Review by Bob Feeser

Ok this is about looking up your family tree, but as an adjunct they train you in utilizing online resources to look people up. How is that old spouse doing? :-) Anyhow this has to be the king of all online ancestry tools. I was surprised to know that my grandmother arrived in this country and when instead of being second generation. I was curious what part of Italy she came from. This and a whole lot more is available online utilizing the built in resources family tree taps into.

The really interesting thing is that since it is so widespread that others even distant relatives who have participated and did the leg work to build the tree can be imported into your own tree. The Platinum version includes a six month membership into Ancestry.com which is no small feat because that is about ninety dollars worth of membership. This deluxe version provides 3 months. Even if you bought family tree maker and used it for 6 months you could find just about all of the information that you would need. With the Platinum version the fact that another disc with the platinum version is included in the box to give to someone else, enables you to partake on the journey with another family member, although a second membership into Ancestry is not included.

In using it I found that just like any other application there is a slight learning curve. They included a thick book with it so this is not something you just sit down and become an expert at in an afternoon. That is a good thing because the deeper you want to get into it, the more complex the program becomes.

I always envied those families that we still all together. They had certain bonds that made it that way. For example even though flaw abound, they stuck together, never back sliding one another. Oh they may discuss particular person’s anomalies, but never is a condemning way. My own family became particulated… a fancy word for broken apart. My Mom grew up with relatives galore; by the time I came into the picture it was splintered apart. Who offended who? The interesting thing is that I have a huge family out there. My grandmother’s sister had 7 children; most of them live in the area I am sure. The older generation passed away, and maybe the offenses passed with them. I am not disrespecting the older generation, I love them, but I would like to see if this huge family can become a family again. It is a new time, and who hated who is irrelevant.

I have someone I know who has a huge family and once a year they rent out this park where they have an outside picnic, everyone brings a dish. That way you are not inviting all kinds of people into your house, some that are so distant you don’t even know who they are. It works, and I would like to try it. Family Tree Maker makes that possible. So if you are just interested in who came before you, and who they married, or gave birth to, or you want to utilize this to re-establish long lost family connections, get Family Tree Maker. It is an exciting journey as you are discovering how it works, and they provide a lot of built in help, and tutorials along the way. Overall highly recommended.