Yesterday's good thing

[jennythereader]

By the time I went to bed last night I was too tired to post, so I'm doing it now.

Yesterday I found and downloaded a free genealogy program called Legacy. It's gotten very good reviews from both genealogists and computer people.

Now, I'm not very interested in researching my own family. My mother and grandmother both have that fairly well covered, and anytime I get curious I can just ask them. I use this sort of software for two separate projects:

1) Tracking the families in complicated, multi-generation novels. Currently I'm reading The Witching Hour by Anne Rice, which follows one family over the course of 300+ years. As relationships between characters are revealed I'm entering them into a family tree.

2) Tracking connections between historical figures. Before my computer died, I had a family tree that showed the connections between about 1000 years worth of European nobility. I lost it in the crash, but I'm going to try to re-create it with this new program.

Comments

[sunatrya.livejournal.com]

I tried to do the Witching Hour family shrub once. It was a MESS. Even worse than the Amber family bush... at least that one had no direct incest (My 1/2 brother slept with my great-grandaughter is much easier to map then I slept with my sister, then the daughter she had, then...)

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

It's much easier with software then with pencil & paper. The only trick is to make sure you don't accidently enter the same person more than once.

[uncacreamy.livejournal.com]

My husband does geneology for the family, but he also does it for fictional characters, though, for roleplaying games. Some of his detailed games though, read like novels.

[jennythe-reader.livejournal.com]

That's cool. Slightly reassuring to know I'm not the only one to research imaginary familys.