Family Historian User Group

  • Skill Level: Advanced, Intermediate, and New User
  • FH versions: V4, V5, V6, and V7
  • In Topics: Other Sources of Help 

FHUG is an user operated and supported site providing help and advice for the Family Historian (ƒh) software package.

Back in the summer of 2002, the members of the old FHU mailing list wanted to be able to share queries written for Family Historian, so Jane Taubman set up a simple file sharing site. From little acorns…

Since 2002, through several major releases of ƒh, the user group has helped many users of all levels to come to grips with one of the most powerful and flexible Family History programs available today.

Whether you are a beginner or a more experienced user, FHUG exists to help you get more from Family Historian.

The site has never been funded by or run by Calico Pie, the company responsible for Family Historian, and remains completely independent of them. Funding comes from the donations of members. As with any site, our costs are those of hosting and data transfer, with over 30,000 page views per month and the hosting of the downloads for Family Historian and the excellent Ancestral Sources utility from Nick Walker the data transfer per month is considerable.

From Jane

Back in 2002 (around 6 months after Family Historian Version 2.0 was launched), the (now defunct) FHU Mailing List (replaced by FH Mailing List) was discussing setting up a user group for Family Historian. I had already added a place to upload queries on my own site, but it was felt a more comprehensive site would be better, so on the 16th of November I posted:

Subject: Re: FHU Anyone want to help set up a User Group?
Date: Sat, 16 Nov 2002 02:13:38 -0800 (PST)Hello All,I have been experimenting with a new web portal for the User Group. It has the capacity for forums, polls, newsletters, articles, feedback etc. Because of the way it works it needs its own web space so is not off of my site any more, its located at (old url) not very catchy I know, if it takes off I will register a better domain name for the group. . .

Many years on and fhug.org.uk has grown into a comprehensive site for all things Family Historian, with a core of active and knowledgeable members always ready and able to help newbie and more advanced users to get the most from Family Historian.

Family Historian has grown in functionality and power over the years. The version we were using back then had no Reports, just Diagrams and Queries, no Project or Focus windows, or even Named Lists. Just take a look at the Knowledge Base Home page to see what’s been added over the years.

FHUG has grown as well; it’s gained this Knowledge Base, and the Wish List, and it has provided a home for Nick Walker’s superb Ancestral Sources.

It’s not owned or run by Calico Pie Limited, the authors of Family Historian, and has been run since the beginning as a free resource, funded by donations from visitors, and the commissions from sales on Amazon and My History, advertisements on the site, and partly from my own pocket.

It does not seem possible it’s all those years since we started out, but it is, so I just want to say a huge thank you to all the people who over the years have posted questions and answers and the many loyal users who work out queries and now plugins as well, to help people make better use of ƒh to progress their Family History research.

Jane Taubman
Web Master of the FHUG

Last update: 25 Nov 2023