We did a poll in December, mostly because I was curious what genealogy programs people used for their genealogy. As I came up with questions that I wanted to ask you, the list became longer so I decided to do a series of polls this year. Keep your eye out for a notice in the monthly Generations digital journal so you can see when we have another poll.
Genealogy Software Poll Results
We had 29 people respond to this poll but not everyone answered each poll question, and some gave multiple answers.
WINDOWS USERS: What computer software (free or paid) do you use for your genealogy? (example: Roots Magic, Legacy, Family Tree Maker, My Brother’s Keeper, etc.)
We had 24 responses to this question, and six (6) people used more than one genealogy program. The survey says:
10 Family Tree Maker
6 Legacy
5 Roots Magic
3 My Heritage
3 None
2 Ancestry
2 Family Search
2 GEDmatch
1 Ancestral Quest free
1 Evidentia
1 Excel Database with columns for names, date of birth, date of death, date of marriage.
1 Gramps
MAC USERS: What computer software do you use for your genealogy? (example: Genealogy Pro, MyBlood, Reunion, MacFamilyTree, etc.)
We had 4 responses to this question. Two (2) use Family Tree Maker, and two (2) use none.
If you don’t use computer software (free or paid) for your genealogy, how do you do yours? (paper, online website, other)
We had 10 responses. Since these answers are all unique, I am putting them here for your enjoyment.
- online website and a very disorganized digital file organizing system
- Online website and I sync with Family Tree Maker just to create a back-up.
- Also use Excel
- Online website
- Wrote a book on Libre Office with story about each person’s life for my mother’s side of the family.
- Online through ‘Ancestry’; I also use paper
- I use computer software however, I keep binders by family as well although not as up to date.
- Paper and online
- none yet
- MGS, FamilySearch, NewspaperArchive, Springfield Archives, MB Archives, St Boniface Historical Society, Archdiocese of Wpg, Archdiocese of St Boniface, Archeparchy of Winnipeg, East European Genealogical Society (new member, so not much experience here yet), Archives of BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, various Churches as necessary, online presns (as a non-member) through Ontario Genealogical Society – mostly Thunder Bay Branch, Ukrainian Genealogy Group – National Capital Region (as a non-member); Govt of MB Dept of Family, Land Titles, MB Vital Stats, cemetery caretakers / contacts, funeral homes, special trips to my local library to use Ancestry; my sister who has access to paid-for services, software and sites, my dad who has a very keen interest and who got me started in this by helping him to find out where his grandmother is buried, my cousin who also has a keen interest, especially in our Polish ancestry and has been to Poland to meet newly identified family… I use whatever I can think of! Thought of more – Prov of MB Legislative Library, University of Manitoba Archives, University of Manitoa Digital Collections, University of Winnipeg Archives, United Church of Canada Archives through University of Winnipeg Archives, MB Historical Society (occasionally as it pops up in google searches), google translate, google image search, City Archives (various across provinces).
If you have your genealogy online, which websites do you have it on? And is it your entire tree or only part of your tree? Which part?
Out of the 24 responses, 11 had their family tree online in only one site—everyone else used multiple sites. The following list is how many times each site was listed.
19 Ancestry
9 FamilySearch
8 My Heritage
3 GEDmatch
2 Ancestry DNA
2 Geneanet
2 GeniWeb
1 Family Tree Maker
1 Filae
1 Find My Past
1 FindAGrave
1 FTDNA
1 Tribal Pages
1 WikiTree
The comments and explanations are informative and are listed here:
- Ancestry – as much as I know at the moment, Family Search – partial (just not yet up-to-date
- Ancestry – entire tree
- Ancestry – most but not most accurate; MyHeritage – some
- Ancestry – my maternal line as well as my paternal line
- Ancestry – whole tree
- Ancestry – whole tree, private, searchable also My Heritage (outdated) and partial contributions on Family Search
- Ancestry! with a smattering of and a ligth presence on Geneanet, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, and Filae
- Ancestry.ca for the whole tree.
- Direct line only on Ancestry because they make money off my research.
- FamilySearch for all deceased
- Find A Grave. Working on adding life stories in biography area, about 75% done.
- GEDmatch – only 1 tree out of about 12 that I maintain.
- I use Ancestry.ca and my entire tree (both parents) is one one single tree. 3,600 people in my tree and counting.
- My Heritage, Tribal Pages, Ancestry (they are not always updated with latest findings). The Tribal Pages is more for going forward. Although it has a few generations going back, it includes mostly people who are still alive, recording births, marriages, deaths and other major events for cousins, aunts, uncles etc. Because of this, I have kept it private.
Additional Comments
We had 9 additional comments and they are itemized below:
- I use the GEDCOM data from my Ancestry tree to maintain a website powered by the TNG (The Next Generation) application; I suggest it is appropriate now for the Society to take into account the attention members pay to the online grave services. personally I use almost exclusively the Find a Grave service
- My main website is Ancestry however I am/have been searching for missing people so I spread out to My Heritage because it is usually cheaper than Ancestry and Family Search because it is a free website. I used GEDmatch quite a few years ago and now my daughter is using that website. I have Family Tree Maker as a backup system.
- I also have some family information on 23&Me and a few other sites for DNA results.
- Archived newspapers are also necessary. I use Newpapers.com owned by Ancestry.
- I do all of my own family research on FTM, then sync up to Ancestry.
- My own family is well researched but I have no grandchildren. My husband has French researched and online by a cousin but his Indigenous roots are very difficult to find records for.
- Love the MANI database, use it all the time. I have photographed 34 complete cemeteries around Dauphin, Pine River, Mossey River RM plus partial and photo requests at about 12 other places posted on Find A Grave. My work helps others find their relatives, a very rewarding “hobby” as I am retired from the work force.
If I lived in MB I would volunteer with MGS – but I live in BC. - My interests lie in pioneers early 1900 makaroff Mb including court cases. 1890 the pas and Winnipegosis pioneers. HOME CHILDREN FROM THAT ERA AS WELL.
IOOF CHILDRENS orphanage 1920’s Charleswood records - I am also populating a family history archive using the WeAre.xyz platform