It takes a village...

December 29, 2019 2:16 AM

Please help me find the right genealogy software to create a "family" tree - not for my family but for the village I married into, where everybody knows everybody and I can never remember anyone's name.

I would like to find a software which allows me to add (limited, simple) entries / information via mobile app and which will allow me to create several trees (which may overlap some time in the past, but not necessarily now). I imagine I would want to enter data like First Name, Last Name, Nickname, DOB, DOD, and connect that new person to the existing tree.

I would like it to support same-sex marriage :) and nicknames. Images would be nice to have, but not necessary. I don't need very complex data entry options, or voice recordings etc.

Mobile data entry is key, but I cannot seem to figure out which app allows this as opposed to just viewing existing data. I checked the previous questions but as far as I saw they did not adress the mobile issue.

Thank you very much in advance!

posted by any_name_in_a_storm to Technology (8 answers total)

Are you sure a tree structure is what you want? What kinds of connections are you wanting to see? A tree works (mostly) for X begat A, B, C, and then they begat L, M, N, etc., but social connections are less linear - A can be friends with P and Q, who are friends with S and T, then S is friends with A but T isn't, and they are both friends with D who is friends with P but not Q, etc. -- it becomes a many-to-many map, which is awesome and can be displayed many different ways (there is software for this!).

So, is that what you're looking for?

Like, if you were to describe the relationships you're interested in in text, what would that look like?
posted by amtho at 4:41 AM on December 29, 2019 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Good question, amtho! These connections are a lot to do with the past 3,4,5 generations, i.e. A's grandfather had a brother who married B's grandmother, and B's grandmother also had 3 siblings whose grandchildren are C, D and E, oh and D, who everyone calls X was married to N and N.... (this is a bad example because too simple; it's hard to make up something adequately complex). I hope this clarifies it!
posted by any_name_in_a_storm at 4:50 AM on December 29, 2019

So, you kind of want multiple family trees, but that can be connected to each other? A really complicated family tree that doesn't have to have one or two main paths?
posted by amtho at 5:28 AM on December 29, 2019

Response by poster: Yea, that's pretty much it. Eta: A lot broader than deep, if that makes sense. I won't be researching or going back really far.
posted by any_name_in_a_storm at 6:53 AM on December 29, 2019

Have you considered using a general mind mapping / database tool (eg one note, Air Table)?
posted by oceano at 7:29 AM on December 29, 2019

I think what you’re looking for is probably social network analysis software, which allows for the kind of non-genetic relationships you want to remember. It’s been a long time since I used it so I don’t have specific recs but hopefully having the term can get you started.
posted by The Elusive Architeuthis at 8:32 AM on December 29, 2019

Response by poster: Thanks for the answers so far! In the interest of clarity, the social relationships are defined by genetic relation, so that is what I would like to capture.
posted by any_name_in_a_storm at 9:25 AM on December 29, 2019

Would Zoompast be useful? It can record all sorts of info on the people in the nodes, and as the name suggests you can zoom in to look at details and zoom out to look at the bigger picture. I don't know how/if it handles multiple links though.

Edit: sorry, just saw you need this for mobile .. zoompast says it "is not fully functional on mobile devices" (tried after rereading your ask)
posted by anadem at 3:10 PM on December 29, 2019