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Saturday, May 30, 2015

KINDLE-ING GENEALOGY: THE FAMILYSEARCH TREE APP FOR KINDLE

I've been checking out the genealogy Apps available for my Kindle Fire HD at the
Amazon Store.  As I've mentioned on my previous posts about the Kindle, I'm on
a fixed income, so my motto for Amazon apps is "Free is GOOD". Unfortunately there
are not as many genealogy apps as there are game apps, but still, I was happy to find
there were two available from well known genealogy websites, Ancestry and FamilySearch.





This post will be about the FamilySearch app which is named Family Search Tree and
uses an icon of a green tree on a white background.

You can use the Family Tree app to build a tree on your Kindle, or, if you already have a
family tree started on the FamilySearch website, you can import it into the app. If you have
a large tree, this may take awhile.  I imported my tree, and saw this Pedigree chart screen
when it was done:




You can move further back on your Pedigree chart  using the up arrows over each ancestor's
box. The screen view is also expandable:



Tapping on an individual's box brings you to their "Person" screen where you can edit or
add information.





If you want to see the "Person" page for another of your ancestors on the Pedigree screen
you just came from, tap on the circular arrow in the upper right of the screen, and this will
appear:



If you want to see the "Person" page for an ancestor that was not on the Pedigree screen
you just viewed,  you can Search for them by tapping on the magnifying
glass icon. This is the screen that appears:





If you add more information to your family tree at the FamilySearch website, it will
synch with the FamilySearch Tree app whenever you start it up on your Kindle.

One of the useful features of the app is that you can see the first five generations on
you family tree even if you do not have an internet connection at the time. This means
you now have a visual aide while discussing the family history with relatives at family
gatherings.(They may not be as thrilled as we genealogists are by that. ) 

To me the only drawback to the Family Search Tree app is that the tree on the website is
a "shared" tree where people can edit or change the information you've entered on it, so
whenever you synch with the app those changes will be made to the tree on your Kindle.
Since I find dealing with mistakes people have made to information I entered frustrate me,
I haven't used the app as much as I would have liked to have done.

Other than that, I find the Family Search Tree app easy to use, and of course, it's FREE!

I'll discuss the Ancestry App in a later post.

 DISCLAIMER: I neither work for nor receive any compensation from Amazon 
or FamilySearch.

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