Why Folks Do Genealogy
Responses to a Questionaire
What Folks Say About Why They Do Genealogy
Below are some of the responses I received to a questionnaire that asked:
Below are a few of the responses I received.
- Why are you doing genealogy?
- What do you plan to do with your researched results?
- What do you want a genealogy software program to do to assist you in 2. above?
Why am I doing genealogy? I first started doing genealogy because my oldest son has bi-polar. Bi-polar is handed down, and no one in my family will tell me who has had it. I think I know that my grandmother has it, by catching things here and there, I found out that she has been in the mental hospitals most of her life. But again I say, no one will talk about it, so I started doing genealogy.
I decided that I am going to start with this Christmas, and give them as Christmas gifts to everyone every year. Along with the print out I will also include questions that I have, and maybe someone has a answer. I would love to get a Genealogy for Christmas, so I thought that it would be a great gift. And also doing it this way I can get a lot of questions answered.
How do I expect software to help me? I think with software is the organization. It helps me keep everything organized.
I am a genealogist because I am very interested in finding more information about my family. I want to share the information with others--it is not good enough for me to have it. I want to publish, and have done so, and I want to create easily read and followed charts for my family to know more about their heritage. So I need software to help me in all phases: data collection, analysis and graphic representation, and publishing.
Why am I doing genealogy? I would guess that my reason is the one most commonly expressed. I'm interested in knowing my roots. Where were my ancestors from and what did they do? What did they look like?
What do I plan to do with the results? Pass them on to others of my generation in the family and to my children and grandchildren if they express an interest. Trouble with the latter is that many of us do not become interested in our genealogy until we get older; by the time our children "get older" we probably won't be around to pass on the information.
How do I expect genealogy software to help? I hope it will help organize in the manner that most computer database software organizes. I also hope to, via the use of a scanner, incorporate the collection of family pictures going back at least a century that is available to me. I hope to be able to print the results so that, even if the computer disk on which the file is stored becomes obsolete and there is nothing that will read it, there will be a paper copy. Paper documents have never become obsolete!
I am really just starting this. I have read through much of the beginner advice presented here and am just now getting active in my own genealogy search.
The only advice I ran across concerning software was: Before you purchase genealogy software, decide what you want it to do. Then make your choice based on that decision. I did my part:
I want to compile, sort, and organize what little I already have. I want to gather more information and merge it with what I have. Eventually I want to put everything in book form.
Now that I am ready to purchase the software, I find myself unable to find reviews and recommendations. I expected to find Consumer Reports type recommendations, and haven't.
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