one tree to rule them all
As genealogists, we enjoy days filled with research and discovery. Our quests take us to distant archives and the far reaches of the internet. This searching can generate a wide variety of data and documents—so much, in fact, that managing, storing, and retaining all that data can become our biggest challenge.
The big genealogy companies make it extremely easy to build a family tree on their websites and add the data and digital documents we find. Though seemingly convenient, it’s not necessarily in our best interest or the best interest of our family history to do so. Cloud software offers another storage alternative, but this, too, has its drawbacks.
For one thing, we don’t control our data when we have another site or platform host our family tree. If the service closes, restructures, or is sold to a new owner, our data goes with them, not necessarily with us. We also don’t have unlimited access to our data or attached documents—if our paid subscription ends, so does our ability to view and download documents and photos.
Instead, we need to keep the
