I just got the Family Tree Maker 2012 and it does import data from previous Family Tree Maker

[HeiressofBickworth]

5. Our goals are different

I don't care to widely distribute the results of my research. I'm going to do 4 books. One for my daughter, one for my sister who lives in Australia and has kids, one for my local library and one for the Seattle Public Library. The information I found in the US I worked for -- trips, many many Saturdays at the library, lots of letters and checks to vital statistics and other libraries, etc., before computers. But once I had a connection across the Atlantic, I used the research of others. I figure if i could find it, my unknown relatives can too. I've run a sample book on FTM and it's over 1,100 pages. So, double-sided, still a huge book. I may have to figure out how to separate families (although in the 1300's and 1400's there were lots of intermarriages) to make smaller books.

My question is how do I know when to stop?

I have a line of ancestors in London, Ontario. I went there for a family reunion some years ago. One of them was working on the family tree and we connected in 1830. I saw the old family homestead. Nice bunch of people; I had a great time.