essential oils: aromatherapy for labor

ALL IN THE FAMILY.(Buyers Guide)

Australian PC World November 1, 1999 | Stafford, Mark It is said that when a MacDonald chats with a Campbell, there can still be some light-hearted banter along the lines that they really shouldn’t be talking together, indeed shouldn’t really be socialising at all. It is the after-shock of history and family — of clans — because it was some 300 years ago that the Campbells were sent with orders from the English King William to “fall upon the rebels, the MacDonalds of Glencoe, and to put all to the sword under 70!”. The MacDonalds were thereby betrayed and murdered in the stark but beautiful dales of Glencoe. newfamilysearchnow​.net new family search

Scotland manages to retain a distinct identity despite its deep immersion in the United Kingdom, much of which is due to the instant association that belonging to a clan provides. The Highland Clearances of the nineteenth century, when landlords decided sheep rather than people should occupy the wild northern reaches of the country, sent Scots all over the world: thousands to Canada, New Zealand, America and Australia. 90 million people have Scots ancestry. But clan connections — the heritage in names like MacLeod, MacKenzie and MacDonald — bring them all back and allow them to trace themselves to a place and a measure of identity.

I’m not a Scot, but my wife’s mob hails from Scotland. She’s of the clan Robertson, which means she automatically qualifies for a couple of regions in Scotland with which to identify, plus a coat of arms and, best of all, a clan tartan. It also means distant relatives to visit, like Struan and Rhoda, in the far north of Scotland. It was while studying Struan’s meticulously recorded ancestral tree, carefully handwritten over multiple pages and taped together into a one-metre-long map of generations, that I realised a PC and a Net connection are the ideal tools for growing the proverbial family tree.

Computer resources for genealogy fall roughly into two categories: programs that help you organise the information you’ve gleaned already, connecting text with photos and reproductions of important documents, and Net sites that help you find that information in the first place. go to website new family search

In the software arena, the Brother’s Keeper program is popular. It’s Windows-based shareware (2.7MB; $US49 to register) that allows you to construct and print ancestral charts of up to six generations per page — just what Struan needs. It also allows you to attach images to people, and research sources to events.

Other programs are Ultimate Family Tree (www​.uftree​.com; $US30) and Family Tree Maker (www​.familytreemaker​.com; $US60), both available online. There is plenty of user feedback at the Genealogy Software Springboard (www​.gensoftsb​.com), a site built to assist what the American owners call genealogical “rooters”.

Rather than buy new software, you could make use of what you probably already have. A spreadsheet app is a simple way to organise information, and there is the potential to build a full-blown family history with a database program.

Top of the Web starting points would probably be Family History and Genealogy in South Australia (www.adelaide.net.au/~bazle) — you don’t have to live in the Festival State to benefit from Barry Leadbeater’s site that links to Web resources all over the country.

Most people know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints performs a lot of family history research, and you’ll find its new Family Search site at www​.familysearch​.org. It sports the International Genealogical Index, claimed as “the world’s largest collection of birth, christening and marriage information” — more than 320 million records.

Beginners should try the Internet Family History Association of Australia Genealogy Course — a bit of a mouthful, but 18 useful online lessons in genealogy, with topics such as “Using wills in family history research” and “I can’t find a death certificate”! (www.shoalhaven.net.au/~cathyd/ austmenu.html).

In the same vein is Convicts to Australia, “a guide to researching your convict ancestors” (carmen.murdoch. edu​.au/​c​o​m​m​u​n​i​t​y​/​d​p​s​/​c​o​n​victs). It’s years since it was taboo to admit a convict heritage, so get in there and take the Ultimate Convict Quiz while pursuing long-lost recidivist branches of the family.

And don’t forget Usenet. You’ll find antipodean discussions at soc.genealogy, australia+nz.

Bear in mind that following family connections back through time still involves good old-fashioned research with the help of a library or society. There is usually a small fee for this work, and it is important to be as specific as possible with your requests for information — as the South Australia State Archives say: “Do not send requests of the ‘Please find any information you have on any of the above names’ type”.

Most of Scotland’s tourist sites — museums, castles, monster-infested lochs — have a retail outlet tacked on the side, selling traditional Scottish souvenirs like authentic Loch Ness water, whisky-flavoured condoms (!) and freshly-culled haggis. Of course, there is also a staggering number of tartans to choose from, ready to buy as scarves, ties and kilts. With this brief survey of computer aids to the healthy family tree, I’ve put my name down to be considered as an honorary Robertson. Just as long as I don’t have to wear a skirt.

* Mark Stafford can be reached (occasionally) at unharmed@hotmail.com Stafford, Mark