Saxon Family Genealogy
Please click the Image for a larger version.
Every good CD or DVD needs a DISCLAIMER - and this is mine!
I am not a Genealogist - I am primarily someone who enjoys playing around with computers. But many years ago (back in the late 1970s) I was playing with a TRS-80 computer and a friend developed a Genealogy program for it written in Basic! It was quite a good program and my Mother (Elizabeth M. Saxon née Francis) was very much interested in tracing her Tree, and peripherally in her husband's (Ken R.J.Saxon - youngest son of James Buller Saxon - youngest son of John Saxon Snr. who emigrated to NZ in 1853).
My Mother was enthusiastic but somewhat disorganised with her efforts, so I offered to 'Computerise' her trees and spent some time entering them into the TRS-80. Along the way I realised that this person was was married at age 7, or that person had their first child when aged 102, and similar things, and gradually began to find it interesting. But neither my Mother or I had much idea about documenting sources, collecting BMD certificates etc. Eventually the TRS-80 was replaced by an IBM PC compatible, and the guy who developed the program decided not to continue with development in the IBM world. So each record had to be retyped into some program that would produce and could use the universal GEDCOM file format. That was quite a downer and things languished for many years. It is only recently that my interest has been rekindled and with enormous help from my wife Betty - the major work has been done and I hope the trees are a good basis for further investigations. This CD will be issue #1 and if I am (hopefully) sent updates, corrections, additions, photos, videos, sound clips etc., issue #2 will follow when it seems worthwhile. We may even start a mailing list to let people know what is going on - or could probably continue using the family reunion list.
The Saxon tree includes over 2000 individuals and 680 families - instructions for viewing are included later. As a bonus I have included the original Gedcom files, numerous photographs, and Legacy Family tree software which can be used as a great navigation tool, picture viewer etc. I am not too sure how much of this will be usable by people using MAC computers, so I have added the tree in pdf and HTML formats, and if they use genealogy software they can probably use the GEDCOM Files also.
BUT! I know the tree is incorrect in many places and certainly incomplete. So I can assure you that the information probably will not harm your health (and hopefully not your computer). As usual with Genealogy - it is a lifelong process (no pun intended :-) and must be continually improved.
Finally - before we get into the mechanics of using the CD I really would like to thank some of the people (as well as my Mother) who have contributed so far:
Firstly my wife Betty who has done
90% of the hard work typing, scanning, and photography.
Then Linda
Burge for much of the information - particularly descendants of John Saxon Jnr.
Also Mike Jones from S.Wales who I met on the Somerset Genealogy mailing list,
and who found the owner of the 1633 family bible (Flyleaf above). Apparently the
owner was one John Saxon, and John's father was a Dr James Saxon born around 1685 (This
last date is pure guesswork on my
part based on his son's birth date). Mike also supplied many more distant
relatives from those left behind in U.K.
Finally my cousin Douglas Coombs who has
done a huge amount of very professional work tracing the history of the Von
Tunzelmann family who came into our branch of the Saxon family via our mutual
Grandmother.
(Note - the following paragraph will make much more sense when you have the CD, but is included here to give you an idea of what it is about - the links will not work from the web page).
So take courage and start checking it out. If you click HERE it should open a good little program called GedView which allows you to view and navigate the tree. It should open the Saxon Tree automatically. Definitely a better solution (for PC users) would be to install the FREE 'Legacy' program supplied by clicking HERE. In my opinion this is the best family tree program around (and I've tried 2 or 3). For more info see www.legacyfamilytree.com . If you install Legacy - you will be able to easily navigate the tree, and also easily view the photo collections linked to many of the individual records. If you decide not to install the program - you can still view a slideshow of the photos by clicking here.
So that's about the size of it. The CD is available now for Aus $20 for collection at the reunion. Please advise me via Email at jsaxon@pcug.org.au if you would like a copy. 1
John Saxon - 1 Jan 2008