Tuesday's Tip – A Tool to Organize Your Evidence (Evidentia)

Editor's note: Today's post was written by Richard Hanson.

As we genealogists become better educated and more proficient in this hobby (or obsession), the importance of conclusions being based upon real evidence becomes obvious. We also discover that this is not as simple as it seems. We encounter conflicting or incomplete evidence. We have to evaluate the validity of each fact. We frequently must treat the available facts as clues leading us down a path that will, hopefully, lead to a conclusion. Or sometimes, multiple possible conclusions.

I recently discovered a software app, Evidentia, that may help in this process. It allows you to enter and organize your evidence, link evidence to conclusions and then generate reports documenting your effort. The goal is to help you be in compliance with the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS). Evidentia is not a replacement for your existing genealogical database software. Consider it a supplement for use in complex situations, with generated reports that can be pasted into your database's notes section.

The software is available for Windows, Macintosh and Linux. Its first version was released December 2012. Cost is $25 (download) or $29 (CD). There is also a free 30-day downloadable demo available.

I plan to download and try out the demo version on some of my more complex problems, then report my conclusions in a future blog.

If you have used Evidentia,

please post a comment about whether or not you found it useful.

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Mobile Monday – Wolfram Genealogy & History App

If you have a smart phone (iPhone or Android), iPad, or Nook, you may want to purchase this app. It is Wolfram Genealogy & History. This company makes many many apps, but this one is handy for genealogists. If for no other reason than the "Family Relations" feature, this is worth the $4.99. While any genealogy software worth its salt will have a relationship calculator, but that may be at home and this is on your phone that you can tell someone they are your second cousin, twice removed immediately.
I am not so sure that the "Historical Weather" section is of much value. I enjoyed the "Demographics" feature when it informed me that in the year 2010, Ireland had not recovered the population it had prior to the Potato Famine. And the "Historical Life Expectancy" is a help in trying to estimate the possible death date of an ancestor.

This is just a small sample of the many questions you can investigate about your ancestors:

• Were their names common at that time?
• What happened on their birthdays?
• What was the weather like on your grandparents' wedding day?
• What were the towns they lived in like, including demographics, and how far are they from where you live?
• What was 20 dollars worth the year your great-grandmother was born?
• What is the technical relationship between you and your grandfather's sister?

Some of the key features are: Family Relations, Names History, Notable Historical People, Historical Events, Date Calculators, Astrology, Weather…, Geographic Information, Financial Data, and Research Extras. Even the family tree created by "Family Relations," is helpful.

This is a screenshot of the usage of first names over time and a map of the path of a hurricane.

It is a fun app for family history people, give it try.

Posted by Ron Setzer