Report Hybrid: Register and Descendant

[KirkS]

I'm frustrated because I want a report that doesn't seem to exist.

From one perspective, I want a register report that includes my notes or maybe a narrative for each person.

Or from the opposite approach, I want a descendant report not grouped by generation. If I'm looking at a person on page 3, I don't want to have to flip to page 55 to see her children, then back to page 3 to see her brother.

Am I crazy? Does such a report exist anywhere?

[Blaise A. Darveaux]

Am I crazy?

Maybe, but that, as yet, has to be determined. :-)

I am not terribly familiar with reports. Nobody has ever asked me for one. People usually look at my web site, their eyes glaze over, and then I never hear from them again. Sound familiar? Except for the rather small group of me, myself, and I, there seems to be a deplorable lack of interest in genealogy by anybody else in my family.

To try to answer your question about reports, I am looking at the Standards Manual by the Board for Certification of Genealogists. (There was a time when I wanted to become a professional genealogist.) It lists two types of descendant reports (actually called Compiled Genealogies.):

One is the Register System (full name: New England Historical and Genealogical Register) which you are probably familiar with because Reunion uses that exact name.

The second one is the NGSQ System (full name: National Genealogical Society Quarterly) which, I can only guess, is the same as Reunion's Descendant report, but that is only a guess on my part.

Alas, both systems are arranged by generation. I am not sure how you would do otherwise, without it becoming a crazy mess. Perhaps you could describe a bit more what you envision what you want your report to look like?

[KirkS]

Blaise:

I do understand and respect the need for standards. And for the most part, I try to be consistent.

As for my original issue, I personally like the Descendant Report better than the Register System. But notice in my descendant report (below), it shows only birth, death, and marriage dates. There is no way to include notes in the body of the list. I hope that clarifies what I'd like to see, even if I may never get it :-)

descend-no-notes.jpg

[Blaise A. Darveaux]

Hmmm... I see now. The Family History report, Register report, Ancestor, report, Family Group Sheet report, Person Sheet report, Blank Forms report, and Web Project report ALL allow the Misc. Notes field to be included, BUT the Descendant report is the only one that does not.

I just tried making a new Register Report Layout and named it "Only Notes". In it I turned everything off except Misc. Notes. and then ran a report. It gave the Misc. Notes AND it listed the children. And it was still organized by generation. That is the closest I could get to what I think you want.

[KirkS]

I guess what I want is just a bit too far from the standards to make sense to most people. But thanks for trying.