Family Tree Magazine (UK), September 1996

Excerpt from an article by Roydon Loveley

It was the attraction of using a computer to store and readily display large amounts of information that first got me interested in family history some 15 years ago. The ability to input some new scraps of information about my 6 times great-grandparents and quickly obtain a neat printout seems to me infinitely better than manual systems. I can get pedigree charts, descendant charts, family group reports in a standard format all neatly printed out at the press of a button. I can even insert pictures into my charts and scan old documents into the computer which I can then scale or rotate and insert into a document. Why do people persist in arguing that manual systems are better? There is no argument as far as I am concerned; a computer is essential and the only sensible way of recording information...

I use the Reunion program which I am very happy with.... I find it user friendly and robust. When I have had minor problems I send my queries as e-mail to program author Leister Productions in the USA via Compuserve and I get an answer within a day or so. Reunion is excellent for storing basic data such as dates and places of births, marriages and deaths. It also enables family relationships to be input and analysed in a systematic manner.