Geneology Database

What, no alt.geneology newsgroup; no rec.ancestry newsgroup? I'm amazed! I expected widespread interest in this subject. Please let me know if there is a more appropriate newsgroup for this posting.

A new baby has prompted my wife and me to assemble some information about our ancestry, just in case our child develops an interest in the future. I unearthed more than I expected, including a couple of ancestral lines dating back to the 12th century, and a diary from my great grandmother. These paper records are cracked and old, and I wanted to enter them into my PC, but somehow ASCII files didn't seem capable of representing the relationships adequately. A database was needed. Nothing fancy, just something to store people and link pairs of people together by birth or marriage. Plus some sort of blob mechanism that associates text entries (such as diary entries or letters or informational notes) with individuals or individuals cross dates. I had already written a similar program for other purposes, so I adapted it, and in a few weeks I built a geneology management system.

Then it occurred to me, why couldn't we develop a global geneology database, where each interested party does his own research (as we did) and then contributes to the whole?
I realize there are already a number of centrally managed databases. The Morman's geneology database is vast; impressive is an understatement. But the individuals are not active participants in the ongoing data collection and integration process. The capacity of such a database is therefore limited to the staff that is assigned to maintain it. I envision a more universal system allowing widespread participation.

Because my program does not depend on any preexisting software (such as Informix or Foxpro or DBASE II), it will run on any MSDOS machine and most Unix machines. All you need is a C compiler (Microsoft 4.0 on a DOS machine). Individuals can enter and maintain their own historical data, and if they want to be part of a larger experiment, they can issue a `transmit' command
that will gather up all their data and send it to a central location for automatic integration.
Needless to say, I have not written any integration programs, or any software associated with this huge centralized database, nor am I necessarily volunteering to do so. But I have merged half a dozen departmental databases here at the hospital, each housing overlapping sets of patients with mistyped hospital numbers and misspelled names and the like,
so I have some idea how the process could be done. Almost all integration could be managed by machine, with minimal human intervention.

Question 1: am I reinventing the wheel -- is there a completely portable geneology management system that runs on MSDOS and UNIX machines, and allows people to email their information to a central location at the push of a button? Does it incorporate free text?
(The letters and diary entries are the reall interesting data).
If there is a comparable or superior system, I'll be happy to make the switch.

Question 2: Would you like more information about my prototype program?

Question 3: Would you like a copy of the source to experiment with?
(I am not interested in profit; I consider this system to be public domain.)
I'd like to know whether the features in version one are adequate for most peoples' needs. What additional features would improve this program?

Please email if possible; this posting is not 100% relevant to all the groups I have sent it to, and I do not read the net religiously.

-- 
	I do more all day -- than most people do before 9 A.M.
	Karl Dahlke   eklhad_at_siss81.sis.rpslmc.edu (312) 942-8040