"Beech Hill Roots" book: Descendants of William and Elizabeth Ward, Nova Scotia

Beech Hill Roots is a set of 5 books recording the family tree for thousands of families, all of whom can trace their ancestry back to pioneers William and Elizabeth Ward who came to Nova Scotia, from Yorkshire in 1774. They settled at Beech Hill, south of Kentville, Kings County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Their descendants spread far and wide across Canada, the US and beyond.

Along with identifying the descendants of this couple, there are notes, pictures and an extensive index. Over 40 years of personal interviews by countless researchers and individual families who contributed. Publicly available and private collections were consulted.

Two hundred 5-volume sets were printed.

Who is in the book? This 5 volume set of books contains 2,776 pages and is not just for the Ward or Bishop families! At last count, there were 15,335 direct descendants in 11 generations. The final database numbered in excess of 30,000 individuals.

The 500 page Index (Book 5) is unique even in the genealogy world to allow more success in looking up names. Married women are listed twice, with their maiden and married surnames. Parents of spouses are shown. Special Appendices precede the index to provide additional, useful information, such as descriptive place name information and maps.

The Register format of Beech Hill Roots allows the reader to follow their roots back to the original family. William and Elizabeth (Flintoff) Ward who came to Beech Hill in 1774 with 18 month old Moses. New research reveals Elizabeth’s real name was Flintoff, not Grant as commonly assumed.

Beech Hill Roots leaves a legacy of family history from Kings County, Nova Scotia that spans the continent, especially for anyone having ancestry in Kings County. Generations to come may find links to their past before it is faded from memory.

Get your copy of Beech Hill Roots: USD $205 plus shipping.

The Open Source mirage

It seems to me there are a few types of Open Source Software (OSS) contributors.

1. The corporate employee whose employer uses OSS, and will gladly pay him/her a salary to contribute and enhance the software. Particularly to implement features required by the company. Ex: Red Hat; Linus Torvalds/TransMeta.
2. The consultant who gives away free software, but charges for consulting and customization (WiX), or an enhanced "professional" version.
3. The employee of a non-profit organization that receives donations (Electronic Frontier Foundation, Apache Foundation), or an academic paid by a university.
4. The hobbyist who toils at a boring day job, but who likes to tinker evenings and week-ends.
5. Government software funded by taxpayers (NIST; USGS).
6. A programmer or organization funded by KickStarter or Patreon.

The point is, everybody needs to earn a living one way or another. There is no free lunch™.

There are certain types of software that lend themselves well to an OSS project: programs that are universal and used by many people:

1. Operating Systems: Linux, FreeBSD.
2. Web browsers: FireFox.
3. Web servers: Apache.
4. Software development tools: GNU, GCC, Eclipse.
5. Common applications: Open Office word processing + spreadsheet; Gimp and InkScape graphics; TeX document formatting; Thunderbird email.
6. Emulators: Wine.
7. Genealogy: Gramps. (Very few people use it, consumers would rather pay for something simple to install and use).

Applications that are less "fun", on the other hand, do not attract volunteers. I once saw a disparaging comment in a forum attempting to create an open-source accounting package, "who would want to work on that boring stuff?".

Not everything is amenable to OSS. There are many applications where, if one were to publish code as OSS, the only people taking notice would be competitors who would steal the code, incorporate it into their rival apps, and never contribute anything in return.

Charting Companion shows Family Tree Maker 2017 colors in charts

The new 2017 edition of Family Tree Maker introduces exciting features, including the option to assign up to four colors to people in your family tree. You can color each branch of your ancestors, or lines of descendants, or by place of origin.

FTM 2017 was released last month.

Charting Companion fully supports the display of the FTM colors, in the Ancestor, Descendant, Hourglass, Bowtie, Fractal,  Dandelion and  Fan charts. Only Charting Companion can offer you complete display of your FTM colors.
 

FTM 2017 colors displayed in Charting Companion charts (click to enlarge)

The use of colors in FTM 2017 is limited only by your imagination. Use Charting Companion to display your FTM 2017 colors!

Trellis: the Chart With Everyone In It

One of the innovations Progeny has introduced to genealogy is the Trellis chart, "the chart with everyone in it".

The Trellis chart is a brand new way to tell the story of your family. It shows everyone in your family, in a way that no traditional box chart can do.

Based on research by a group of scientists, the Trellis is a diagonally-filled matrix, where rows are individuals and columns are nuclear families. Click here for more information.

The Trellis allows for interactive investigation of your family tree. With one click, you can highlight all the ancestors and descendants of an individual. Click a second person and you can see where their pedigrees intersect in a colorful display. Collapse the tree for a condensed view. Navigate up and down the tree with a simple click.

 

See review by DickEastman (registration required).  See video from original inventors of  Geneaquilts, on which Trellis is based.

Charting Companion with the Trellis is available for all genealogy programs. 

Get Charting Companion today and see your family in a Trellis! 

How to display the new Family Tree Colors in your charts

The new 2017 edition of Family Tree Maker introduces exciting features, including the option to assign up to four colors to people in your family tree. You can color each branch of your ancestors, or lines of descendants, or by place of origin.

FTM 2017 is undergoing final testing, and will be available soon. 

 

Charting Companion fully supports the display of the FTM colors, in the Ancestor, Descendant, Hourglass, Bowtie, Fractal, Dandelion and Fan charts. Only Charting Companion can offer you complete display of your FTM colors. 
 

Family Tree Maker colors displayed by Charting Companion (click to enlarge)

The use of colors in FTM 2017 is limited only by your imagination. Be ready with Charting Companion when FTM 2017 hits the street!