• Legacy Family Tree software – Contains a name list with advanced editing system; allows comprehensive import for other software, has a split screen feature that allows you to view two trees, and many other features.
• Roots Magic 4 software – Recommended by Heritage Quest Magazine; photos, sound bytes and video clips easy to add. comprehensive upload from other programs and numerous other excellent features.
• Family Tree Maker 2010 – Family tree maker is the number1 selling software and it has made several upgrades in this new version. It has enhanced integration with Ancestry.com and many other features.
• Family Atlas Genealogy Mapping software – This program allows you to map out exactly where your ancestors lived by importing data from your genealogy software. You can add text and pictures to maps. It is a great program.
• Quick Sheet Citing Online Historical Resources (pamphlet) These sheets provide a template to citing your historical sources. Sourcing is extremely important and this keeps it organized.
• Personal Historian Personal & Family History Writing Software = This program will assi you in writing personal histories, memoirs and biographies about any individual. It will help you publish your finished history to a printer.

All of these software programs are good programs and certainly the best way to organize data. If you are purchasing new software you might try downloading a trial version of these programs to see if they meet your personal needs.

Next, I will list a few books that have helped me tremendously in my ancestral search.

• Unpuzzling Your Past – This is a best selling guide to genealogy especially if you haven’t had any classes or instruction. It covers all the sources for your search and it even covers such things as handwriting from generations ago which is very useful.
• The Genealogy Proof Standard and The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual – Each of these books cover in detail what you need to know about the standard of proof. It is extremely important to obtain the correct proofs as you can’t necessarily accept what someone else has published online if they don’t publish their sources, and most people don’t.
• Red Book – This book is an excellent source that covers every state, county and town sources so you learn a lot of new information and you know exactly who to contact in any given state for records. This book has been tremendously useful to me.
• The Source – This book starts with the foundation of research with general references and clearly covers all your main sources of proof in detail, such as church records, court records, business, military, etc. It also covers people of various races. It is almost 1000 pages of useful information.

If you have any questions about any of the family trees I have posted please email be at genealogrus@gmail.com. I love to meet distant cousins.