Software Review of:
Kith and Kin Pro 

First, let me stress it is Shareware — that is, the author of the software decided to release it for trial use for 30 days to anyone that wants it. After that, you are expected to pay for it or to remove it from your computer. You are on your honor to do this and it is the proper thing to do since the author has invested a lot of time and trouble to produce the product. After all, fair is fair isn’t it?

Second, I am a rank beginner in using genealogy software and I beg your indulgence in any technical errors that I may make. I think I have the terminology down so — here goes.

The Spansoft people provided us with a CD-ROM with several programs on it. Among them are

• TreeDraw (a family tree program)
• Slide Librarian (store your slides in a logical order and be able to retrieve them as needed)
• Shop ‘Til You Drop (a program to organize your shopping trip).

Once I entered a few people into the program I had it show me the results of it and they were quite similar to the professional one used in the sample. The data requested was initially quite easy to find but the program has so much detail that I can see why it was the recipient of numerous awards.

For example, you can list the page number of any source document you have to verify the data and can tie that back into any other ancestors that you find later. The ability to verify when/where they came from means that you can more easily track the complexities found in most families. 

The program will automatically highlight related families and will allow you to add notes as needed to further help show relationships between them. Word of warning — we all have some royalty in our families and some scoundrels as well. You won’t know until you try.

One very valuable feature is an excellent help menu — needed because you get no manual with the program. I used it often!

I liked the fact that a historical time line can be tied to the family tree and shows what was happening in the rest of the world when an ancestor was born or died. When you get the registered version you get an editable utility (TimeGen) supplied with the program.

Folks, this is not a program stripped of useful features — just as one example, you have the capability of storing 2.1 billion of any one record type in any tree — and if you can find that many relatives, you are probably going to prove that Noah was a cousin, a few times removed.

Since you can tailor relationships as you need, you can print out reports showing linkages to a particular line of descent to show your relationship with one person in the family or you can print out the entire line if you choose. 

Interested in this worthwhile program? Well, go to the web site and order it. If you do you’ll receive a bonus of a serious discount on another group of programs. The cost, using the online ordering system using a credit card is $59 US. This is a great gift for someone as well so — if you have an interest in this type of research, please give serious consideration to Kith and Kin.