If you're an old-timer at genealogy but new to computers, the transition to Internet genealogy can be a bit confusing and overwhelming.

In an article in Ancestry.com's online magazine last week, the author wrote: "The Internet hasn't changed genealogy ... it's just changed the way we do things." The emphasis of the article was on obtaining correct data and citing sources.

There is so much genealogy information on the Internet that it is almost overwhelming at times. (You just have to remember, some of that information may be erroneous. I can't stress that enough.)

Most of the information in the online family trees (pedigrees) is submitted by GEDCOM, a word I threw at you a few weeks ago. If you intend to share your information with anyone, be it commercial Web site or individual researcher, you will need to be able to send and receive GEDCOMs. And you must have some kind of genealogy program with GEDCOM capability in order to do that. Bite the bullet and buy one ... it's well worth the investment.

What exactly is a GEDCOM? This is what Rootsweb says in a link on its home page:

"GEDCOM is an acronym for GEnealogical Data COMmunications. It is a file format developed by the Family History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It provides a flexible and uniform format for exchanging computerized genealogical data, and allows you to share files with other researchers who may not use the same genealogy program (Family Tree Maker, PAF, etc.) that you do."

What exporting your family file as a GEDCOM does is change it into computer gobbledygook that another genealogy program can read. When you import it, the information is unscrambled and goes into your program as readable text. If you saw a GEDCOM in its raw format, you would know, as I do, that it's just pure-dee magic. There's no other word for it.

The first GEDCOM I did was one out of necessity ... and I sent it to myself. After I bought my first genealogy program, Family TreeMaker, I spent months entering my family information into it and soon had nearly 2000 people in the file. But I soon discovered that I couldn't do a file format that was the most popular one for exchanging information. That was the "Register Report."

This lists descendants of one particular person by generations, coming forward in time. That is, all the people in the first generation and their children, all in the second (their grandchildren and their children), etc., all the way to the present. It also included notes on each person, which greatly added to the information on that individual.

FTM wouldn't allow me to do an "Ahnentafel Report" either. That is sort of a Register Report in reverse. It lists persons in the present time (or as far forward in time as you wish) and goes backward in time, again listing all persons by generations.

I discovered the reason I couldn't do those formats was because my genealogy program was out of date (yeah ... and after only a few months, too. I wasn't very happy.) My version was 3.02 for the Mac. Everybody else was using version 6.0+ for Windows. Much to my dismay, when I went to FTM's web site, I discovered there would be no upgrades because they had discontinued making Mac versions. (Now I really wasn't happy.)

So what was I to do with all this information I had put into my program? Simple. I bought another genealogy program (Reunion for the Mac, manufactured by Leister Productions), exported the information from FTM as a GEDCOM, and imported it into Reunion. With the exception of a few notes, everything fell into place. The notes were there, just not in the "notes" box. Boy! Was I relieved!

Now I am happily doing all kinds of formats, including the Register Report and Ahnentafels, and have all kinds of format capabilities. Entering the information is not quite as easy to understand as FTM was, but after you get used to it, it's great. I learned I can send a "partial" GEDCOM just by "marking" those people I want to include. Reunion also adds the age of a person when certain events took place.

That's kind of neat too. "... in 1866 when William was 17, he married ..." and "William died in 1919 in Hightower, Ala. He was 70." I had never given much thought to ages before, but now some became important. Why did my great-grandmother die when she was only 39? Information like this can send you on a whole new quest.

If you think you might like to have this program instead of FTM, there is a version for Windows called "Generations" manufactured by Sierra. It is basically the same as Reunion, as one of my new-found cousins and I have discovered. We talk on the phone and explore our twin programs at the same time ... she on a PC and I on a Mac. Whatever program you decide to get, explore it thoroughly. Pull down all those little menus at the top and discover what all you can do.

What prompted this column was an e-mail from a researcher who had been doing genealogy for more than 30 years ... but who had just gotten her computer. She had made contact with relatives who wanted her to send a GEDCOM. She wrote me in a panic ... "What the heck is that?" I hope I've answered her question ... and kept you from panicking about the same thing. I told you we would learn together.

I'm still looking for information on your south metro folks ... any families who settled on the south side of Atlanta at any time ... or for any length of time. This includes Fayette, Coweta, Campbell, Clayton, Henry, Carroll, South Fulton, etc. We want to know where they came from and where they went. Send mail to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; E-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com. Until next week, happy hunting!

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