Customer Reviews

Databases for the Study of Afro-Louisiana History and Genealogy: 1699-1860

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This single CD ROM comes without substantial supporting documentation, although there are some introductory text files that you can print yourself. As the previous reviewers state, the data is NOT user friendly. I was able to easily open all the files using MS Excel and Access (the native form of the files is dBase), but it's still difficult to find your way around. After all, there are more than 100,000 records. Still, if you're serious about genealogy, this info is far more complete than anything you're likely to gather on your own. Also, after many, MANY hours of sifting through handwritten records in small town, LA, I can't tell you how nice it was to sit in my office and tell the computer to do a keyword search. Hopefully there will be a more user-friendly product in the future. Meanwhile, having this is far better than nothing. At $45 it's a complete steal--if you're committed to making it work. The detail is stunning! Not only can you find African origins, but also personality details, histories, and absolute horrors. I can't believe that the slave owning society of that time was so honest about its monstrosity. It's all there. (Next time you hear some crap about how "our family was good to our slaves," read all about it.)

I just received this database and was anxious to explore it for my own research in similar areas. Unfortunately, the CD requires its user to have pre-loaded database software, which, had it been explicitly stated, would have prevented me from purchasing it. I now own a $45 CD that is effectively useless unless/until I purchase an additional software package that, given what database software costs, I cannot afford. Users should be aware of this.

I found this to be an excellent reference. This data is more valuable than the 45 dollar purchase price. I noticed that the low reviews of this product are a result of lack of software functionality. Fortunately I come from an IT background and was able to access the data within minutes. I find it disappointing that this product received some low reviews, especially given the state of available data for slavery genealogy. In view of this, I thought I would offer a little assistance in accessing the data on the CD without purchasing a database package like MS ACCESS. [1] download a shareware tool like DBFViewer2000 This will allow you to access the .dbf files contained on the CD. You can do searches through the DBF viewer, but I recommend the following steps... [2] you can optionally export select fields of the .dbf files using DBFViewer2000 to text files. [3] Once you have the text files, you can use the dos FIND command to search through the file and locate desired records (specify FIND/N to get line numbers). [4] You can then use the line number in DBFViewer2000 to go to the exact records you found. I prefer the use of command line tools like FIND because I can see more than 1 record at a time, as opposed to a screen of information for one record. Hope this helps.

I'm sure there is an lot of interesting data on this CD but as yet I've been unable to see any of it. A few introductory documents are viewable on MS Word; MS Access produced nothing. I am computer literate and an having an awful time with this CD. I'll keep trying and hope its worth it.

This limited database is quite over stated - lacks the inward slave manifests -- I was anxious to explore it for my own research in similar areas. Unfortunately, the CD requires its user to have pre-loaded database software, which, hadn't been explicitly stated. Even with some database software not all files opened. It's a bad dream.

I owned this database for a year before I could view it. Thank you reviewer Garland Joseph, for your assistance to access this information. I was near the point where I was ready to throw it away.
I still believe the information should be presented in a manner more easily accessible to everyone. It is well worth the viewing.

I agree with the other people who ordered this cd. I have been working non stop on the cd for the past 8 hours!! There are some things that are readable in Word, and it appears the data base can be "read" in Excel, but accessing the information has not been easy. The auto run did not work on my computer, but it did on my laptop. I found that using the edit find to locate names may be the only way to get through the information, however you need to print the codes because the spreadsheets spans are extrememly long.

In response to complaints about the need to buy software and the difficulty of access to the data, the author has arranged for free software and a user-friendly search engine with which to use it. ... .

I'm considering buying this database, but would like more information on the free software which the author has arranged for in light of customer complaints. Tell me more! Will it come with my order, or do I download it from the internet? Will I receive instructions?