Ancestry.com has introduced a new feature whereby they find all your ancestors. All I have to do is click a few highlighted boxes and presto, each generation unfolds. So instead of tediously jotting down names and dates and fathers and mothers etc., I can now hit keys on my keyboard in the right sequence and a new ancestor appears. This is a beta version of a new program. I’m not sure I like it or that it’s good for me. It certainly saves paper and notebooks but it is so impersonal and mechanical. By handwriting names and dates etc. I felt I was getting to know each ancestor a little bit, and I had to do a bit of thinking and digging to connect the dots.
My ancestor count has soared as a result of this new program. I was close to 8000 ancestors on my tree – now in just a few days of using the new program the count has soared to close to 9000. And I have to follow up on new names that have appeared in my sublist of immigrant ancestors. And the additional coats of arms – well I’m overwhelmed.
On the plus side, this feature – beta search for a glowing green symbol and tap the key – should in theory give me more time to search for the information I’m really interested in. The names and dates of birth and death are just the start. I want to know where when and how they lived, etc.
Could be lots of mistakes!