Friday, February 26, 2016

FTM2014 - WebMerge Feature Update with Ancestry

I haven't seen this before, but have blogged about it. That is, a Census Record where the household is over two pages on that record. Before, you had to manually download and attach that 2nd image.

Yes, I will do a view of this in the very near future, but wanted to get the word out.

I did a Web Merge for a Household on page 1B, lines 97 to 100. But the Web Merge process included two more names. The Transcript show that full household as it should.



That is 6 people on 4 lines, but I was merging 6 people so I knew I would have to download that 2nd image, as in the past.

When I did my normal clean up after a Web Merge, I found the proper citation in the Sources Workspace, for that 1920 Source Group.

The correct, for Ancestry, citation AND the 2nd page of that census record was merged.

Thank you Ancestry and Family Tree Maker for fixing that problem.


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Copyright © 2015 by H R Worthington

Friday, February 19, 2016

Relative Race, new genealogy-based competitive reality show, premiering on Feb. 28

I received this from Ancestry.com, requesting that I share it on my blog.

We are working with a brand new TV show, an original family history-based competition reality show titled Relative Race, that has been described as Amazing Race meets Who Do You Think You Are.

Premiering on Sunday, February 28 at 8pm ET/6pm MT/5pm PT on BYUtvRelative Race features four married couples as they travel across the US in search of long lost relatives, armed with only paper maps, a rental car, a $25 per diem and a flip phone. Using the science and technology provided by AncestryDNA, the couples embark on a journey that starts in San Francisco, ends in New York City and leads them to unknown relatives along the way. Cameras follow all four teams as they drive across the country -more than 4500 miles- in just ten days, stopping each day to complete a challenge and find (and stay with) their newly discovered relatives in a different city. At the end of each day, the team that finishes last receives a strike; after three strikes, teams are eliminated and the remaining teams travel to NYC for the grand finale where there is a $25k grand prize for the winning couple.

As you know, genealogy is a real hot button topic right now. Perhaps your audience would find this series to be both timely and entertaining.

The host, and EP of the show, Dan J. Debenham, as well as one of the couples, are available for interviews. They will be able to talk about some of the research that the show did prior to production about the genealogy and DNA testing, as well as some of the experiences that the couples had during their journeys. In each city, they are meeting complete strangers (and staying in their homes) that are related to them in some way. There are a couple of really emotional moments that happen along the way, especially with The Browns, an interracial couple with a 20 year age difference who also happen to be quite an interesting pair. (Here is their audition tape to give you an idea.)

Attached is some background information on the series; here is a link to the Relative Race website and a screener: www.relativerace.com/press (Password: "relative"). 
Look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks, 
Michelle

Michelle Prince, Thatcher+Co.
Phone: 914-523-8937
Fax: 646-607-6767

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Another View of the Future of Family Tree Maker

I invite you to read a blog post by Tamura Jones and his interview with the folks at MacKiev.com

Interview with Software MacKiev president Jack Minsky


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Copyright © 2015 by H R Worthington

Friday, February 5, 2016

Initial Observations of the new home for Family Tree Maker

Another home for Family Tree Maker.

As a long time user of Family Tree Maker, I need a genealogy program to track where this program has been over those years. My initial reaction is that of excitement. Remembering that I am not at home but at RootsTech 2016, I did think that I would give a brief, few comments about the new company.

First, look at the website for MacKiev

http://www.mackiev.com/



The fact that our program is front and center on the Website. I am not seeing the focus on selling me a subscription to Ancestry.com. That wasn't an issue for me in the past because I had Ancestry and Family Tree Maker, so I wasn't looking to "buy something".

Having said that, as a retired person with many years of customer support in the telecommunications industry, I have an understanding and concern about US, the user.

What I am expected here, is that the folks we may be contacting for help and support, will have people who KNOW the program. Not that Ancestry.com's customer support weren't very helpful with the problems that we might have, but they may not be as experienced in how the Program Worked. The good new now is that they will know the Program.

Now, and only time will tell, I am not expecting that they will know how to do genealogy. I am sure that while developing Family Tree Maker for the Mac, they learned some skills on how we do our research. So, I am not going to them to help me do my research, but how the software works.

The second piece of their website that caught my attention is that they ARE AT #RootsTech2016. Why would they be here, the DAY AFTER the announcement they are here meeting their new users / customers. Where else could you find out about how their users use the program, but to be here where there will be thousands of genealogists.

I AM EXCITED would the future of the Family Tree Maker program.

One User's opinion.

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Copyright © 2016 by H R Worthington

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

New Family Tree Maker Options

Posted by  on February 2, 2016 in Family Tree Maker
Since our Family Tree Maker announcement last December, we have continued to actively explore ways to develop and support Family Tree Maker and ensure you have choices to preserve your work in ways that matter to you.
Today, I am pleased to announce two options for desktop software that will work with Ancestry.
Software MacKiev
Software MacKiev, with whom we have a long-standing relationship, is acquiring the Family Tree Maker software line as publisher for both Mac and Windows versions. Software MacKiev has been the developer of Family Tree Maker for Mac for more than six years and is thrilled at the opportunity to publish future versions of Family Tree Maker for Mac and Windows.
This new agreement means you will receive software updates and new versions from Software MacKiev, and have the ability to purchase new versions of Family Tree Maker from Software MacKiev as they are released. You will have continued access to Ancestry Hints, Ancestry searches, and be able to save your tree on Ancestry with Family Tree Maker moving forward.
RootsMagic
We have made an agreement with RootsMagic, a leading genealogy desktop software program publisher, to connect Ancestry with the RootsMagic software by the end of 2016. With this new relationship, RootsMagic can serve as your desktop family tree software, while having access to Ancestry hints, Ancestry searches, and the ability to save your tree on Ancestry.
These new agreements will make it possible to preserve your work on Ancestry and Family Tree Maker, and enable future features and benefits to help you discover your family history. Be assured that Ancestry, in cooperation with Software MacKiev and RootsMagic, will continue to support you as you discover your family history.
We ask for your patience as we work diligently through all the details to make these solutions available. Be sure to check back here on our blog as we share more information about Family Tree Maker in the next few months.
For more information on Software MacKiev and RootsMagic, click below:
- See more at: http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/2016/02/02/good-news-for-users-of-family-tree-maker/#sthash.lSkiWErk.dpuf

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