Creating a Database

[Urgent]

I'm fairly green with Access but I believe what I need I will have to build a
database. I'm hoping to put together a family reunion for 2009 so what I
need is a database that will allow me to have the following information:

My Grandpa and all his siblings, then all of the sibling children, then all
the children's children. Make sense. Basically it would be Grandpa, Child,
Grandchild, Great Grandchild. I want to create a database that would have 9
main children, then their children then their children. I would like the
database to contain names, DOB, phone number, address, e-mail, etc etc etc.

Carrie

 

[Urgent]

Guess I should mention that I have Access 2003 I would also like to have
spouses and DOD (Date of Death) listed on this as well. Is Access my helper
or would something in word or Excel work as well?

 

[Daniel Pineault]

Take a look at

http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...&p=1&tid=90bda2b2-6025-44fa-9181-4ab1e8e66b47

The last entry by Joan Wild. You can then make the necessary changes to
suit your exact needs, but the bulk of the work will be done.
--
Hope this helps,

Daniel Pineault
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[Daniel Pineault]

Also, I found this

http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/templates/TC010765241033.aspx

which is only available in the UK site not the US???????? I don't know if
it is the same template as that referred by Joan.
--
Hope this helps,

Daniel Pineault
If this post was helpful, please rate it by using the vote buttons.

 

[John W. Vinson]

I'm fairly green with Access but I believe what I need I will have to build a
database. I'm hoping to put together a family reunion for 2009 so what I
need is a database that will allow me to have the following information:

My Grandpa and all his siblings, then all of the sibling children, then all
the children's children. Make sense. Basically it would be Grandpa, Child,
Grandchild, Great Grandchild. I want to create a database that would have 9
main children, then their children then their children. I would like the
database to contain names, DOB, phone number, address, e-mail, etc etc etc.

Carrie

Well... you can certainly use Access to do this, but don't do it that way!

You should Google for "geneology database". There are many. You may be able to
get one for free or for a modest fee, that would do at least as much as you're
asking here and more.

If you do create it yourself, bear in mind that families are sometimes
complex. I have a half-sister for instance - her dad was my dad, but my mom
died when I was young and my dad remarried, so the relationship isn't
"standard".

I'd suggest at least two tables:

People
PersonID <Primary Key>
LastName
BirthLastName
FirstName
MiddleName
DOB
DOD <leave null for the living of course>
<other fields about the person themselves, e.g. address, phone, email; or
this could be pulled out into another table as you might have several people
with the same info>

Relationships
FirstPersonID <link to People>
SecondPersonID <link to People>
Relationship

This would let you enter any arbitrary number of people in any numbre of
relationships - i.e. you could have records in Relationships with:

FirstPersonID = 21 <that's your cousin Fred>
FirstPersionID = 22 <that's his ditzy wife Janet>
Relationship = "Wife"

FirstPersonID = 21 <Fred again>
SecondPersonID = 36 <Fred & Janet's daughter Debbie>
Relationship = "Daughter"

FirstPersonID = 22 <Janet>
SecondPersonID = 36 <Fred & Janet's daughter Debbie>
Relationship = "Daughter"

etc. etc.

It's a general principle: "Fields are expensive, records are cheap". Having
fields Child1, Child2, Child3, ..., Child9 IS SIMPLY WRONG DESIGN and will
make the database very inflexible and hard to use!

 

[gls858]

I'm fairly green with Access but I believe what I need I will have to build a
database. I'm hoping to put together a family reunion for 2009 so what I
need is a database that will allow me to have the following information:

My Grandpa and all his siblings, then all of the sibling children, then all
the children's children. Make sense. Basically it would be Grandpa, Child,
Grandchild, Great Grandchild. I want to create a database that would have 9
main children, then their children then their children. I would like the
database to contain names, DOB, phone number, address, e-mail, etc etc etc.

Carrie

You might want to look at Family Tree Maker. No need to re-invent the
wheel. I think I've seen it for under $40 USD.

http://www.familytreemaker.com/

gls858

 

[gavin]

Well... you can certainly use Access to do this, but don't do it that way!

You should Google for "geneology database". There are many. You may be
able to
get one for free

Try this list for starters - all free!

http://www.pricelesswarehome.org/acf/P_BUSINESS-HOME.php#8.07Genealogy

The person who compiled the list recommends Simple Family Tree (" very easy
to use -> you can create a simple tree in minutes") or "If and when you want
more bells and whistles switch to Personal Ancestral File (PAF). Just import
your data. Both programs use the standard GEDcom format - as do most
genealogy programs."