Who ARE all these people?

August 16, 2006 4:19 PM

Freeware/Open Source Genealogical Software?

Long story short, I've got a lot of family in a decent number of places and I'm looking for a way to keep track of them all. It occured to me that perhaps there's genealogical software that can help me keep track of my family (both living and dead).

This isn't going to replace Outlook's contact features, but sometimes I'm a little hazy on just how relative X is related to me, and frankly it's embarressing to have to ask over and over.

posted by tiamat to Human Relations (12 answers total)

There is Personal Ancestry File (PAF) by the Church of Latterday Saints. It's free at www.familysearch.org. I do believe that you can use that to enter addresses and contact information as well.
posted by bristolcat at 4:26 PM on August 16, 2006

Sorry, The Church of Jesus Chris of Latterday Saints. I don't know, I just use the software.
posted by bristolcat at 4:27 PM on August 16, 2006

Jesus Christ. Not Jesus Chris. It's been a long day.
posted by bristolcat at 4:28 PM on August 16, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks, I'll try that, any other suggestions are still welcome.
posted by tiamat at 4:37 PM on August 16, 2006

Gramps? That's the thing that comes to my mind (never used it, but it must be quite known, it's easily apt-gettable on ubuntu)

I also looked on gnomefiles.org and found GWintree
posted by a007r at 4:56 PM on August 16, 2006

Legacy Family Tree Maker is free (you can pay to upgrade to the deluxe version).

One nice thing about all the different genealogy programs is that they can interchange data pretty easily through the GEDCOM format.
posted by i love cheese at 5:03 PM on August 16, 2006

I second Personal Ancestry File. There are fancier ones, but the importance of genealogical records is a serious part of the LDS belief system and they take their software seriously. They are also very helpful when it comes to genealogical research. Should you decide get into research, the local family research center will give you free, no-religious-pressure assistance (though I think they've about given up on my father-in-law, who several years ago was looking for information on an ancestor named, no joke, "John Smith").
posted by lhauser at 6:59 PM on August 16, 2006

phpGedView.. definitely more genealogy, but its online, its free, multiple people can work on it at the same time, and uses GED file which is compatible (at least import wise) with all the software out there.

The "View" part is misleading, you can do everything.
posted by lundman at 8:24 PM on August 16, 2006

Use PAF. It is entirely free, it is widely used, and it is easy to use. It lets you track current people (current addresses, etc), not just dead folk and cemetery locations.

I have tried it and it works. Also, the world is full of Mormons who will be happy to help you if you get stuck.
posted by pracowity at 1:45 AM on August 17, 2006

PAF rules, but since you didn't specify what operating system you use, I'll throw in Gramps for Linux users.

Also, Ancestry.com has a new family tree-making feature that's really amazing, and I've been surprising productive with it, but it's no where near free.
posted by rinkjustice at 3:57 AM on August 17, 2006

One other thing to keep in mind, if you think you're ever going to use this program to actually trace your family's genealogy, make sure it has good source citing features. My mom has done a lot of genealogical work and that's the first thing she looks for in new software. Surprisingly, some programs out there don't let you cite sources, or they make it difficult to do so.
posted by chndrcks at 5:15 AM on August 17, 2006

I've used GeneWeb when I was working on things 4-5 years ago.
posted by fings at 12:17 PM on August 17, 2006