Comments on: How to Use Evernote for Genealogical Research

By: Bill Odom

Bill Odom — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 14:08:02 +0000

Sir, I also do genealogy as a hobby and was looking for a method to organize all the support data that I accumulated, notes I have made to myself, emails to other either requesting information or supplying same, etc. you know the list. My question is as these are all separate documents does Evernote store a copy of the document or link to the original? Thanks and good hunting.

By: Jordan Jones

Jordan Jones — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:46:18 +0000

Hi Amie —

I used to use something called

The Master Genealogist: http://whollygenes.com/

which is a Windows-based product. It’s very powerful and has a lot of flexibility for including multiple alternate “facts.”

I am running the Mac OS now, and didn’t want to run it in a virtual machine, so I tried

MacFamily Tree: http://www.syniumsoftware.com/macfamilytree/

and

FamilyTree Maker: http://www.familytreemaker.com/

Both have better user interfaces than The Master Genealogist, but are less flexible that The Master Genealogist. Family Tree Maker is from Ancestry, and integrates with their website, if you use Ancestry.

I ended up settling on The Next Generation of Genealogy Software (TNG), which runs on a website that you maintain or pay someone to maintain, so it’s not for everyone:

TNG: http://lythgoes.net/genealogy/software.php

Hope that helps.

By: Jordan Jones

Jordan Jones — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:23:24 +0000

Hi Art –

I like Ancestry as well as many other sites, including FamilySearch, FindAGrave, and so on. By saving files into Evernote, I can see all the files I have in one place, they are searchable and taggable with one mechanism. Additionally, I can make notes about what I have found, and start to document and evaluate my sources in ways that I cannot do on those sites. I also have documents that I have scanned myself, family pictures, maps of the homestead, and on and on.

I don’t see Evernote as a competitor to Ancestry or something to use instead of it or any of its competitors, but as a helpful complement to those research sites.

It’s like writing a term paper: You need a library and many books, but you also need a notebook and some 3×5 cards that you can arrange to get your thoughts in order. Ancestry, Footnote, FamilySearch, WorldVitalRecords, and so on, are the library; Evernote is the notebook and note cards.

By: Jordan Jones

Jordan Jones — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 02:03:21 +0000

I agree. I mainly use tags, not so much notebooks, to organize and find genealogical data.

By: Amie

Amie — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 23:58:59 +0000

Hi Jordan,

What tool do you use to construct a graphical representation of your family tree? Thank you in advance for your help.

Amie

By: Art

Art — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 02:44:05 +0000

Don’t get me wrong, I love Evernote. However, ancestry.com does a better job of holding all these documents, AND it will search their records for your relatives. I have uploaded many pictures and death certificates to Ancestry. Meanwhile, they have found a ton more for me, along with their ability search for more. So while I like Evernote, and I share it with everyone, and I definitely think it is a good deal for health insurance fights (as that 9 Tips book explains), I do not think it is the best choice for geneaology because of what ancestry.com provides.

By: Lord Fish

Lord Fish — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 00:55:59 +0000

I too found Evernote to be an ideal solution for storing family archives, and then finding a person or event at a moment’s notice due to the powerful search capability.

By: Helen Brown

Helen Brown — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:09:22 +0000

I want to learn about my two (2) Grandmothers.

PARALEE ARNET Married to my Grandfather James Henry Lucy

Rachel Matilda Hurley Married to my Grandfather Joseph Hamilton Spears.

By: Evan

Evan — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 19:05:34 +0000

I’ve used Evernote for casual genealogical research for my own family. It fits the job well. Lots of little bits of information that are related in different kinds of ways. The tags are especially helpful!