Spotlight on ChArtistFamily

Family ChArtist is a new, user-friendly web based program that will assist you in creating beautiful, personalized genealogy charts based on information either from your own genealogy computer files or from the New FamilySearch database. The website offers beautiful high quality graphics in modern, classic and colorful patterns, as well the ability to add as many of your own pictures as you would like. First time users can create beautiful charts in just a few minutes without the purchase, installation or advanced training of
other design software programs, online databases and file formats.
Create an 8.5 x 11 color print free of charge, or try your hand at a
larger, frameable archival print which can be printed for a nominal
fee. As with all Generation Maps charts, extra copies are always HALF PRICE. Order copies of your chart as meaningful gifts for your children and other family members.

Family ChArtist has been designed with each customer in mind. You are the artist. With beautiful graphics and embellishments it is easy to create something personalized for your family. You choose the layout, information to be included, size, paper, color, pictures, borders, backgrounds and artistic design. Each chart is a direct expression of your individuality. “I think the best feature of this new program is the wide range of wonderful graphics,” says Kim Hovorka, CEO of Generation Maps. “We have chosen modern, classic, colorful graphics that can be used to beautify and enhance your chart. Images include a wide range of religious and patriotic symbols, LDS temples, flags, classic, modern and vintage embellishments and backgrounds. Users can even upload their own pictures, scans of documents or other images to decorate their charts.”

Free Offer for Scrapbooks and Albums.

With Family ChArtist, you can create an 8.5 X 11 chart free of charge and save it to your computer to print whenever you choose. If you decide you want to print a larger size for your home, just order from the same menu and your chart will be printed and shipped to you promptly. Whether you are decorating your home, creating a family book, looking for a special gift for someone you love, or bringing your heritage to life for a family gathering, Family ChArtist will help you fashion a beautiful expression of your family’s history for your surroundings.

15 % Discount for Ohana Insight Readers

Christmas is right around the corner and what better time to share you family history and photos with family members. If you are looking for a perfect gift. Generation Maps has the solution. They have even given us a special discount to share with you. Enter the code “ohanachristmas” at checkout and you will get a 15% discount.

This is Your Chance for a Happy Dance!!

I did my “Happy Dance” when I used GenealogyBank for the first time the other day. I have a picture of my grandfather and great grandfather in a team photo of a baseball team with the name Vincent-Notts on the front of their uniforms. It is a large impressive picture and I have had it for about 15 years. I had searched the Internet and historical websites for any reference to this baseball team. I had previously had no luck in finding any information other than the fact that Vincent-Notts was a store in Salt Lake City in the early 1900′s. It was one of those photos that I wanted to know more about. My dad said his nickname came from a pitcher on his dad’s baseball team but he didn’t know any more than that. My grandfather was not in uniform and looked like he might be the manager of the team.

Well, I thought, “This will be a good test of what is possible on the Genealogy Bank website”. I plugged in my grandfather’s surname and the extra word Notts. I clicked on Search. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were 3 articles on the Vincent-Notts baseball team. I tried a few other combinations and found many more articles. Not many had my grandfather’s name in them but a few did. I then discovered that he had been on another baseball team before this that my grandfather did indeed manage and they were called the Perfectos. I was on a roll and learning lots more about my grandfather and great grandfather from other articles I found. They were in various musical bands and involved a little in politics. I even found a large news photo of one of the bands with the members labeled. There were 4 family members in the photo. I only had a little time to spend with my searching that day but learned a great deal. I can’t wait to go back and search other family names to see what comes up.

Find your Ancestors in the Newspapers and Enjoy 75% OFF exclusively to Ohana Software Customers

Featuring more than 4,400 U.S. newspapers, over 1 billion names from all 50 states, GenealogyBank is the most extensive historical online newspaper archive designed specifically for family history research. By providing access to rare and hard-to-find newspapers from 1690 to the present day, GenealogyBank gives researchers the opportunity to discover unique, long-forgotten information about their American ancestors.

In addition to nearly 700 million articles — each of which can be printed and preserved for your family heritage — GenealogyBank also offers over 32 million modern obituaries, more than 87 million death records, over 253,000 reports including military lists, pension requests and the largest collection of U.S. serial set documents online.

And with an “Exclusive 75% Off” for Ohana Software Customers, there’s never been a better time to explore your family history at GenealogyBank! Start Now. Don’t delay, this offer expires Sept. 30th, 2010.

Loving Laughter

I enjoyed the Legacy newsletter article from June 25, 2010 called “Genealogy Scream and Happy Dance”. I am sure you have seen, heard or done the Genealogy Scream, which comes from either joy or frustration. I hope you have all participated in a happy dance or two. If you haven’t, then you are either very new to family history or you are far too reserved! I have been fortunate to have had many wonderful experiences that culminated in a happy dance, loving laughter, and grateful tears while researching my family. For me, one of these marvelous moments came from the pages of a county history. The following story is about my second great grandparents. “. . . Not the least romantic of the earlier scenes of pioneer life was what befell St. Amand. In one of his journeys to Detroit for provisions (for be it known what little money a man brought here was soon used up in that way), on his return, when on the Saginaw turnpike, near Springfield, he found a carriage broken down; a gentleman and lady were there,–father and daughter; the lady appeared to be in distress, the gentleman taking things easy as was his wont. But the chivalric feelings of St. Amand could not be restrained, especially as he gazed on the young form and saw the youth and beauty, with the intelligence and sparkling eye of a damsel in distress, and quick as thought he was upon his feet, rendering such assistance as was required to repair damages and see the travelers on their way to Pontiac. St. Amand could at that time speak but a few words of English, but a look of gratitude and admiration beamed in tender eyes, and St. Amand felt the dart of love piercing his heart, as moving his hand he bade the damsel adieu, and exclaimed, ‘au revoir.’ It was indeed with them ‘au revoir,’ for the attachment formed on that then romantic and forest road soon culminated, and Augustus St. Amand became the husband of Caroline Le Roy.” [ History of Genesee County Michigan: with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers (Philadelphia: Evers & Abbott, 1879), 211-212 ] I was so tickled that I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry so I did a bit of both. Yes, some people stared; others smiled knowingly. I wanted to jump up and read it aloud to everyone in the vicinity but I restrained myself. THIS is what family history should be about. I hope that we will all allow ourselves to take joy in the moment of discovery and do a happy dance or genealogy scream, no matter WHERE we may be. ~Cina Johnson~

Separate — My Wake up Call

I had a chance to go to the National Genealogical Society Conference in Salt Lake City. It was during this conference that I realized two things. First, not very many people know about the separate function in FamilyInsight. And second, there is a much bigger need for it than I thought.

When I asked people if they had seen and tried to separate an incorrectly combined record using the new FamilySearch website, I found myself getting the same response over and over. First they would stop and over-agreeably nod their head. Then, they would begin explaining their long and painful experiences with the online separation process. The most common phrases were, “I spent 3 hours”, “it took all night” or “then someone recombined them again”. After hearing these stories over and over, I realized how much I took the separate function for granted.

For that reason, I’m going to take a minute to tell you about incorrectly combined records, show how the separate function works, and tell why it decreases the chances of someone coming along and recombining the wrong people a second time.

~What is an incorrectly combined person? ~

I, personally, like to call incorrectly combined records “I am my own grandpa” records. They are created when someone on new FamilySearch hasn’t been paying attention to detail. For example, if grandpa is named John R Vance and his grandson is also named John Vance, they may look at the names and decide to match them (even though they have birthdays that are very different). You’d be surprised by what records have been combined together. Sometimes the only similarities are a birth year or death date. Which is why it is so important to look at all the information before matching records up yourself. As a rule of thumb, Don’t match if you have any doubts.

~What can I do about them? ~

We know how incorrectly combined individuals are created, now lets talk about how to fix them. First, you can go onto the new.familysearch.org website directly and select “view combined records” and select the check box next to each mismatched record. Five records will show on a each page with their checkbox.
However, this option requires either a huge screen, a large amount scrolling, and looking through pages of combined records in order to find the mismatched ones.

The less tedious option is to open FamilyInsight in the “Full Synchronization” mode. Do a search on the similar person from your file. When you see the incorrectly combined individual come up as a potential match from new FamilySearch, just click on the “Separate” button.

This will then open up a new Separate window with all of the information for all the records that have been combined to form this individual. Instead of organizing it by each record, FamilyInsight will organize it by various names, birth dates and other events information. This allows you to select a birth date that doesn’t belong and move all the records that have that birth date to a second individual. So, if there are 20 records for your great grandma who’s birth date was Oct 2nd 1889 and 50 records for your grandma who was born in April 1907, you can separate out all 20 great grandmother records by selecting the blue arrow next to her birthday.

You can also move records back and forth until you feel like you have things cleaned up. Then, just click “OK” to make the changes happen. Everything you do with the FamilyInsight Separate function will be
reflected on the new FamilySearch website as well. Each of the newly separated persons will be combined into their own new record on new FamilySearch.

~How to I stop people from re-combining? ~

That brings me to my last point. I’ve had a couple of people ask me if our separate function will keep people from recombining records. My answer is both No and Yes. No, because new FamilySearch is built
so that things can be continuously edited, changed and combined, which means you can’t block someone else from making changes. On the other hand I say “Yes”, because the Separate function helps ensure a more complete and correct separation. For example, if there are 20 Johns and 15 Johans that have been combined incorrectly and you go onto the new FamilySearch website and find 14 of the 15 records with the name Johan. The one record you missed can make it so the 14 you just separated still show up as potential duplicates to be combined. So, the moral of the story is, the more thorough and correct your separation the more likely it will stay separated.

~Andrea Schnakenburg~

Change is a Part of Life

My 87 year old mother is wise. She recognizes that change is a part of life and when it is time to move on to a new phase in life, she just does it!  Her pro-active attitude shows up at its best when it comes to her living situation. Seven years ago she sold her home and moved to a town home. She was a giddy as a kid at Christmas as she embraced making new friends and townhome living. Last year she announced to us that she was going to move into an assisted living center! Once again, she was happy with the change
because it suits her needs at this new stage in her life. She remains active and connected to her friends and community but she can receive help when and if it is needed.
So what does that have to do to with FamilyInsight, and family history? As I said, my mom is wise and recognizes that change is part of life. Family history has plodded along for about 100 years with some minor changes in methods, material, and every person working from scratch on their own family lines.
When computers and the Internet entered the picture, changes snowballed. Not only are there new ways for accessing research materials and recording our family information but there is now a spirit of SHARING and collaboration that is miraculous. The FamilySearch family tree (new FamilySearch) even facilitates collaboration. Cooperation is here to stay.

Ohana Software, looked at the changes and asked, “How can we embrace these changes?” Of course, we developed FamilyInsight as a certified program to work with the FamilySearch family tree but that wasn’t enough. The owners decided they wanted to embrace the spirit of cooperation as our company’s business plan.  For starters, almost 2 years ago, we changed the name of our product from PAF Insight to FamilyInsight. People who didn’t use PAF could use FamilyInsight with a GEDCOM file from almost any genealogy software program. That opened the pathway for us to create a Macintosh version of our program to help Mac users connect their family history to the new Family Search.

NEWS FLASH!! We are announcing our latest MAJOR update. You may now use PAF and Family Tree Maker 2010, 2011 and Ancestral Quest 12 files with FamilyInsight without the need of a GEDCOM file.  RootsMagic users can join us in beta testing FamilyInsight for that program. Legacy users, please don’t lose heart, the ability to read a Legacy file is under development. We hope to develop the ability to work  with other programs, too. If you are interested in helping us with our beta testing, please send an email to beta@ohanasoftware.com telling us which program you use and would like to help test with.
To use these additional program files in FamilyInsight, you will simply open FamilyInsight from the desktop icon and select your Family Tree Maker (.ftm), Ancestral Quest (.aq), RootsMagic (.rmg) or Legacy (.fbd) file. Remember, no GEDCOM is needed!  The gift of choice is now yours. You may continue using PAF and FamilyInsight but if you choose to try other software programs FamilyInsight will be able to read their files without creating a GEDCOM.

Because of the relationship we have with these other companies we can now offer you their products bundled with FamilyInsight at a discount.  We currently sell Family Tree Maker 2011 , Ancestral Quest 12, RootsMagic 4 and Legacy 7 on our website. Look for our bundles and save! Change is GREAT!

~Cina Johnson~

Recent Changes to the new FamilySearch website

You may not notice the changes right off when you visit
their website, but underneath it all there will be big
changes. The way that affiliate programs access the new
FamilySearch website has changes. Unfortunately this
means that older versions of FamilyInsight and other
affiliate products will no longer work with new
FamilySearch. This will affect all of the original FamilySearch
certified software products. In short we needed to rework
part of our program to work with the new changes to the new
FamilySearch website.

Because of these changes it will be necessary to install
the latest version of FamilyInsight in order to continue to interface
with the new FamilySearch website. This happened once
before on the old FamilySearch website as early users of
PAF Insight might remember. Try as we might to get the word
out to all of our customers, there will be many that do not
know what is happening and get frustrated when their
program stops working.

You can really help us by telling your family history
loving friends to update to the next version of
FamilyInsight so they can avoid problems connecting. They
may not receive this announcement so speak up. We want this
transition to be as smooth as possible for everyone.

You can update by going directly to our website download page
and installing from there.

www.ohanasoftware.com/download

Programs on our website that you will need to update are

• FamilyInsight
• Ordinance Tracker
• Get My Ancestors
• Charting Companion for FamilySearch

When you do update, be sure that the new version of
FamilyInsight or other program is allowed access through your firewall by adding it to the exceptions list of your firewall program.

Thanks for all of your help and cooperation as we work
together to speed up family history work.

~Paula Vilburn~

Skype and other New Fangled Technology ~ How does this apply to me?

How does this apply to me?

My friends think I am a real techie and maybe I am a little
more into technology than most people my age, but I think
it comes by osmosis from my husband, John, and out of
necessity.

I have to agree that some of the new advances on the
Internet seemed a little more than I wanted to be involved
with until I started seeing the possibilities. As I
mentioned last month, we had our grand children stay with
us for several months this last year. During that time,
Skype became a fixture in our household. It was the way our
grandchildren kept in touch with their parents in Japan. I
had used it a few times before but it was always something
that someone else had started and I joined in.

In our case this last year, the cost of daily hour long
phone calls to Japan would have been prohibitive. Skype
made communication affordable (FREE) and with the added
bonus of a visual communication as well as audio. My son
and daughter-in-law could read bedtime stories to their
little ones and listen to how the day had gone. My daughter-
in-law was able to see her children and know that
everything was okay. Not just take our word for it. Most of
us have gotten used to email and the rapid response we can
receive from our letters to others. We used e-mail but the
kids quickly made it clear that they would rather talk to
their mom and dad, than sit down and try to write an email
with everything they wanted to say. It was much faster to
talk and the little artist in the family could show her mom
pictures that she had drawn for her without the cost or
time of snail mail. Skype has family history possibilities
too because you can easily keep in contact with relatives
and interview them about their history without actually
being there.

With that, I would also like to say that letters have not
lost their purpose and place in life. Regular snail mail
letters did take place during my grand-kids stay and I
think that a personal touch will always be needed and
appreciated by most.

A couple months back, my daughters introduced me to
Facebook and Twitter. This seemed like a frivolous waste of
time at first, but I have found value in this new means of
communication. If kept in perspective it has great value as
a communications tool to contact and locate others that you
may not have had contact with for a very long time. I have
recently connected friends from high school and college
that I probably never would have connected with again were
it not for Facebook. It was fun and enlightening. I have
connected with distant relatives that I had previously
connected with by letters or email to do research. Now they
have a face and I have learned a little more about them.

We even started an Ohana Software fan page on Facebook at
the beginning of this year. We thought it would be a fun
way to interact with our customers and for customers to
interact with each other. The best way to learn is by
sharing our knowledge among ourselves and everyone is
welcome to come and join our online community and
discussions.

~Paula Vilburn~

Family History Expos Fun

Family History Expos are a great way to get your feet wet with a  family history experience or for the experienced genealogist to learn new things and expand their horizons.  We are on our way to the Mesa Arizona Family History Expo and it is sure to be a success for all who attend.  We look forward to getting together with others who enjoy family history and to see what is new and  signs of what is coming in the future.

This time Betty Pearson will be there with her friend to join us.  She was the winner of the 2 free tickets from our previous contest.  I am not sure if she has ever attended a family history conference like this before but I am sure she will enjoy it.  We look forward to meeting her there at our booth.

We again want to share this experience with one of our customers or future customers.  We are giving away 2 free tickets to the next Family History Expo that will be held February 26-27th in St. George, Utah.  So if you are not able to attend the Mesa conference or even if you are coming to Mesa but would like to come to St. George too, we invite you to enter this new contest for tickets to St. George.  The contest has started and is going through midnight (St. George time) Feb 15th.

There are several ways that you can enter this contest.

• Submit a success story on using FamilyInsight or Ordinance Tracker to success@ohanasoftware.com.
• If you have a blog, blog about FamilyInsight or Ordinance Tracker and send us a link to your blog so that we can follow you too. Send the link to support@ohanasoftware.com
• Become a fan of Ohana Software on Facebook and add a comment to the Ohana Software.

discussion “I want to go to the St George Family History Expo”.

• Visit the Ohana Software website and go to the purchase page and choose “Enter to win tickets to St. George Family History Expo.” Continue as if you were purchasing something so it is attached to your registration in our records. (only one entry per person may be done using the order page).

Holly Hansen and her crew do a wonderful job with these conferences and deserve a round of applause.  They are constantly adding new venues, so keep a look out for one in your area.  See her current calendar for this years conferences and events.

Hope to see you in Mesa or St George or an Expo in the future.

~ Paula

Friendship – an Investment of Time

Christmas cards remind of how may friends we have and friends are one of life’s best gifts. Years can pass without seeing a dear friend but within minutes of being reunited the years are erased and the bonds are as strong as ever. Most friendships develop over years as you create a history together but others happen quickly, especially when you render service to each other or work together. When you invest time with each other you grow to understand one another and friendship deepens.

Much of the same thing happens when we do family history. As we invest time, energy, thought and prayer into our researching process, we can feel bonds of friendship with ancestors that we have never met. When I find an ancestor quickly I often have a hard time remembering the details of their lives but the people I struggle to find are indelibly etched into my mind. For me, it is like spending time savoring a good meal at the dinner table rather than gulping down something from a drive through window at a fast food restaurant. The investment of time seems to be a key.

Family history is more than a race to gather as many names as quickly as possible; it is turning your heart to individuals, people, family. It is a process of loving them and learning from them. It is developing a personal relationship with them. Have you ever read a diary and drawn closer to a great grand parent because you discovered you have similar personality traits or experiences? Have you ever heard a story about an ancestor that has inspired your or given you the courage to face your challenges and trials? Perhaps you have an ancestor whose life you are not proud of BUT whose actions helps you to avoid similar mistakes. We can learn from these people we are related to IF we will invest the time

I would encourage you to spend more time with your individual ancestors this year. Why not take an inventory of your family and see what you know from memory. How many direct line generations can you list – your parents, grandparents, great grandparents or beyond? Do you know both your matriarchal and patriarchal lines? Do you have pictures of your ancestors? Would you recognize their picture if you saw it on the Internet? Do you know something about each of those people? Do you know their occupation, where they lived, the number of children they had? Of those children, do you how many of them lived to adulthood and how many children died as children? Why did they emigrate? As you test yourself you may be pleased with what you know and feel that your heart has been turned to them because you KNOW them. If you didn’t do very well, it may be time to get to know them better

I know I’m repeating myself but family history really is more than a race to gather as many names as quickly as possible; it is turning your heart to these people who are a part of you. By understanding them you may better understand yourself. If you will spend time getting to know your progenitors you will be blessed.

Happy New Year!

~Cina Johnson~

I Want to Win 2 FREE Tickets to the St. George Family History Expo

Ohana Software has another 2 tickets to give away for the St. George Family History Expo presented by Family History Expos.  The Expo will be at the St.  George Utah Convention Center on February 26-27, 2010.  The theme is Let Your Light Shine!

Family History Expos are a fun way to learn about Family History research and technology and connect with others who enjoy tracing their roots.  If you have not experienced a Family History Expo, it is an experience you should really try to have.  It is fun and exciting and full of the spirit of that adventure of finding that long lost link to the past.  Who knows you might even find a link to the present and meet  a new cousin you did not know about.

There are several ways that you can enter this contest.

• Submit a success story on using FamilyInsight or Ordinance Tracker to success@ohanasoftware.com.
• If you have a blog, blog about FamilyInsight or Ordinance Tracker and send us a link to your blog so that we can follow you too. Send the link to support@ohanasoftware.com
• Become a fan Ohana Software on Facebook and add a comment to the Ohana Software discussion “I want to go to the St George Family History Expo”.  Explore the other discussions while you are there. You may have that something to add that someone else has been desperately searching for.
• Visit the Ohana Software website and go to the purchase page and choose “Enter to win tickets to St. George Family History Expo.” Continue as if you were purchasing something so it is attached to your registration in our records. (only one entry per person may be done using the order page).

We hope to see you in St. George, whether you win the 2 free tickets or just decide that adventure and knowledge are waiting for you in St. George.

Aloha,

Ohana Software