Ancestral Sources v1.0

Post by **NickWalker** » 01 Apr 2010 20:32

Ancestral Sources is a new application developed by Nick Walker, author of the popular Gedcom Census add-on for Family Historian.

Most of the information that is added to a family history file originates from one of just a few types of documents, namely birth, marriage and death certificates, church baptisms, marriages and burials, census records and probate records. The concept of Ancestral Sources is that it allows the data from these source documents to be entered directly into the software, building up the family history data in a more intuitive approach than the usual methods used by genealogy applications. For example, typically entering a census household entry in a family history application requires multiple facts such as census, occupation, birth, etc. to be created for each individual, all linked back to a source via citations: a very time consuming exercise. Ancestral Sources makes this far easier and much quicker to achieve.

Version 1 of Ancestral Sources only offers support for Census records and should at this stage be considered a replacement for Gedcom Census. Support for other sources will be added in later versions.

Load your Family Historian file into Ancestral Sources and you will be able to quickly add census records to your file. Unlike Gedcom Census there is now support for all the census columns, with templates available for UK, Ireland, Canada and USA censuses. Simply enter the census record and Ancestral Sources will carry out the time-consuming and boring tasks of creating census, occupation, birth, nationality, and other facts, citations, sources, multi-media records and flags for you. You can even add new individuals to your file without going back into Family Historian.

For experienced users of Gedcom Census you will find many of the features familiar to you but will benefit from many improvements including a more up-to-date user interface, considerably faster file load and save, more usable lists of individuals as well as full support for Family Historian 4 projects and same-sex relationships.

Ancestral Sources is free but the author does appreciate donations from those who find the application useful.

You can get support from the Ancestral Sources forum on this site or via email: see the help menu in Ancestral Sources for further details. Please do not ask for support for Ancestral Sources on the rootsweb mailing list as that is an official Calico Pie mailing list and Ancestral Sources is not a Calico Pie product.

It is available for download now from this site as a Windows 32 bit version(downloaded 1340) and a 64 bit (x64) version (downloaded 482).

There is also a How to video available showing how to add a census entry.

treefrog · Post by **treefrog** » 02 Apr 2010 08:43

Well done, Nick - I'm at work now, but can't wait to get home and try it. Thanks!

Jocelyn

gerrynuk · Post by **gerrynuk** » 02 Apr 2010 08:58

Congratulations, Nick.

Can't wait for the version with BMDs!

Gerry

Post by **NickWalker** » 02 Apr 2010 09:06

I know Gerry, me too!

I had to get Ancestral Sources to deal with census records first though so I didn't have to keep working on Gedcom Census.

rbryce · Post by **rbryce** » 02 Apr 2010 17:37

I have just looked at the video. Looks good, looking forward to putting it into use.
Robert

afl2 · Post by **afl2** » 04 Apr 2010 14:25

Watched the video and the programme looks great and like others i cant wait for the addition of the bmds etce etc
Well done!!

Richdoe · Post by **Richdoe** » 05 Apr 2010 08:01

Hi which system do I down load, windows 32 bit version or the 64 bit version my operation system is Vista. I don't know what 32 & 64 bit means, please can you help
Many thanks
Richdoe

Post by **NickWalker** » 05 Apr 2010 09:03

This article should help you to identify what you have:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827218

If in doubt you could always try installing the 64 bit version and it will tell you if it can't install. Having said that the 32 bit version should run on either 32 or 64 bit operating systems.

Richdoe · Post by **Richdoe** » 05 Apr 2010 14:36

Many thanks for the info have downloaded it using 32 bit option and it's up and running
Kind regards
Richdoe

Yasmin · Post by **Yasmin** » 14 Apr 2010 21:09

For some reason I cannot watch the video it just comes up with loading on the screen and never shows the video. With that in mind can anyone advice me if ancestral source is as easy to use as gedcom and does it have a similar look.
Many Thanks
Yasmin

Post by **NickWalker** » 14 Apr 2010 21:16

You need to have Flash player installed to watch the video.

You can install Ancestral Sources side-by-side with Gedcom Census. Try it out with a copy of your file. You should find it as easy to use as Gedcom Census (possibly easier once you get used to it).

JAE4 · Post by **JAE4** » 19 Apr 2010 17:23

Help Please.I have flash player installed on my computer but unable to watch video. Still loading even after 30 mins!!
I have tried in IE 8 & Firefox 3.6
All other sites no problems with flash player.

Post by **NickWalker** » 19 Apr 2010 18:09

Sorry but I don't know why you would have a problem - its just a link to a http://www.screetoaster.com video. You could try viewing it from their site here:

http://www.screentoaster.com/watch/stUE ... xYWl9eUlBS

Post by **NickWalker** » 19 Apr 2010 18:09

Sorry typo in last post - http://www.screentoaster.com

JAE4 · Post by **JAE4** » 19 Apr 2010 18:39

Flash player not working on sceentoaster
site either !!

Post by **NickWalker** » 19 Apr 2010 20:28

Ah well I can't explain then. I assume you have the latest flash player?

I'd suggest you download AS and just give it a go.

JAE4 · Post by **JAE4** » 19 Apr 2010 21:23

Thank you Nick.
I will give it a try. According to various help forums I am not the only one having problems with flash player 10!

JAE4 · Post by **JAE4** » 20 Apr 2010 16:35

Thank you Nick. I took the plunge and downloaded Ancestral Sources. I have so far found it very easy to use.
I also managed to watch the video. Nothing wrong with flash player it was the site !!

Post by **NickWalker** » 22 Apr 2010 12:46

Please can I ask that if you have any questions about Ancestral Sources, you redirect it to the Ancestral Sources forum on this site, rather than asking a question here as it is very likely that I won't spot it here.
Thanks, Nick

Post by **sylviawallace** » 24 Apr 2010 13:43

I have been using GEDCOM census for some time now and used to input data manually into the souce text box which would then come through into the note box on an individuals record within FH (I am using v 4)eg things like unrecognised people -lodgers, boaders who might fall into place later as husbands, brothers etc. However the source text box on Ancestral Sources does not seem to do this, it just puts the notes against the source not the individual, or am I doing something wrong. Can you tell me what I should be doing to get these notes on an individual record

Thanks

rodit · Post by **rodit** » 29 Apr 2010 06:12

Great!! Wish I had this a few years ago. Nothing worse than going to add census details only to find 1 or 2 more children.
Back to FH, add in kids, bcack to Gedcom Census, etc.
Now it's all done at once.

Excellent

findsy · Post by **findsy** » 01 Aug 2010 07:27

Thanks heaps!! I struggle to understand a lot of FH but found your demonstration and comments made this easy to understand and use.

AUSCRAFTS21 · Post by **AUSCRAFTS21** » 02 Jun 2011 15:39

Before I start to use Ancestral Sources to add the census images , could some one tell me will it save in the Family historian projects folder in my documents or has it to go in its own folder? and if so will I be able to move the whole lot to my lap top and back again as I work between the two machines .

Post by **NickWalker** » 04 Jun 2011 18:19

Firstly please note that this article refers to version 1.0 of Ancestral Sources. You should now be using version 2.0.

Secondly A.S. uses the same project as Family Historian and you can save pictures wherever you want.

Family Historian User Group