The Bigler Family

Category: Blog

  • Family.Show

    Most Family Historians we know use either Legacy or PAF as their family history/genealogy software of choice. While both of these programs do their jobs well, neither has really pushed the envelope of what can be done or how data is entered or presented. We’re not saying that’s a bad thing, but we’re not alone in our observations.

    The folks over at Vertigo have used Microsoft’s latest technologies to “re-write” how family history works – or at least how you input and view your data.

    imageThough the power of WPF (Microsoft’s new presentation engine) Family.Show has the ability to display your family tree in ways that you wouldn’t have imagined.

    The program can import your GEDCOM file.

  • Time marches ever onward

    Those of you familiar with this site will notice a significant change that we underwent today.

    We upgraded

    We upgraded from WordPress 2.1 to WordPress 2.6 (and applied the permalinks patch).

    We converted most of our information from pages to posts

    We did this for a few reasons; posts are easier to update and maintain than pages (in our experience), post are more quickly indexed in search engines (which will make your task of finding the information you need faster and easier), and we generally have more flexibility in adding content than we did before. Unfortunately, this also means that search engines and bookmarks that point to the old pages will now be redirected to the homepage, but from there you can use our search box (over there on the left) to quickly find what you’re looking for.

    We changed over our theme

    We really liked the old one, but it wasn’t compatible with WordPress 2.6, so this one seems to do what we need it to do without being overly “heavy” (again, the point here is to help you find what you’re looking for that much faster).

    We changed from categories to tags

    Tags are the new in-thing, and they work much better for what we’re trying to do. Categories, by definition, are hierarchical, so there has to be a rigid structure. This can be limiting in the way we arrange our information. Tags, on the other hand are, by definition, NON-hierarchical. This means we can add valuable meta-information to our articles and histories, without being shackled down to pre-established categories.

    Google Ads

    We had some Yahoo Ads running on the site before, that never paid off for us, so now we’ve switched over to Google Ads. Most of the feedback that we got from you (our readers) was that the Yahoo Ads either weren’t all that relevant to the article, or you just didn’t trust Yahoo as much as you do Google. You asked, we listened, and we now have Google Ads running in the sidebars and at the bottom of the page. If you see something you’re interested in feel free to click. This ultimately helps us to keep the site running.

    Health

    Ed health has been degrading over the last several months. Team that up with his new “job” helping people over the phone with getting up and running with their family histories, and, well, he doesn’t have a lot of extra time, and that which he does is precious to his family.

    Natalie and I are trying to help him compile the histories that he has for personal use first, and will likely then publish them here as well.

    Thank you for sticking with us and for all the thoughts and prayers for Ed!

    – Joe

  • Genealogy

    What is Genealogy?

    According to wikipedia:

    Genealogy is the study and tracing of family pedigrees. This involves the collection of the names of relatives, both living and deceased, and establishing the relationships among them based on primary, secondary and/or circumstantial evidence or documentation, thus building up a cohesive family tree. Genealogy (often misspelled “genealogy”) is often also referred to as family history, although these terms may be used distinctly: the former being the basic study of who is related to whom; the latter involving more “fleshing out” of the lives and personal histories of the individuals involved.

    What Surnames are in the Bigler Family Tree?

    • Bigler
    • Porter
    • Landis (Swiss)
    • Harley (Swiss)
    • Rinehart or Rinehard (Swiss)

    What Surnames are in the Dobson Family Tree?

    • Dobson
    • Neves

    Didn’t find what you’re looking for?

    Here are some links that may help you: