Discovering New Genealogical and Family History Resources at …
When attending conferences I am always amazed by the new offerings from vendors throughout an exhibitors hall. Ingenuity abounds on each isle and it is sometimes difficult to determine which new product would be most helpful for genealogy and family history research.
Such was the case at the recent RootsTech Conference, there were many new companies and products to review as one strolled through all the exhibits. The first one that caught my attention was by TenGenChart.com. The ability to see 10 generations for those who have been researching for awhile is very helpful, one quickly at a glance can spot the places where additional research is needed. Staying with the charts, Progeny Genealogy introduced a 3D Family Tree that was also amazing and interesting to view. A 3D view of one’s tree provides a whole new insight into one’s roots. Keeping in line with charts, FamilySearch will be offering a new interactive chart in FamilyTree when the new interface is released in April, 2013. This interactive chart will be available from within one’s family tree and has the ability to display both ancestors and descendants!
The ability to add photos and stories were everywhere including in FamilySearch. Some of the interesting ones were Story@Home, Family Bridges, linea, Plinkbox, Saving Memories Forever, JustFamily and many others. Each of these have tools on their websites to make it fun and interesting to link in photos and stories of one’s ancestors. Photo FaceMatch offered the ability through technology to help face match and identify individuals in those photos of unknown people, what a great resource!
There were many software companies displaying how their product will help family historians and genealogists maintain their family databases, work through difficult research problems and keep an online research log either on a personal computer or on a hand held device.
Lastly, there are online alternatives for housing one’s family tree as well as the ever expanding online research databases from FamilySearch, Ancestry, Fold3, FindMyPast, Archives, MyHeritage and many more.
In conclusion, these are exciting times to be a family historian or a genealogist as new methods and tools are constantly being invented to help link the human family together.
