of us are using right now is Ancestral Quest. The data entry process is easy and clean, as is the layout and navigation - there are no confusing buttons all over the screen, or strange file tabs that don't show all children as in the Family Tree Maker software. Sourcing is a little more complicated than a few of the other programs on the market, but once learned, the sourcing is not that difficult. Ancestral Quest creates and uploads multimedia web pages and right now, it is one of the few software products that will do this. We created the web pages on this site Barnhouse Branches using Ancestral Quest 11 software. Web pages created from Ancestral Quest software can be uploaded to any URL that you might own or lease. Plus, new with AQ 11, you can upload family files to the Ancestral Quest servers and work on them simultaneously with cousins, family and associates. There is a free, in-depth, user guide, available here for your review of this software.
Free Personal Ancestral File Software - The LDS Church has free family tree software you can try, too. It has multi-language support, including German, Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Swedish.
Family Tree Maker - This software program was one of the first "user friendly" ones on the market. Ancestry has a free trial download for the FTM software. Since then it has grown to be one of the more widely used software packages. It has a brand new user interface in 2005, with the program finally doing away with the clunky, old "click-the-tab" to see the details family navigation. This program produces some of the better charts.
Legacy Family Tree Software - This family tree software is produced by the Millennia Corporation, and it is reported that have a loyal following of users. These users report that Legacy Family Tree is very responsive to changes and updates. This company is giving away a free copy of the full retail version of the software for you to download and try. We haven't fully evaluated this product yet, but it does install easily onto your computer. The navigation and several of the functions are more complicated than Family Tree Maker or Ancestral Quest.
Reunion - Family tree software for Mac users. This is a full-featured genealogy software program for those individuals who prefer Mac and Mac programs.
We'll update this page as we get a chance to more fully evaluate each of the above genealogy software programs. But, since all the family tree software listed on this page is GEDCOM compatible, you can download them all and switch between them and see which ones YOU like. These programs are all functional and well refined.
Relatives Genealogical Software - This site offers a family tree visualization program to illustrate your family tree online. Build your family tree, save it in a file, print it out and place it on the Internet. The software builder offers complete support of the GEDCOM and graphical concept.
AniMap Plus County Boundary Historical Atlas v. 2.5 (Win) - This super mapping CD represents a history of border changes for United States counties and states. We use it quite often. One of the key things that a genealogist learns as he or she grows more experienced, is that it is critical to success to look beyond political boundaries - be they municipal, county, state or country - when looking for ancestors. This CD helps the user see boundary changes over time from the first colonial settlement to present day. It is especially useful for those who conduct historical research of any kind in the U.S. History software libraries would do well to have this software, too. It will superimpose railroad tracks, waterways, and township and range markers, as well. There is no other software like it - this is definitely a number one must have for your software library.
Other Genealogy and Family History Software, Not Yet Evaluated
- Brother's Keeper
- Cumberland Family Tree Pro
- Deed Mapper Software
- Doro Tree Jewish Genealogy Software
- FamTree
- GED2HTML
- GED4Web
- GEDhTree
- GenDesigner
- Gene Macintosh
- GenoPro
- GenSmarts
- Gramps (free)
- Master Genealogist
- RootsMagic
Users and editors of Wikipedia have drawn up charts comparing the various genealogy software programs here.
