DON'S FREEWARE CORNER -- AUG 2014
TREESEEK: A FAMILY TREE COMPATIBLE PROGRAM
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DON'S FREEWARE CORNER 2014-08
TREESEEK: A FAMILY TREE COMPATIBLE PROGRAM
©2014 Donald R. Snow
These notes are published in TAGGology, our Utah Valley
Technology and Genealogy Group (UVTAGG) monthly newsletter, and
are posted on http://uvtagg.org/classes/dons/dons-classes.html
where there may be updates, corrections, or additions.
TREESEEK
OVERVIEW
This month we discuss TREESEEK available from http://www.treeseek.com
. This is Matt Misbach's FamilySearch Family Tree
Compatible or Affiliate program. That means it has been
certified to work with Family Tree data. See https://familysearch.org/products/
for the list of currently certified FamilySearch Compatible
products. Here is a quote about TREESEEK from the
FamilySearch Compatible Products page https://familysearch.org/products/treeseek
and there is more information about it there.
"A fully automated service that creates unique high quality
genealogy charts from FamilySearch data. You specify the
starting person for your chart and we do the rest. No data
entry, no waiting, no high prices, and no GEDCOM files. Visit
our website to see all the types of charts we can create for
you."
TYPES OF CHARTS
This freeware program uses your FamilyTree data to generate
various charts and reports, so when you log on to the TREESEEK
website it asks you also to log on to your LDS or FamilySearch
account on FamilySearch. If you are doing this from home
and you have asked FamilySearch to remember your information,
your user name and password will be in the boxes so you can just
click on it without having to type it in again. In a
public place, such as a FHC or library, you wouldn't want to
have it remember your FamilySearch log in data there.
Since TREESEEK then knows your PID (Personal Identifier number)
it downloads your ancestors' data and shows you the following
list of charts you can create: 9 Generation Fan
Chart (color), 9 Generation Fan Chart (black & white), 7
Generation FamilySearch Fan, 4 Generation Photo, 5 Generation
Family Photo, 9 Generation Pedigree, 4 Generation Pedigree, Name
Cloud, Create a Chart From a GEDCOM File, Source Tracker (for US
Census and Vital Records data), and Solitaire (Family History
card games). Since this uses your Family Tree data, this
is an incentive to have that accurate so your charts will be
accurate. You can generate a chart for persons other than
yourself by entering their PID in the box, but the person must
be deceased or it won't be able to find their data. All
the charts can be downloaded as pdf's so they can be expanded to
view the words even when there are many names on it. The
fan pedigree charts are semi-circular. The other pedigree
charts are in standard format. The photo charts use photos
that have been selected as the primary ones on Family Tree, if
there are any. The 4 Generation Photo chart shows the
starting person on the left and ancestors on the right.
The 5 Generation Family Photo chart shows photos of starting
person's children and their spouses in the middle with photos of
the father's ancestors to the left and the mother's ancestors to
the right. This format is sometimes called the Bow Tie
format. The Name Cloud charts show all the surnames, or
male or female given names, with the font size of the name
proportional to the frequency that that name is used in your
ancestral lines, so the larger the name, the more often it
occurs in your ancestors. You can order hardcopy prints of
any chart from TreeSeek for a nominal fee, but all can be saved
as pdf's so you can expand, print, or project them for family
reunions, etc. To show them on your big-screen TV you can
use an inexpensive HDMI cable to connect your laptop to the
TV. These cables are available at computer stores, but are
usually much cheaper at online retailers.
AHNENTAFEL CHART
The data on your lines downloaded from FamilySearch is saved
temporarily in the browser on your computer. It can be
seen in the form of an Ahnentafel chart (German for pedigree
chart), a list-formatted pedigree chart where the numbering is
as on a traditional pedigree chart, i.e. the father's number is
twice the child's and mother's is twice the child's plus
1. To view this chart click on your log in name in the
upper right corner. On mine the later Ahnentafel numbers
don't seem to be in order. The format of this type chart
is more compact than a standard pedigree chart and has one row
for each ancestor. With this format it is easy to
recognize some things that need to be corrected or added in your
ancestors' data in Family Tree, things such as dates or
locations that have been left out or abbreviated and need to be
put in standard format. By clicking on the portrait icon
by your ancestor's name in the chart TREESEEK takes you to
Family Tree to correct these. This is very helpful to find
and correct some problems in your Family Tree data.
SOURCE TRACKER AND VITAL EVENTS CHARTS
The Source Tracker chart shows your ancestors up to Ahnentafel
Number 31 with the US Censuses that they should be in according
to their birth and death years. If there is a US Census
source for the person for that year, there is a check
mark. If there is no US Census source for that person for
that year, you see a magnifying glass there. As in the
Ahnentafel chart clicking on the portrait icon by the name takes
you to that person's record on Family Tree so you can look for
them in the appropriate census and include a source with a link
to it. At the top left of the Source Tracker chart is a
button labeled Vital Events. Clicking on this shows the
same individuals (Ahnentafel Numbers 1 - 31) with checks if
there is information in Family Tree for their Name, Gender,
Birth, Christening, Death, Burial, and at the end is the number
of Sources for that person. These reports are very helpful
and make it easy to find and do some editing that needs to be
done on your Family Tree data.
FAMILY HISTORY SOLITAIRE CARD GAMES
A recent addition to TREESEEK and still in beta is a set of card
games called Family History Solitaire. Each of these games
uses 52 cards which TREESEEK generates. The 4 card suits
are your ancestral lines starting from one of your grandparents
. Your grandparent is card number 1 and his parents are
cards numbers 2 and 3, etc., up to card number 13. The
numbers, your ancestors' names, and photos, as far as there are
any, are on the cards. The beginning game is the standard
face card Solitaire, only here you have to know which lines your
ancestors are in to be able to place the cards correctly.
You use your mouse to click on a card and drag-and-drop
it. The program won't allow you to make an incorrect card
move. It is fun and helps you learn your ancestral
lines. When you click View The Card Deck, you see the
entire deck of 52 cards that it has generated. This could
be saved as a pdf and printed on card stock for games for family
home evenings or family reunions. When you click on Play
Full Screen you see outline boxes of where the cards are to be
stacked, so you can place them more easily. When you hover
your mouse over the word Solitaire in the upper left corner, you
see several buttons, including one that says Select Game.
This shows you a list of about 60 different solitaire card games
in various categories that you can play using your Family
History cards. I will warn you now, these games are fun,
but addicting!
OTHER INFORMATION
In addition to using Family Tree data you can upload a GEDCOM to
the TREESEEK website and form these same reports. The
TREESEEK logo in the upper left corner always takes you back to
the home page from anywhere in the program and there is a Help
menu in the upper right corner which has lots of FAQ's
(Frequently Asked Questions). You can also get to the
FAQ's directly at https://treeseek.com/help
.
TREESEEK is a very helpful program for reports, editing your
Family Tree data, and even for interesting Family History card
games. It's all free, but you can have large wall-size
charts printed for a small fee.
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Return to Don's
Freeware Corner Page or Don's
Family History Class Notes Page .