Oh, what I wish I had known when I started collecting documents and photos! With thousands of files in my family history folder, I finally had to admit that after all that scanning and file sharing, I had no idea what I had, where it was from, and what information was included in each file. Enter Evidentia.
If I had started with this program I would have saved so much time and gleaned so much more from my sources. Using a printed copy of this Genealogy Research Process map, I am getting control over my files and my information.
Evidentia doesn't replace family history software, it works in conjunction with it, keeping track of your sources and the claims in each. Because it is source-oriented instead of person-oriented, it helps you to pull every bit of information from each source, evaluate it in light of other sources, come to conclusions, and attach it to the appropriate people. Once several sources are entered, you can evaluate each event in a person's life in light of the information provided and make a substantiated conclusion using the GPS (Genealogy Proof Standard). I've uploaded an example of a summary report from Evidentia for one of the ancestors in my tree. You can download a free trial for Windows or Mac (the trial is a full version of the software that expires 2 weeks after installation). The full version of the program is $29.99 as of this writing, which is a bargain for what it does.
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