Family Tree Grows from 100 to 2000 Names with Family Tree Maker and Genealogy.com

When she was a nine year-old Girl Scout, Allyson Lee researched her family tree to win a badge in family history. Her maternal grandmother provided the necessary family names and dates covering three generations of their ancestry. But Allyson's curiosity about her genealogy was short-lived, and she soon lost interest in tracing her roots.

Several years ago, after her second child was born, Allyson decided she wanted to expand on the information her grandmother had originally provided. Unfortunately, by this time, her grandmother had passed away and the data had been misplaced. Allsion was faced with starting from scratch. She turned to her paternal grandparents, and after questioning them on family history details, she started to rebuild her family tree.

Not quite knowing where to turn next, she headed to her local library and began researching census books. A month later she had painstakingly managed to fill in a few missing names and locations and had increased her family tree to 100 names. But the process was becoming increasing laborious, with diminishing returns. Fortunately, Allyson discovered Family Tree Maker and her luck soon changed.

"I posted my family tree on genealogy.com and immediately found a possible connection," said Allyson. "Soon I was in touch with people who were searching for the same families I was." Taking advantage of the Social Security Death Index helped Allyson increase her family tree to more than 2000 names, and trace one branch of her family back to the 12th century. A subscription to Genealogy Library provided a book Allyson had previously searched in vain for, which detailed information on her family back to Colonial times.

"Searching on the Internet has been a tremendous help in filtering out the abundance of information that is available," said Allyson. "I not only reconstructed the information I had lost so many years ago, I've added more than 11 generations to my family tree."

Family Details Help Bring Researcher's Ancestors to Life

Kenneth Levett grew up listening to his grandmother tell stories about her family. As an adult, his childhood "history" lessons inspired Kenneth to search for additional facts and clues to his heritage. For 17 years he devoted weekends to interviewing family members, researching family Bibles and reading census records. He visited the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Centers and researched the center's International Genealogical Indexes. These indexes include census records on microfilm and other records relating to genealogy research. His dedicated research over the course of those 17 years resulted in the addition of 200 names to his family tree, but lacked the personal history or detailed facts that he desired.

Three years ago Kenneth became familiar with Family Tree Maker. After reviewing Family Tree Maker's unique research capabilities, Kenneth purchased the product and his family tree began to bloom. "Family Tree Maker is very easy to use, and the most complete resource I've found for building my family tree," said Kenneth. "The Internet has led me to information on my family's history I never discovered before, and never would have found using my previous research methods."

Using both the Social Security Death Index and the Census data CDs, Kenneth added hundreds of names to his family tree. But his biggest finds were in the World Family Tree where he discovered family files that helped him add 10 generations to his family tree. "The World Family Tree has provided me with a wealth of information on my relatives and other allied families," said Kenneth. "I've made contact with cousins I never knew, and we are now frequently in touch with each other to share new-found family information."

And, as he was hoping, Kenneth has found more than just names and dates. Family Tree Maker has provided stories verifying the fact that many of his ancestors were Pilgrims, and others were soldiers in the American Revolution and the Civil War. He has also discovered that one ancestor was possibly the first European settler of Delaware County, NY. He is presently putting the finishing touches on his family tree to post on genealogy.com and is creating a file to submit to the World Family Tree for inclusion in an upcoming volume.

Although Kenneth's family tree now lists more than 6,500 names, he continues to research his extensive genealogy. "With the help of Family Tree Maker, I have made enormous progress," said Kenneth. "Based on the premium resources provided by genealogy.com, my family tree is not only extensive, it is very accurate."

Fulfilling her Grandfather's Dream Helps Teresa Pierson Discover Link to Queen Elizabeth

For years Teresa Pierson followed her grandfather through cemeteries in Nebraska, attempting to uncover details about her family ancestry. She initially kept track of the information they discovered in a notebook, then switched to a DOS database. Neither tracking method provided any sequence for maintaining the data they gathered. "I'm a very visual person," said Teresa. "If I can't see how information flows or connects, it doesn't mean much to me."

When her grandfather was diagnosed with cancer, Teresa's determination to fulfill his desire to know his family tree lead her to look for other possible genealogy resources. She logged onto Family Tree Maker's web site and immediately knew she had hit on the perfect solution. "Even before I bought Family Tree Maker, I was amazed at the wealth of resources the product offered," said Teresa. "It is definitely head and shoulders above any other online genealogy resource available."

Immediately upon purchasing Family Tree Maker, Teresa added her family tree to one of the largest collections of family trees in the world by posting her family Web page on FamilyTreeMaker.com. She soon heard from a second cousin, and they began to exchange information. That started the ball rolling, and before long, she heard from two other distant relatives, and her family tree quickly began to take shape. "These initial contacts were the keys to getting me started," said Teresa. "From that point on, I never stopped."

Using several of genealogy.com data CD-ROMs, including the Social Security Index and the Family Finder Index, Teresa's exploration and knowledge of her family grew. She ultimately traced her paternal ancestry to the early 1400's and her maternal ancestry to the 1700's, discovering, among other things, her link to Queen Elizabeth and the famous Butterfield family. Details from a Genealogy Library subscription provided fascinating journals, detailing her maternal family's immigration from England. As a result of her research on Family Tree Maker, Teresa's family tree has grown from 50 names to almost 6,000.

To celebrate her newfound family, and as a tribute to her grandfather, Teresa and almost 100 relatives met for a reunion in June 1998, reuniting family who hadn't seen each other in twenty to fifty years, as well as family members who had never met one another. "It was the most incredible experience in my life," said Teresa. "To see my grandfather smile again was the most rewarding gift I've ever received."

After the success of the first gathering, Teresa's family started a tradition of holding a yearly reunion, and each year Teresa expects newfound relatives to join the party. In addition, Teresa's desire to "visually" see her family tree has been fully satisfied. For the latest reunion she printed 100 pages of detailed family tree information, then had the pages laminated and mounted on the wall. "In many cases, patience and persistence will pay off," said Teresa. "But if you're serious about researching your ancestry, and don't want to spend years searching through cemeteries, nothing surpasses Family Tree Maker for fast, accurate results."

Family Tree Maker Helps Uncover a Storybook Ancestry of Pilgrims, Pirates, Witches, and Indians

Imagine having ancestors who were tried and convicted of witchcraft, or kidnapped by Native Americans and held for ransom. These are just two of the many stories Connie Jellison has learned about her ancestry. "Lots of people think 'what could be so interesting about dead relatives?' They might be just as surprised as I was to find out just how fascinating a family tree can be!" said Connie.

Connie grew up listening to her aunt's stories about various family ancestors. Her aunt had spent more than 30 years traveling to libraries and contacting other researchers, painstakingly gathering pieces of information. When possible, Connie helped her aunt with her research and used a database to store the information they gathered. When Connie moved to another state she wasn't able to continue helping her aunt fill in the blank spots and missing details of their family tree.

Two years ago Connie purchased Family Tree Maker and rediscovered her love for tracking her ancestry. Connie immediately uncovered new information about her maternal lineage, and was impressed by how easy the research process proved to be. "I love the ease of choosing a surname and having Family Tree Maker do the searching on the genealogy.com Web site for me," said Connie. "I send weekly updates to my aunt of stories and facts about our ancestors that would have taken her another 30 years to find, if she found them at all!"

Connie utilized several of the CDs in genealogy.com data collection to provide additional information to trace her family tree, including the World Family Tree, a Mayflower CD, and the Family History CDs of both Maine and New England. "Because all of my family history centers around Maine and Massachusetts, the ability to choose CDs with specific information on these regions is very helpful," said Connie.

Connie has also made extensive use of her subscription to Genealogy Library, accessing books which are either out of print, hard to find or very expensive to purchase. In total she has added more than 1,100 names to her family tree, plus colorful stories of Pilgrims, witches, pirates and Native Americans. "The names, dates and places are fun," said Connie, "but reading about what the person was really like is the best part for me."

"I have amazing stories to tell and pass on to the next generation," concluded Connie. "Family Tree Maker turns the hard and tedious process of creating a family tree into a very fascinating hobby."

Using Family Tree Maker is 'Like Opening a Door to my Family's Past'

Armed with only a few pieces of information, Velma Onstott wasn't quite sure how to go about building her family tree. Then, as a Christmas present, she received Family Tree Maker. "It was like opening a door to my family's past," said Velma. "It's a wonderful feeling to finally know where my name came from, and who my ancestors are."

Velma began her genealogy research on her father's side of the family. With the help of a subscription to Genealogy Library, she discovered connections between her own ancestors — the Vinton family — and the famous General Jacob Jennings Brown, Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and General Francis Vinton Green. "These are people I had no idea ever existed," said Velma. "The family-finding resources available through Genealogy Library are amazing. I was able to trace my father's family back eleven generations!"

With additional help from the World Family Tree — trees contributed by other genealogy or family history enthusiasts — Velma's family tree quickly began to grow. She decided to post her own family tree on FamilyTreeMaker.com, and was soon contacted by several additional descendants of her ancestors. These relatives, from as far away as Mexico City, have shared stories, and even a photo of a painting of David Hammond Vinton in his Army uniform.

When Velma first started working with Family Tree Maker, her family tree consisted of 64 names, covering immediate family members, aunts, uncles and cousins. Today she is close to hitting 6,000 names, dating back to the mid-1700s. "I feel like I know all of these people. They have become family, not just names, " said Velma. "Since I am Hispanic, and the name 'Vinton' is not, I grew up never really being able to respond to the question 'what are you?' Recently, at my 30th high school reunion, I finally had the answer!"  

Family Tree Maker Takes Jacque Wunsche Around the World to Research Her Ancestry — Without Ever Leaving Home

When Jacque Wunsche's parents divorced when she was a young girl, Jacque's father disappeared from her life. As an adult, Jacque's necessity to uncover medical information about her paternal family, plus a curiosity to know more about her father inspired her to begin researching her family tree. "I hadn't seen my father since I was three years old," said Jacque. "I felt I knew only half of my family, and really wanted to learn much more about my roots. Plus, I have multiple sclerosis, and it is important for me to have a complete medical history."

With only a last name to start with, Jacque spent endless hours over the next fifteen years interviewing relatives and traveling to libraries throughout Michigan in an attempt to fill in the missing pieces of her family history. Her success was limited, with much of the information she uncovered disconnected and confusing. Then a friend suggested she try Family Tree Maker. Jacque had tried another genealogy software program with limited success, but based on her friend's recommendation, she decided to give Family Tree Maker a try.

Although she doesn't consider herself much of a technical expert, by following the step-by-step guide of the program, and calling on technical support when she was stumped, Jacque soon succeeding in building not only her father's, but also her mother's family tree. On both sides, several branches are traced back over five generations and hundreds of years. In one case, she is astonished to have traced a single branch back to the year 06. "Using genealogy.com to gather data is definitely a lot easier than my former pen and paper method," said Jacque. "In just a few months, I uncovered more information about my ancestry using the Internet than I have over the past fifteen years."

To help accomplish this, Jacque also used many of the titles from genealogy.com's data collection to give her the essential information she needed, and then posted her information to the World Family Tree to share and acquire new knowledge on her family lineage.

"I've discovered two half-sisters and a brother on my father's side, plus several nieces and nephews," said Jacque. "Knowing my family's history has been fascinating, but the opportunity to meet relatives I never knew existed has been the real reward to tracing my family tree."

With the amount of information she has gathered, it would be easy to conclude that Jacque's work on her family tree is complete. "Oh, no," said Jacque, "there is always more to find out. Through a Genealogy Library subscription, I have discovered so many branches of my family's history that there is always one more question to answer, or another detail to complete."

"Because I have MS, and can't travel very far by myself, Family Tree Maker, genealogy.com, and library have been wonderful resources to work with," concluded Jacque. "I just sit down at my computer, and before I know it, I'm miles away, with a multitude of information at my fingertips, without ever leaving my house."