A few months ago I blogged about my plans to create a Windows Phone application based on my Family Tree Research hobby.

Well after a 5 month delay I finally submitted the first version of the application to the Windows Phone Marketplace today.  I have made a few changes since my initial Blog Post.  The most obvious change is that I added support for multiple GEDCOM files.  The reason for this change was mainly for performance reasons. 

My research database contains upwards of 1200 individuals, and downloading, parsing and serializing a file of 1200 records takes about 30 seconds so by supporting multiple files on the phone would allow my to split my research data into multiple smaller files.

I also spent some time adding some graphics, which I created from public domain images on the web.

Hopefully, I will hear in a few days whether my submission has been approved. 

When that that happens I will provide some detail on how the application can be used, to carry your family tree research with you.

Regular readers of this blog will realize that, in addition to my interest in .NET programming, I am also an amateur genealogist. 

Many times, over the last few years I have tried to combine the two – which is demonstrated by a codeplex project I created a couple of years ago.  However, work, family and my inability to stick to a plan have gotten in the way of completing something usable.

I recently obtained a new Samsung Focus Windows Phone 7 phone, and it occurred to me that a Family Tree Application would be an ideal fit for the phone platform.  After all, you may not have access to a laptop or desktop computer when you are delving through material in the basement of some archive.

Just before Christmas I downloaded the Windows Phone 7 Developer Tools and the  Silverlight for Windows Phone 7 Toolkit, and I started work on a simple Windows Phone 7 App – “My Family Tree Project”.

The goals of the first version of the App are quite simple.

• Be able to copy an existing GEDCOM File (the standard format for Genealogy data) onto the phone from a PC.
  
• Be able to view a list of Individuals in the file
  
• Be able to view the following detailed information on each individual
  • Family Name, Given Names and Sex
  • Spouse(s)
  • Parents
  • A list of children
  • A list of events for the individual (Birth, Census etc)
  • Notes
• Be able to navigate to individuals using the list view, and be able to navigate to related individuals when in the detail view

I have essentially finished most of these features although they still need some polish and more exhaustive testing (see below for screenshots taken from the Emulator)

Screenshots of “My Family Tree Project”

Welcome Screen	Settings Screen	Individuals List
Individual - Detail	Individual – Children	Individual – Events
Individual – Notes

This week my application for a  Windows Phone Marketplace account was approved – and my goal is to have the first version of “My Family Tree Project” available as a free download through the Marketplace by April.

Over the next few weeks – in future posts, I will highlight some of the challenges I faced on this project.

In an earlier article in this blog series I described the life of Robert Nurse.  He married Ann Jane Taylor at St. Michael, Two Mile Hill on 30^th May 1854, two months after his father Robert Nurse died. [1]

Ann Jane Taylor, Robert Nurse’s wife, was a descendent of John Taylor, the Landscape Painter. He was my 5th great grandfather.

In the previous article in this series I described the life of John Taylor.  I now turn to his son Henry Taylor (my 4th great grandfather).  Henry was born in 1775, being baptized on 7th October 1775 at St. Swithen’s, Walcot in Bath [2].

Very little is known about Henry Taylor. He apparently moved quite frequently, eventually settling down in the village of Winsley, just outside Bradford-upon-Avon in Wiltshire. This comes from my grandfather's notes as he records the birthplaces of the children, which have been confirmed from the parish registers of the parishes concerned.

Richard, the eldest was born at Winterbourne [3], near Salisbury, Wiltshire. Winterbourne was also the place of Henry’s marriage in 1798 to Jane Watts[4].

The next two children, Francis Fane and Charles were born at Farley[5], to the east of Salisbury, near the Hampshire border. Harriet was born in Burleigh, Hampshire, Charlotte and Eliza were born in Buttermere [6], Wiltshire and the last child, Thomas was born at Barefield, near Bradford-upon-Avon and was baptized at St Nicholas, Winsley on 19 March 1815. [7]

According to the parish register of Winsley, Henry Taylor was a farmer.

Figure 1 The Family of Henry and Jane Taylor.

While I have confirmed most of the factual data in my grandfather’s notes, the link between Ann Jane Taylor and John Taylor, the Landscape Painter has not been proven. It is however strongly suggested by the name of Ann Jane Taylor's father, Henry's second son. His full name was Francis Fane Taylor. Francis Fane, as mentioned briefly in my previous article on Henry’s father was the younger son of Henry and Charlotte Fane (nee Luther), Rebecca Taylor's sister.

Francis Fane and Henry Taylor would have been cousins.

According to Burke, although Francis Fane was MP for Dorchester, the county town of Dorset, he had a residence at Green Park Place in Bath, as did Richard Taylor, Henry's brother. While it is unusual to name one's son after one's cousin, it would be even more unusual to name one's son after a stranger, no matter how important that person might be.

It thus appears that Henry Taylor (Francis Fanes Taylor’s father and Ann Jane Taylor’s grandfather) is the same Henry Taylor mentioned in the will of Rebecca Taylor (nee Luther), and thus Ann Jane Taylor is the great-grand daughter of John Taylor, the Landscape Painter.

Bibliography and Notes

[1] I have a copy of the Marriage Certificate for Robert and Ann.

[2] www.freereg.com

[3] Parish Register of Winterbourne Gunner, 1574-1932, Wiltshire Record Odffice.

[4] Parish Register of St Michael and All Angels, Winterbourne Earls, 1557-1932, Wiltshire Record Office.

[5] Parish Register of All Saints, Farley, 1661-1867, Wiltshire Record Office

[6] Parish Registers of St. James, Buttermere, 1720-1812, Wiltshire Record Office.

[7] Parish Register of St. Nicholas, Winsley, 1724 – 1843, Society of Genealogists Copy.