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You often will get the question from researchers, "How Are We Related?"  Most genealogy programs have a tool to find blood relations.   This is very handy, but it does not show relations across marriages.  Using the GEDCOM files as input, the RELATION program can trace through all individuals and trace the relationship, even across multiple marriages.  When finished it will post a text file on your desktop showing the sequence of persons to trace the link between any two persons, so you can now show how you are related to your brother-in-law's, sister's husband.  The process is done by sequential testing and will proceed until the second person is reached.  GEDCOM files containing up to 5,000 persons have been tested successfully.

Click on relation.exe (version 3 - Mar 2003) to download a simple 52K ".exe" self contained program file to find these links.  See instructions below.

This totally FREE program contains no hidden processes and has been proven virus clean.  The source code is available upon request.  See also the simple Cousins Table for blood relations.

The above program may be saved in any location of your choice.  I recommend placing it in your "C:\Program Files\relations" folder.  You will need to search for "C:\Program Files" when the "Save As" dialog box comes up and then make a new folder named "relations".   Open that folder and click on "Save".  Once downloaded (10 seconds) make an icon as follows:  Locate the program file "relation.exe", right click on it and select "Create Shortcut".  Right click on the "Shortcut to relation.exe" icon and rename it to "Relation".  Right click on the "Relation" shortcut and select "Properties", select the "Program" tab and select "Run:" as "Maximized" and check mark "Close on exit", and then click on "OK".  Copy the shortcut icon and place in a convenient spot such as your desktop or "Programs" menu.   Clicking on the shortcut will start the program.  Initially the program will use "C:\" as the default location for temporary files and for the GEDCOM files.   Once you have entered your preferences, it will use them until you change again.   Four temporary random access files are created and used by the program to save GEDCOM information and are deleted when the program is finished.  The program results are saved in a ".txt" file on your desktop that has the same first name as the GEDCOM file.  This file may be opened in your text editor by clicking on it and deleted when you are finished with it.

Please enjoy this program.

 

Please contact me with your comments, contributions, and/or corrections.

© Copyright 1998-2003 by Jim Pool Saturday, October 18, 2003