Family Tree - Reboot/Rebuild for 2018

The family tree is expanding. Evolving!! Advancing??? I’m not sure what word to use; let’s just say we’re adding something new.

Most of you are familiar with our tree on Ancestry. There’s a lot of good stuff on there – names, portraits, documents, histories, photographs, newspaper clippings. Thing is, retrieving that info to create printable reports is…not so great. One would think that after paying several hundred dollars annually for what Ancestry calls “All Access,” that one could generate a list of, say, every family member buried in a particular cemetery. Nope.

Frustrated, we hand over even more money for genealogy software (like RootsMagic or Legacy, etc.) that we install on our personal computers. It’s so much better for printing reports and trees and pedigrees. And that cemetery report? Yep. We can print one. With some effort. Thing is, sharing all our research data and collaborating with others…not so great.

Then I discovered TNG - The Next Generation of Genealogy Sitebuilding, a cloud-based genealogy management database that combines a little of each method. It is easy to Search (by name, dates, places, etc.,) generate Dynamic Charts (fan, family, pedigree, descendants, relationship, timeline, etc.,) and yes, print that elusive cemetery report. And because it’s online, sharing all of this info is effortless. Definitely great.

So I uploaded the database to our website and started typing. Sure, I could easily copy my Ancestry file to TNG but I’ve decided to use the new database as a “genealogy rebuild” instead. I’ll begin with Jake and Gay, and their children and spouses, followed by the direct-line ancestors for each branch (lateral-lines will be added much later.) My goal is to ensure we have accurate sources and citations for each name, date and event. It is not a race to add as many names as possible. It’ll take time - and you know I’m slow - but I am committed. Here’s the link:

http://www.familytree.spikerfamily.com/index.php

Cousins can help me with the initial roll-out by reviewing the info recorded on their parents’ pages. Are there errors or inconsistencies? Can you help fill in any blanks? Will you scan and share copies of vital records and documents with me?

In the meantime, we will continue to maintain and update our larger tree on Ancestry. If you can’t remember how to find it, let me know and I’ll send you an invitation.