Trace ancestor movements

Set up a places database to record your family history placenames

- Nick Peers

IT WILL TAKE 30 minutes

YOU WILL LEARN How to record places accurately in MacFamilyTree

YOU’LL NEED MacFamilyTree, macOS 10.13 or later

Geography plays a key role in family history. Were your ancestors globetrotters or did they spend their entire life within the confines of a single town? The more accurate your place data, the better able you are to trace your forebears’ journey and take advantage of MacFamilyTree’s mapping tools.

The way places are recorded in MacFamilyTree is influenced by the GEDCOM genealogical standard – see opposite for an explanation. While GEDCOM doesn’t allow you to set up specific buildings such as a home or church as a ‘Place’, you can get around this within MacFamilyTree to ensure your mapping tools are as accurate as possible.

When you have a street address, we recommend recording the house name or number and street with the town or city under the Place field – for example, ‘123, North Street, Anytown’. The step-by-step guides reveal how to record places from scratch, plus edit your existing Places database to work with your new system.

HOW TO Record placenames correctly

1 Record accurately

When you come to record an event for a person or family, click inside the Place field and the All Places dialog will pop up. If you’ve previously set up the place for a different event, select it from here for consistency.