I recently discovered Evidencia software (http://evidentiasoftware.com/). And I love it!
It's not another family tree software -- seriously, do we need another one of those? This is a place to record data from all of your sources and it helps you figure out if you have conflicting evidence, helps you analyze your evidence, see where you need to do additional research, and write your narratives.
Instead of a person being the focus, the document is the focus. For example, you can enter a census report as the source, make note of all the claims you can make based on the data, and link it to all of the people mentioned in the census that you're interested in, all in once place. It forces you to create a citation before you can make any claims (don't worry, there are templates!) so everything is evidence-based.
I admit, when I first downloaded the trial, I was a bit overwhelmed -- remember, I'm a newbie! There are fabulous how-to videos, but last night I attended a live Google hangout where we saw a demonstration from start to finish and could ask questions. I left feeling encouraged, but still a little tentative.
This morning, I woke up and delved into it. I started with a simple marriage certificate for my parents. I could not believe how much information was on that little certificate that I never paid attention to before. Next I did a census for my grandfather and discovered that his uncle was listed in the next household!
This level of examination may not be new to many of you, but I had never really scoured a census to glean all of the possible data from it, especially if there wasn't a place to put it in my genealogy software. This is so cool!
Once you have analyzed your evidence and feel that you can confidently draw a conclusion, you can sync the information with FamilySearch. And all of your data is saved in Dropbox so you don't have to worry about losing your hard work.
There's a lot this software can do, and a lot that is in the works. But already it has given me a sense of control over my research that I was lacking. And if you purchase before the end of the month, you can save $5!
Gotta run now...I've got military records to look for!
I've heard about this before but never tried it. I think this might be the perfect time! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I think it's usefulness and how you use it will depend on how long you've been doing genealogy and how well documented your research is already. But the software has helped me look at data from different sources and see where they agree -- or not! For example, the birthdate on my grandfather's draft card makes him one year older than he really was (21 instead of 20). Did he lie in order to qualify? Or did the registrar just make a mistake? Hmmm....
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