Genealogy Chat

I am using the 2010, Family Tree maker but am thinking of either upgrading or changing to say another one like Roots.

I would like to be able to solve these problems does anyone know if any other software would do that.

At the moment when I find out that someone has never married ie a lady dies at say 70 still with her own name I have to put "never married into the spouse box" .

The 1911 Census shows how many childdren they had and how many died I would like a way of enterintg that information even if I can never find them all.

The list of fact are always in alphabetical order so when I add them I have to spend ages changing the position of them for instance cannot have occupation after death would like to change the list permanently to life's fact ,birth, address, census, occupation death, funeral and Probate and Will.

Any opionions on the different software would be appreciated although I do like my Family Tree Maker.

Thanks

Perhaps you should get an earlier version of FTM!!

I am still using version 2005, and have several spinsters dying unmarried, but I don't have your problem

The facts on my version are always in chronological order, but can be rearranged to a certain extent, if required.

Regarding deceased children from the 1911 census, I have been putting the info in the notes, but it has just occurred to me that I could add them to the list of children as N/K, or "to be ascertained".

Your post, and some others I have seen, have confirmed my belief that I don't need the newer all-singing, all-dancing versions.

Thanks for your reply perhaps I would do as well to not bother to upgrade, however, I would still be interested to hear from other people

I have used FTM for several years now and whilst I do upgrade on a regular basis, I would say that FTM 2012 is unlikely to give you any benefits in terms of the the points you have raised, so stick with what you have. The problem may be more to do with the way that you are using the program.

As far as your issue with spinsters is concerned I don't understand the problem. Why do you think you need to enter something in the Spouse box? I never do.

Unknown children - as suggested just enter Unknown as the name and Bef 1911 as the date of death.

Facts - where are you changing the order? Again I have never found the need. You enter the date in the date field (the first field) and they will order correctly.

Perhaps if you could give some specific examples of where you are having problems it might help to come up with some answers.

Thanks for your reply InspectorGreenPen, sorry for the late reply have been away and then forgot to look at my thread. The reason I like to put something in the spouse box is so I don't forget and spend time looking for a marriage again - that does not exist.

Its difficult to explain the problem I seem to have with the order of facts perhaps I need to have some lessons although I have used it for a long time.

Think I will keep to this version of the programme.

For a family tree program that does things that you want it to do, try Family Historian. As well as the standard, you can create your own reports, queries and even flags. There are also "user created" reports etc that you can download from the Family Historian User Group forum. Someone has even created an additional program called Ancestral Sources that makes adding Census's information, be it UK, USA, Canadian or Ireland, so much easier. It is the most versatile family tree program that I know, does too much for me to list here. You can download a 30 day trial version to try before you buy.