Genealogy Software for Mac: Reunion 9 & Heredis

(Thanks to Genealogy Wise for the prompt)

Without the internet and software for managing huge database, genealogy wouldn’t be nearly as addictive as it is. I recently passed 10,000 individuals in my genealogy database, most of whom have some blood or marriage connection. It makes me want to dig deeper, to know their stories beyond what can be found on family trees, and in the census, and in birth and death certificates. There’s an awful lot in those documents alone.

So, 10,000 individuals! How do I keep it all sorted?

For a long time I used a French application called Heredis. It’s a very professional application that easily manages a lot of information, but I chose it for how it published the data to HTML for the web. I like the clean presentation, and I especially like the way it inserts a pedigree chart for each individual.  It easily manages private individuals, allows for witnesses, and multiple links for individuals for whom there is not a blood tie.  I like this feature to provide a link to servants and lodgers that might show up in the tree somewhere else, or that might provide an entry for someone else doing research. Heredis also offered the 3-D family tree long before other Mac apps, though I found it too slow and cumbersome to be of any use.

However, Heredis had some bugs in the app that altered data. Specifically, it would hang up when I was entering locations, and then insert “Mississippi” for birth locations when I restarted the app.  This is unacceptable, no matter how much I like the app.  Heredis isn’t supported well, with few updates and patches.  There used to be a Windows version, but that was discontinued in favor of the Mac OS X version.

I did some research and switched to Reunion 9 for Mac, which is the granddaddy of Mac genealogy apps. Again, publication for the web was the determining factor.  I like how Reunion manages related files, allowing me to publish all of my research, including PDFs of original census images, birth and death certificates, photos and other media for individuals and families. It’s the best filing system I’ve seen, very easy to use with drag and drop insertion on each individual or family card. The presentation is easy to navigate through family cards, showing parents, grandparents and children on the same screen.  I’m looking forward to playing with the web presentation as I learn to edit the CSS. Managing sources is easy, though some coaching on appropriate citation would be helpful. I’m also looking forward to using the iPhone version in a year or so when I finally break down and get one.

While Reunion allows for multiple parent links for an individual, in the case of stepchildren or adoptees, for example, I miss the links to individuals who are not members of the immediate family.  I feel like I could present a better picture of the household with Heredis.

I almost went with Mac Family Tree for the feature that allows you to see migration patterns using mapping software, but it wasn’t that easy to use, and again, I preferred the HTML presentation in Reunion. I’ve watched Mac Family Tree develop since it was first linked to the Mac OS X download site. The software developers add impressive new features with every release.  We’ll see where it goes, but even with .ged files, switching apps is such a pain.

I’m still switching from Heredis because I’ll start to correct links and end up following a line and adding census images and gravestones and photos and anything else I find. Here’s hoping Reunion 10 keeps up with Mac Family Tree.