Family Address Book Database

[Jim Comfort]

I'm rather a novice at Access, but I would like to set up a family
address book that can be organized in generalitional order. My parents both
came from large families, and all had kids, and now their kids (my cousins)
have kids. I'd like to be able to call up, say, my dad, and see myself and
my siblings, as well as my kids and their kids. Then call up my mother's
oldest sister and see the same info.
How best to set that up? I've got the address book template, but I can't
see how to organize that data once it's in. Suggestions?

Jim Comfort

 

[Smartin]

I'm rather a novice at Access, but I would like to set up a family
address book that can be organized in generalitional order. My parents both
came from large families, and all had kids, and now their kids (my cousins)
have kids. I'd like to be able to call up, say, my dad, and see myself and
my siblings, as well as my kids and their kids. Then call up my mother's
oldest sister and see the same info.
How best to set that up? I've got the address book template, but I can't
see how to organize that data once it's in. Suggestions?

Jim Comfort

Yes; Explore some ready-made applications and see if they fit your needs.

Not meaning to put your fire out or anything, but modeling genealogy is
not a trivial exercise. I'm certainly not saying it can't be done but
you will likely find your goals are more readily attainable by not
trying to build from scratch.

As an aside, I personally would like to see a rousing discussion of how
to model familial relationships. I have tried a couple freebie programs
(that may be my problem) but they fail to handle well scenarios like two
sisters from the same family marrying two brothers from a second family
(which occurs both in my lineage and in my wife's), multiple marriages,
and the like.

Bests,

 

[Guest]

what does "generalitional" mean?

 

[Jim Comfort]

Sorry, I meant generational...so shoot me, I made a grammatical error. The
jist of the question is still legible, so thanks for your input to the
discussion at hand.

Anyway, the printed address book my mother makes has a layout similar to
this:

-- Mom's Sister --

- Her address, phone, etc.

- Her kids (my cousins)

- Their addresses

- Their kids

- Their addresses

-- Mom's Brother --

Etc.

I haven't found anything online that can organize the data as suggested
above, and I can't figure out a working relationship for the data I have
that would allow me to lay out a printed version of the database as
described above. Useful suggestions?

Jim Comfort