Published on 01/04/10 at 20:32:07 GMT by Nick Walker
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.
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Splendid!
Written on 02/04/10 at 08:43:47 GMT by treefrog
Well done, Nick - I'm at work now, but can't wait to get home and try it. Thanks!
Jocelyn
re: Splendid!
Written on 01/08/10 at 07:27:40 GMT by findsy
Thanks heaps!! I struggle to understand a lot of FH but found your demonstration and comments made this easy to understand and use.
Ancestral Sources
Written on 02/04/10 at 08:58:53 GMT by Gerry Newnham
Congratulations, Nick.
Can't wait for the version with BMDs!
Gerry
re: Ancestral Sources
Written on 02/04/10 at 09:06:12 GMT by Nick Walker
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.
Thanks Nick
Written on 02/04/10 at 17:37:50 GMT by robertbryce
I have just looked at the video. Looks good, looking forward to putting it into use. Robert
ancestral sources
Written on 04/04/10 at 14:25:53 GMT by afl2
Watched the video and the programme looks great and like others i cant wait for the addition of the bmds etce etc Well done!!
Ancestral Sources
Written on 05/04/10 at 08:01:54 GMT by Richdoe
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
re: Ancestral Sources
Written on 05/04/10 at 09:03:33 GMT by Nick Walker
This article should help you to identify what you have:
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.
re: re: Ancestral Sources
Written on 05/04/10 at 14:36:08 GMT by Richdoe
Many thanks for the info have downloaded it using 32 bit option and it's up and running Kind regards Richdoe
Ancestral Sources
Written on 14/04/10 at 21:09:13 GMT by Yasmin
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
re: Ancestral Sources
Written on 14/04/10 at 21:16:07 GMT by Nick Walker
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).
re: re: Ancestral Sources
Written on 19/04/10 at 17:23:05 GMT by JAE4
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.
re: re: re: Ancestral Sources
Written on 19/04/10 at 18:09:01 GMT by Nick Walker
Sorry but I don't know why you would have a problem - its just a link to a www.screetoaster.com video. You could try viewing it from their site here:
Written on 19/04/10 at 18:09:40 GMT by Nick Walker
Sorry typo in last post - www.screentoaster.com
re: re: re: re: re: Ancestral Sources
Written on 19/04/10 at 18:39:11 GMT by JAE4
Flash player not working on sceentoaster site either !!
re: re: re: re: re: re: Ancestral Sources
Written on 19/04/10 at 20:28:43 GMT by Nick Walker
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.
re: re: re: re: re: re: re: Ancestral Sources
Written on 19/04/10 at 21:23:35 GMT by JAE4
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!
re: Ancestral Sources
Written on 20/04/10 at 16:35:33 GMT by JAE4
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 !!
Ancestral Sources
Written on 22/04/10 at 12:46:28 GMT by Nick Walker
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
Source Text
Written on 24/04/10 at 13:43:31 GMT by sylviawallace
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
Ancestral Sources
Written on 29/04/10 at 06:12:30 GMT by rodit
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
Ancestral Sources
Written on 02/06/11 at 15:39:17 GMT by AUSCRAFTS21
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 it’s 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 .
re: Ancestral Sources
Written on 04/06/11 at 18:19:43 GMT by Nick Walker
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.
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I had to get Ancestral Sources to deal with census records first though so I didn't have to keep working on Gedcom Census.