* Best size for a project

[E Wilcock]

Is it a good thing to run large projects? And if so how large?

How large is the average one name study?

I currently have 4 place projects with a total of 11,146 people.

[davidf]

Surely it rather depends on the project and whether it is sub-dividable?

A one name study for "Smith" is likely to be larger than one for "Sewell".

However some studies divide relatively easily (at least until you get back (historically) to where you are wondering if all the bits fit together).

My surname "comes" from North Cumberland - with rumour that it originated in Dumfriesshire with Covenantors - but not yet proven. I find it useful to run separate projects.

1. my confirmed family lines - 5,200 people (although many of them are married in/out with different surnames)
2. a cluster with that surname or close variation - in Dumfriesshire in 1700s - 1800s where there are too few records to easily construct extended families or spot the possible migration to Cumberland
3. about 5 other disconnected lines of "my" surname found in Cumberland census records
4. a cluster with the surname in Hertfordshire but without any link to Cumberland
5. "strays" (probably from Cumberland/Hertfordshire) found elsewhere in England
6. a North American Cluster - most of whom seem to originate in Cumberland (but no link to any of the above yet proven)
7. Similar for Australia and New Zealand

In respect of FH I run each of the above in a separate file as it is easier to scan / manage a smaller list of individuals. Some of the above are quite small so you can use the "Show everyone" or "All relatives" diagram without it becoming impossible to view. It is also easier to spot family overlaps and manage merges if such diagrams are kept to a few screenfuls - with print large enough to be read!

I am a bit ambivalent about "one name studies" - there is a fascination in your own surname, but other lines are as interesting as well! Some "one name" proponents almost seem to want to require you to absorb/collect any occurrence of "your name" - which means that potentially your study becomes massive, so "is it good thing to run large projects?" is not really a relevant question to "one namers".

I find that chasing down the social history around a maternal adoptive line is of more interest to me than trying to identify which North American with my surname came from which Cumbrian strand.

[Valkrider]

Because Family Historian uses Gedcom as its file storage medium large studies are not a problem. I seem to remember when this question was asked in the past there were several people with several 10's of thousands of person records in one project. I certainly have over 10,000 in one of my projects.

[tatewise]

The simple answer is whatever Project size works well for you.
There are no significant limits in FH and it is only your PC resources that impose any limits.
These days disk space is no problem, but CPU speed, RAM size, and Graphics display hardware may slow some processes that involve a lot of records or very large diagrams.
The GEDCOM file as the database has no major impact except maybe when loading initially, and each AutoSave.
Otherwise, the transactions only operate internally within FH in the PC RAM which is fast.