Start Here
Welcome!
I’ve gathered together the select set of resources you’ll need to begin your exploration of your family’s history using your Mac.
Start with Software
Your genealogy software is the repository for all the information you discover. It’s the main tool in your genealogy toolbox. I recommend Reunion for Mac unless cost is a major concern. If so, get iFamily for Leopard. If you want more information about each, I have reviewed each of them (iFamily, MacFamilyTree, and Reunion) and have a feature comparison table.
- Reunion for Macintosh by Leister Productions
- iFamily for Leopard
- MacFamilyTree by Synium
Get a Good Book for Genealogy Beginners
Setup Folders on Your Mac
You’ll need places to put archival copies of scanned documents, photos, and other files on your computer. This series of video screencasts will walk you, step-by-step, through setting up a folder system and putting files into it.
- Part 1, My Family History Folder
- Part 2, Places
- Part 3, People
- Do all your folders look alike?
- Part 1, People with Multiple Names
- Part 2, Multiple People
- Part 3, People and Places
- Part 4, Place-Name Changes Through History
- Part 5, Finding Aliases and Originals
Get Information About Your Ancestors
You’ll learn in the book that not bit of information about your relatives is online, so you’ll need to do some sleuthing in the real world. But, there is a wealth of information available online. My advice to you is to consider everything, but only trust it after you prove it. That said, these online databases provide a great source of leads! There’s some overlap between the records on these sites and they each have treasured family history that the others won’t. You can search for free to get an idea which holds the most (and most interesting) genealogy data for your ancestors.
There are tons more sites, but I want to keep this concise so that it’s most useful for you.
Get My Helpful Videos on CD
You’re free to look around and view any of the video on MacGenealogist.com for free. Many have found that it’s easier and quicker to have the videos on CD. You can get more information here.
The Most Popular Articles and Videos
I’ve gathered the most frequently viewed series’ of videos into groups on this page. Browse through the list and see if anything jumps out at you.
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
I have just got a Mac, and found your site – very impressed. was watching your video screencasts on the filing system, you didn’t show how you dealt with the females in a family e.g. a sister or daughter not yet married – do they end up with 2 folders when they do marry?
Hi, Carol.
In all cases you’ll have only one folder; you’ll have alias folders that point to it when a woman marries. See the screencast on people with multiple names for the details: http://macgenealogist.com/using-mac-finder-aliases-for-genealogy-files-part-1-people-with-multiple-names/
—Ben
Just wanted to check for a death of a child of no know consequence – he isn’t in Ont. deaths and hoped to find him in Michigan – could not find a way to search ……………c.o.
Hi, Thank you for this resource! I run Snow Leopard and am shopping for genealogy software that would let me to create a detailed family tree +media for my brother, but he only has PC. How can I create files that he can read, and even add to? Is there a cross platform product? Even if I had to buy him a PC version of the software? Alternatively, is there a program that lets you make a CD for viewing anywhere? Lacking those, which app lets you print attractive documents with pictures and notes. Again, for Snow Leopard. I can’t swing buying him a Mac, too
Hi, Pat.
None of the top genealogy software products have native versions for both Mac and PC. That said, they all support to varying degrees, the genealogical data interchange format (GEDCOM). I’m guessing from your comment that you’d rather both be on the same software, so that won’t do. You could use a web-based genealogy application, although they aren’t as feature rich yet. All the major Mac software will output to files that can be burned to CD or DVD. They also have free trial versions, so I suggest trying them as “attractive” is subjective
.
—Ben
If the main Mac products allow me to produce CD for him to look at, that is so much of it. Would it be a matter or saving data to pdf files and burning those along with any image files…. or is there a way of generating a nicer, more cohesive product. Any experience with Heredis? It seems like printing out can be quite a task…. if he had it on CD he could decide how to deal with it. But again, my question is mainly whether either Reunion or the Synium product has any special features for creating CDs, or do I just burn the files? Thanks!
Hi, Pat.
The Reunion online help covers this topic quite well, so I’ll quote it here for your convenience:
“If you want to share your family information with Mac or Windows users who don’t use genealogy software, and you prefer not to publish information on the web, you can still utilize Reunion’s web reports and, instead of sharing data on the web, you can burn it on a CD.
Many users feel that a hard-copy “family history book” is becoming an outmoded way to communicate family history. Part of the reason is the high cost of printing. In many cases, there is no sensible way to arrange the family information sequentially or the existing numbering systems become bewildering to the layman. The very nature of genealogy is that the data is best understood and communicated by lineage-links.
So, how does this work? How can we share family information with anybody who has a computer (any kind of computer), who doesn’t have genealogy software, without posting to the web, and without printing thousands of pages?
The key is that output to a web-compatible format doesn’t necessarily have to be used on the web — it can also be burned on a CD so that users of Mac and Windows can enjoy your data, including pictures, sounds, and movies. All the end-user needs is a web browser to “browse” your data: names, dates, multimedia, etc.
When used in this way, and particularly with modern Macintosh computers (in late-2006, all Macs include a CD recorder), Reunion becomes a very powerful publishing tool for family histories. So, as you learn about Reunion’s “web reports,” keep in mind that it can all be burned to a CD and anybody with a computer can view it.”
Similarly, MacFamilyTree can create “web pages.” Again, I’ll quote their documentation:
“Publish Web Pages
MacFamilyTree makes it easy to publish your own family research on the Web — complete with graphic charts and pictures. We support generic HTML export, direct upload to our own Internet hosting site »MacFamilyTree.com« and also Apple’s »MobileMe« service. You can also use the same feature to create stunning CDs or DVDs with your family tree as giveaways for family reunions.”
—Ben
I see… so you do the work as it if were for the web, save it to CD, and that’s why the recipient uses web browser to read it. Boy, I ransacked the websites of those two apps and missed these super explanations. Thank you so much. Now to decide on which of the two!
Hello Ben,
What a fantastic site! I have a question wrt software compatibility, info sharing and GEDCOM data.
We are preparing for a family reunion that is going to occur in June. At the moment, there is one person working on Reunion 9 preparing the family tree and he lives on the East Coast. There is another person who maintains the contact information data base and family web site and he lives in California. I am working as an intermediary, use a PC and live in Central Canada.
Ideally, I would like to centralize the family data on a server and have both the PC and Mac be able to access/update the information. My concern is that Reunion9 doesn`t have a PC version. What do you suggest as the best interface to allow realtime updating of information with no data loss? My intent is to allow many people to update the information from various sources, without having to maintain two distinct sets of data and minimizing data loss between programs. Any help, ideas, suggestions that you may provide are most appreciated.
Many thanks,
Monty
Hi, Monty.
A specific answer to your question depends on many factors. I’ll go for a general answer instead. Let me know if it suffices or not. First I offer some caveats:
1. Letting others make updates to one’s genealogy database is dangerous, perhaps even foolish.
2. Software enabling collaborative family history research is inchoate.
3. Software enabling rigorous, collaborative family history research is non-existant.
4. I’ve not used any services I list below to do what you’re asking about.
I think your best bet for finding a solution is to use an online family tree service. This approach will enable you to centralize data and control access to it. However, I recommend doing this only in addition to one or more “personal” genealogy databases. Each researcher working on the genealogy should have their own research tools and data because the analysis and conclusions drawn about the research are their own. I also recommend that all the people updating the shared database agree to a set of proof standards that each “fact” must satisfy before being published to the shared tree.
If you’re still interested, look at the online family tree services to see which best suits your needs. Here are some that I’m aware of:
ancestry.com
familypursuit.com
geni.com
tribalpages.com
I tweeted a link to Monty’s comment so that the broader genealogy community can weigh in on this important topic.
Share your thoughts!
Thanks Ben!
I have taken all of your comments to heart and agree with all of them. I have experience managing network databases so I have encountered issues of disparate sources all updating information with dubious quality. Your insights are most appreciated. As I said previously, the attempt is to try and centralize data to prevent duplication of effort. That said, it appears as though most software has not reached the stage of being able to be run on a collaborative network environement….yet!
Many thanks for answering my questions.
Monty
Great Intro – Great Stuff – Thanks!
I started my genealogy project almost 20 years ago and then set it aside…all “paper based”. This weekend, my son and I decided to computerize and get back into the project.
Your site has been VERY helpful and interesting. I’m reading everything and following every link, watching all the videos – giving me a great foundation from which to start.
Thanks again for all your efforts..and most importantly…for sharing!
any tips on tracing “Smiths” I have a copy of my G>Grandfathers marriage certificate on which it lists his father as Edward but I’ve spent hours of fruitless labour on the census looking for a william smith whose father is edward smith.
Although my paternal line i’ve not done anything on it as i wouldn’t know where to start. can you help.
Hi, Carol.
Tracing Smiths, like other common names, is problematic; you’ll have more evidence to consider during the analysis phase of research. A solid methodology is indispensable in family history research. It makes the work you’re doing possible. So, let’s get back to basics regarding your question.
What is the question you are researching? For example, “Who was William Smith’s father?” Starting with a specific question will help keep your research process focused and help me and others help you. Leave a comment with the question you’re researching and we’ll take it from there.
When & where was William Smith, son of Edward Smith born?
From Williams marriage certificate I have calculated he would have been born in 1880. Also on the marriage certificate confirms his fathers name to be Edward Smith.
thank you for your help
Hi, Carol.
Okay; the question is established. Now we need to figure out what we know in order to develop the list of possible sources of evidence that answer the question. At this stage we’re preparing to, as the five-step genealogical proof standard process states, “conduct a reasonably exhaustive search for all information that is or may be pertinent to the” event.
I take it his marriage certificate didn’t include his birth place? What other information have you gleaned from the marriage certificate? Do you know where or when he died? What information do you have about his birth what are the sources (other than from the marriage certificate)?
—Ben
Hi
Your site is great!! Lots of info and ideas. Thanks
I was wondering if you could help me.
I use reunion and I have all my family on one big tree. I’m thinking it would be better and easier to manage if I had more smaller trees. Maybe a tree for each Grandparent and go back from there or something. Instead of having 1500 names on one big tree. Any ideas?? And how would be the best way to divide my tree up on Reunion?
Have a good day
Jason
Hi, Jason.
Thanks for the feedback!
Normally people include their entire lineage in one database. The place they split databases is at their spouse. For example I would have one family file (in Reunion terms) for my relatives and another for my wife’s.
1500 people isn’t too many. There are many MacGenealogists who have thousands in their trees.
—Ben
Thanks Ben for the info and help.
Hi Ben
Have just discovered your website. Moved from PC to Mac about a year ago and have been struggling with iFamily ever since. Having suffered some set back recently with my research I am now enthused to get gong again. However your screencasts mention registration but I cant see a registration field on the website or am I just being dim?
Hi, Liam.
It’s not you. I encouraged people to register in the older screencasts and learned since that it had no value so I turned the feature off. I now encourage people to become a fan of the MacGenealogist Facebook page instead.
—Ben
Thank you for that last post. I have been searching for several minutes trying to find the registration place.
I LOVE this site. I am setting up my folders and I can see that it is going to really get me organized.
Thanks
I created this blog and all the screencasts in order to reduce confusion and I see I inadvertently caused some. I’ve taken steps to eliminate the confusion in the future. I created a registration link and put it in the sidebar. It won’t actually register a person, but leads to a page that explains why I prefer Facebook fans to registered users and how to become a fan of the MacGenealogist site.
Thanks for the feedback!