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    Family History

    What sort of reports do you use when recording your family history? Do you do one for each person/family unit as well as for the whole family line?

    Do you change the 'language' of the report ... for e.g...the report may say, 'Resided at...' and you change it to 'He/She resided at...'?

    Can the name of the person in the report be changed from the full name in Reunion to a shortened version? For e.g.: 'Joe Henry Bloggs' to 'Joe'?

    Lots of questions but I'm still learning and like to hear how others do things.
    *********************
    I have a MAC OSX 10.9.1
    Using Reunion 10
    Safari

    #2
    Re: Family History

    Originally posted by The Wheeler Family View Post
    What sort of reports do you use when recording your family history? Do you do one for each person/family unit as well as for the whole family line?

    Do you change the 'language' of the report ... for e.g...the report may say, 'Resided at...' and you change it to 'He/She resided at...'?

    Can the name of the person in the report be changed from the full name in Reunion to a shortened version? For e.g.: 'Joe Henry Bloggs' to 'Joe'?

    Lots of questions but I'm still learning and like to hear how others do things.
    I am just doing family group sheets for my direct ancestors at this point, and no person sheets. I cannot answer the other two questions. I'd love to have a forum here that was mentoring for new users. There are SOOOO many features. Many of the questions are over my head, although I am picking things up.
    Terri Works - Fifth Generation Californian
    Using Reunion 11 and High Sierra OS

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Family History

      Thank-you for your reply... you've solved one of my problems.

      I agree that a forum for 'newbies' would be a good idea. As you said, there are so many little things, like the questions I have just asked, that are all new to us.

      People here have been very helpful all the same.
      *********************
      I have a MAC OSX 10.9.1
      Using Reunion 10
      Safari

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Family History

        I have done a couple of books now.

        I start with a free-form narrative that summarizes the family history in a few pages and puts it in the historical context.

        Then, mostly I use Register Reports from Reunion for the body of the book, starting at the earliest ancestor and working down to the most recent generations. I also include sources and an index in each such section. Then I use a page layout program (Adobe InDesign) to weave hundreds of photographs and document images, maps, etc. into the text.

        For ancestral lines for which I don't have as much information, I generally do an Anentafel report (starting with the most recent person with that surname and working up toward the older generations).

        I usually manually edit the text in the books a bit to clean up any formatting issues and such.

        I store a biography for each person in the NOTES in Reunion, so when the report gets generated I already have the bios in place.

        The last book I did is on Lulu here:



        If you click on PREVIEW under the cover image you can see a few pages from the book.

        Don

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Family History

          I am most impressed with your book and thank-you so much for sharing this information with me.

          I use Photoshop Elements to produce pages to illustrate anything to do with our family and am hoping to include these in the book. I have attached an e.g. of one page for you to see.

          I like your idea of an introduction to the book and I do want to incorporate some register reports to put people in perspective.

          When you say,

          'I store a biography for each person in the NOTES in Reunion, so when the report gets generated I already have the bios in place'.

          are you saying you actually write a narrative based on the information you have about this person?

          How many words can 'Notes' hold?

          Thank-you again.
          Attached Files
          *********************
          I have a MAC OSX 10.9.1
          Using Reunion 10
          Safari

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Family History

            Originally posted by The Wheeler Family View Post
            I am most impressed with your book and thank-you so much for sharing this information with me.

            I use Photoshop Elements to produce pages to illustrate anything to do with our family and am hoping to include these in the book. I have attached an e.g. of one page for you to see.

            I like your idea of an introduction to the book and I do want to incorporate some register reports to put people in perspective.

            When you say,

            'I store a biography for each person in the NOTES in Reunion, so when the report gets generated I already have the bios in place'.

            are you saying you actually write a narrative based on the information you have about this person?

            How many words can 'Notes' hold?

            Thank-you again.
            I like your layout! You are much more "artful" than I am! :-)

            The summary narrative is often the only thing our relatives have read in the book. They seem to want an entertaining story to read and then to look at all the pictures. So my genealogy is mostly just a framework to hang photos on - ha ha.

            If you look at this page and scroll down to the NOTES you can see what I'm talking about w/re the bios.



            We usually have a bio first, then a line that says "RESEARCH" and after that I put the random research notes I have that I don't (necessarily) want in the book. When I run the Register Report, it all goes in, but while doing the paste-up and I just delete everything after RESEARCH. Some of the bios are very long and elaborate - most are not since I don't know as much about the people.

            I have never run into the upper limit for Notes. I would expect it to be at least 32,767 characters.

            Don

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Family History

              Originally posted by The Wheeler Family View Post
              ......I use Photoshop Elements to produce pages to illustrate anything to do with our family and am hoping to include these in the book. I have attached an e.g. of one page for you to see.........
              For those who don't need to buy Photoshop Elements for any other reason, a page like the one displayed can easily be created in Pages. Not saying better or worse; just a money saving idea.
              Bob White, Mac Nut Since 1985, Reunion Nut Since 1991
              Jenanyan, Barnes, White, Duncan, Dunning, Luce, Hedge and more
              iMac/MacBookAir M1 - iPhonePro/iPadPro - Reunion13 & RT

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Family History

                Originally posted by donworth View Post
                I like your layout! You are much more "artful" than I am! :-)

                The summary narrative is often the only thing our relatives have read in the book. They seem to want an entertaining story to read and then to look at all the pictures. So my genealogy is mostly just a framework to hang photos on - ha ha.

                If you look at this page and scroll down to the NOTES you can see what I'm talking about w/re the bios.



                We usually have a bio first, then a line that says "RESEARCH" and after that I put the random research notes I have that I don't (necessarily) want in the book. When I run the Register Report, it all goes in, but while doing the paste-up and I just delete everything after RESEARCH. Some of the bios are very long and elaborate - most are not since I don't know as much about the people.

                I have never run into the upper limit for Notes. I would expect it to be at least 32,767 characters.

                Don
                So you write notes for each person, as a form of summary for the research you have found in census records, etc? I have tended to write these summaries when I'm putting the final page together but I like the idea of doing it as you go and then it is attached to the person's records in Reunion as well.

                Woke up at 4 am last night and couldn't go back to sleep.... dreaming of Family History books!

                Thank-you again.
                *********************
                I have a MAC OSX 10.9.1
                Using Reunion 10
                Safari

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Family History

                  Originally posted by The Wheeler Family View Post
                  What sort of reports do you use when recording your family history?
                  You might want to check out this site: http://www.americanancestors.org/writing-publishing/

                  They talk about the two main report formats (they invented the Register Report format) - both of which Reunion does very well. Although they talk about using Microsoft Word, if you don't have it (and you don't want to pay out the big bucks for it) you can do pretty much the same things in Pages or OpenOffice (free). Be sure to scroll all the way down to see lots of info and a couple of videos.

                  These reports are the facts but can include your notes or you can add narratives.They don't talk about narratives and images but do give you links to some possible sites that would give you ideas. Also, Reunion can add the preferred image to the report.

                  I really do like the way Don Worth has done his book. I don't think I would use Adobe InDesign because it is very expensive. You should be able to use Pages for something like that. It may be a longer process but much less expensive.

                  ALSO, take a look at the thread on RootsTech2014 that I just added. There seems to be several sessions on writing your family history. Although you can't go to the sessions (unless they're streamed), be sure to check out their syllabuses because many of them have links to sites that may be helpful.

                  HTH
                  Kaye Mushalik
                  -Muschalik (Poland), Stroop, Small (Ireland), Fitzsimons/Fitzsimmons (Ireland) Pessara/Pesaora/Pesarro/Pizarro (from Germany)
                  -Dorrance, Eberstein, Bell
                  -Late2015iMac27"Retina5K, MacOS10.14, iOS12.1, R12, Safari12.0

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Family History

                    This is a great site and has explained so much about the Register and Ahnentafel (sp?) reports I wasn't aware of.

                    Very helpful thank-you!
                    *********************
                    I have a MAC OSX 10.9.1
                    Using Reunion 10
                    Safari

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Family History

                      Originally posted by Bob White View Post
                      For those who don't need to buy Photoshop Elements for any other reason, a page like the one displayed can easily be created in Pages. Not saying better or worse; just a money saving idea.
                      To build upon this thought, a practical advantage to Pages (or any page layout program as opposed to an image editor) is that updating text will be more straightforward if any changes are required after the page is created. That being said, I'd be proud to have my family information in the form The Wheeler Family has created.
                      Tim Lundin
                      Heartland Family Graphics
                      http://www.familygraphics.com

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Family History

                        I just took a look at your book, Don. Wow! Great job!

                        Randy

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Family History

                          Originally posted by randy_godfrey View Post
                          I just took a look at your book, Don. Wow! Great job!

                          Randy
                          I'm curious how you too a look at his book or did you just see the cover photo which is all that shows up when I click on the link?
                          Delbert Curlin
                          Reunion 10.0.6 OS X 10.9.2 iphone 3GS
                          Searching Curlin, White, McClish,Buckner

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: Family History

                            Originally posted by DelbertCurlin View Post
                            I'm curious how you too a look at his book or did you just see the cover photo which is all that shows up when I click on the link?
                            Delbert,
                            Click on the word PREVIEW right under the cover image. Give it a few seconds to load. Then you should be able to look at several pages in the book. (There is an arrow that turns the pages)
                            Don

                            EDIT: Oh, and thank you Randy!

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: Family History

                              Originally posted by donworth View Post
                              Delbert,
                              Click on the word PREVIEW right under the cover image.

                              EDIT: Oh, and thank you Randy!
                              Thanks. I'm not only losing hearing but I guess my eyesight as well.
                              Delbert Curlin
                              Reunion 10.0.6 OS X 10.9.2 iphone 3GS
                              Searching Curlin, White, McClish,Buckner

                              Comment

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