Want a Great Genealogy Program for Free!

Do you want a wonderful free genealogy program that allows you to search through over 900 databases for relatives? I would recommend My Heritage Family Tree. I already really liked this site, but recently it merged with Gen Circles and Family Tree Legends and by doing so added new levels of access and research. I like and use all three sites for my research, and have found that the free family tree download from My Heritage to be superior to anything else I've tried.

After you've downloaded the tree you can either upload an already previously compiled family tree from Ancestry.com or you can begin by entering your own files. I know that My Heritage works well with uploads in the GEDCOM format. I already did extensive research on my Ancestry.com site and so I downloaded that GEDCOM file into My Heritage Family Tree Builder and than I was ready do some further research. My Heritage has some really great connections to other sites and their data bases and also to a number of totally free sites, like Roots Web. It also has links to some sites that offer a reasonable subscription rate.

As a result of using their software and the links that they provided I was able to expand my research for certain individuals quite a lot. After you download data and add in other data as you obtain it, the program saves your information into your tree and than offers you the option of "publishing" your tree to its website. If you decide to do that than you will be given a subscription choice which will include the basic free option and various paid plans. I started with the free plan and now am subscribed to their 2nd tier plan.

Another thing I really like is that My Heritage has adopted and improved the matching software used on the Gen Circles web site. This matching software is similar to matching software used by Ancestry.com but I believe that My Heritage has improved on the concept by allowing a review of all the matches from other family trees and the ability to compare those matches with your data. By doing this you can often tell if your data has any obvious problems.

Finally, I just totally love the programs many versatile features including the way that the family tree is displayed, the sidebar window with all of your ancestors listed (with an alphabetical sort option too!). After you download the program to your desktop (that's where I have mine located), you can put up several genealogy programs at one time and easily jump back and forth between them for easier fact checking.

The list of reports you can generate is pretty good and the variations of the charting view are impressive. I love the fact that when you move the cursor to one of the names on your list or on your chart, you can find out immediately if that person is related directly to you or to your wife. There's also plenty of room for adding in photos and various other enhancements to your ancestors view. There is also a

One last thing, I would recommend that you download the help manual for the program; it will probably make your life a bit easier. However, to be honest, I've had the program for months and just now got around to downloading the manual, so if you're familiar with windows you won't really need the manual to understand most of the options. Just like Ancestry.com, this program seems to be destined to become more and more popular.

I would rate the merger of the three companies as an AAA++++ improvement. So far the Gen Circle site and the Family Tree Legends continue to maintain their own sites. Hopefully the merger will benefit all three companies and we will see some more databases opened up to the general public for free.