Legacy Software

I sat in on a Sunday School family history tutorial today and was introduced to some of the features of Legacy software. I have it but haven't used it so this was a good introduction for me. I chose to try it out after reading reviews in Family Tree Magazine but it is clearly becoming the software of choice in my ward. I have run across many conversations as people have adopted it to use other than staying with PAF.

I was also introduced to an organizational website... File Your Papers. I shouldn't really be looking for more help for my files - I just need to get busy and do something - which was the intention for this afternoon. However, a family dinner and a thought that I just wanted to check the site out before committing to Mary's colour system put that all on delay for today. What appealed to me the most is the familiarity of the system. When I was just starting out and worked my way up to 3000 names, this is the way I set up my binders - indexed and sorted by the MRIN (marriage number for the family). I never got to the point of organizing any documents by the same system but I do know that I never had a problem finding the family I wanted using this binder system. I kept an alphabetical chart and a pedigree chart in the front of the first binder (the files filled at least 3 2.5" binders) for quick reference.

There are some things that are similar to Mary Hill's system. There is still a need for locality files. And an acknowledgement that a single record may belong to multiple individuals with the same surname. But using the MRIN to file allows for descendancy and collateral individuals/families to be easily integrated into the system.

It is early for me to really commit to one or the other... I need to sit down with both systems, look at what I am trying to organize with it and make the choice.

So no pictures yet...