Starting out with Gramps OK, you have an interest in genealo,gy and you've installed Gramps. Now let’s use it. You'll find Gramps listed in the Menu's 'Office' category – click to start.
In italics I've included some personal comments and observations on genealogy – hopefully they will be helpful to beginners.
When you first start Gramps, you'll see this window <First-Screen.png> except you won't have any databases listed. The program is capable of dealing with a number of separate databases. Here, it’s asking which to use. Your obvious choice here is [New]. Give your new file a meaningful name reflecting its content, and press [Enter]. Note that it is generally a good idea to have a single database for your whole family rather than splitting into separate databases.
There are other ways to do this, but let’s start by clicking the 'People' tab to the left, then + in the toolbar. You'll be presented with a blank 'New Person' screen <New Person: Rowell, Eli David> similar to this one. Note it is recommended practice to begin this journey by adding your own details as the first person, working backward in time from there – parents, grandparents… For obvious privacy reasons, I violated this policy. I'm not familiar with naming conventions very far outside of my WASP background – so, if you're having problems, the folks in the Gramps forum will be happy to help you.
- Enter your name and select your gender from the list – be sure to enter your gender here if the program doesn't guess it right. Fiddle with the various drop-down lists to see your choices.
- To enter the birth event, click the + under the 'Events' tab. For birth, it's obvious that the person was involved in a 'Primary' role. From the drop-down box, select 'Birth'. Enter the birth date. Chances are that you know your birth date, but there are choices that can be selected by clicking the calendar icon just to the right. You'll use them all some day! Dates are “usually” entered in day-month-year format - but you don't have to. Just be sure that you're consistent. Click the + to the right of 'Place' <Event-Location.png> to enter a new place name – you won't need to enter this place ever again. From the example, you'll get the idea of what and how to enter data. OK, from the top: Places are traditionally shown in small to large order – City, Township or Parish, County, State, Nation – as they existed when the event occurred. This is an important 'rule' – don't assume. Fill in the data under the 'Location' tab as appropriate. Except for 'Sources', I don't find the other tabs useful in most instances. Information you enter under 'Description' will appear to the left on the person screen.
- Now for the part you'll most often ignore, and most often regret the oversight later – click the 'Sources' tab. Here you should enter something about where you found the information you just entered. <Source-Reference.png> Having a birth, death, or other primary information source, it’s usually obvious what information should be supplied. In the example, Eli was born before records were kept in Lysander, but his father kept a diary which has been preserved. Note the 'Confidence' drop-down – it is important that you consider the source and evaluate its validity. Click the 'Repository' tab <Repository-Reference.png> and enter exactly where you found the information. Whole books have been written on sourcing; some day you might want to read one. Meanwhile, a Google search will start you on the right path. The information entered here should guide anyone (even you) to the actual source you looked at, and your evaluation of the information. I know it’s boring and eats into your valuable time but, it IS important to enter source information as you go.
- The 'Death' and 'Marriage' events are handled in much the same way. Note how the city, Baldwinsville, is listed first in the displayed death event.
- The 'OK' button closes screens – stores the information in the database – and returns to the previous screen.
You now have a base person to work from, and have a pretty good general idea of how to enter information. Click the 'Relationships' tab, to the left, then the 'Add a new set of parents' icon in the tool bar. The 'New – Family' screen will open <New-Family.png> so that you can enter the base person's parent information. Clicking the + icon next to either parent will open the 'New-Person' screen – you already know how to handle that. Enter the parents’ relationship type, date, and place information, while you're there. On the same screen you can enter the base person's siblings; the whole family from one screen. Don't forget the source information.
Select a person then click the 'Ancestry' tab. A traditional family tree opens <Ancestry-Tree.png> with males tinted blue and females pink. Hover the mouse over any person and a small window will open showing even more information. Click a person and they become primary. The small arrows move the display forward and backward in time - generation by generation.
At this point, you've developed a good grasp of how Gramps works. Let me introduce some of the other features:
- Here's a brief introduction into data import and export – in my experience Gramps plays reasonably well with other programs:
o To export the database, click 'Family Tree' > 'Export'. The assistant will open an informative window regarding export. Click 'Forward' and the Export Assistant's business window opens. <Export-Assistant.png> Here you can choose from a number of export formats. For this example, we'll export the data in GEDCOM format – for my next article. Click the GEDCOM box to select it, then 'Forward'. Choose 'Entire Database' in both of the drop-down boxes, clear all of the remaining boxes, then click 'Forward'. Give the file to be exported a meaningful name, select the directory to contain the file, then click 'Forward'. A summary screen will open showing the options you've selected. If all is well, press 'Apply' to export the file. You should use one of the XML format options periodically to make a complete backup of your work.
o To import a GEDCOM, click 'Family Trees' > 'Manage Family Trees' > 'New', to create an empty Gramps database. To import a file, click 'Family Trees', then 'Import'. Select the file to be imported, and click 'Import'. You may need to “correct” the imported file.
o A word about the GEDCOM file format. The LDS developed this file format to facilitate data transfer between genealogy programs. It’s now in version 5.5, and is supported by any program worth serious consideration. BUT, you knew that was coming! All commercial programs, including Gramps, allow entry of data that isn't in the GEDCOM file definition. The result is that some data will be lost or garbled in the transfer process. Generally, a file of exceptions or problems will be displayed by the importing program – browse it. Until you're sure that the GEDCOM that you're dealing with is “clean”, DO NOT import into an existing database. Import into a new file, and carefully review the content before importing into your active database. I am disappointed with Gramps here. I exported the example database, and then imported it into a new file - there were several duplications and minor glitches that needed to be corrected. By-the-way, a GEDCOM is a simple text file that can be edited with GEDIT. At times, a text editor is the simplest way to “correct” the file.
* In many of the screens you've been working with, there is a 'Gallery' tab. Working from there, you can add media objects (not restricted to pictures) to people, events, sources… It’s useful to be able to link copies of birth, death, and marriage certificates to the event, but at other times a note will be a better choice. Copies of some sources are easy to link, and make a lot of sense - partial census images anyone? I recommend that you give serious thought to media organization before you get too carried away here. I don't use this as my primary family history media display. My personal storage is organized under a main Genealogy directory. It contains many directories each with a family name prefaced with an Annentafel number (see text reports) to keep these directories ordered and at the beginning of the main directory. All media that I'm going to display in Gramps are dumped into a separate folder, chiefly so that Gramps can more readily backup the entire database. Another advantage to a separate directory is that images can be cropped and reduced without affecting the originals.
* Most screens have a 'Notes' tab. I'd suggest taking full advantage of that to include source transcriptions, and bits of this and that, to more fully describe the person's life. Since a source can have notes, that may be a good place to document your evaluation.
* You have probably noted the 'Help' tab on the main program bar. Help is also just an [F1] away at any time. However you get there, the online Gramps Wiki Manual opens. The large table of contents will lead you to the information you need.
* That's all well and good, but how do we get information out of Gramps? Click the 'Reports' tab on the program bar, and a wealth of options is displayed. I suggest that you play around with all of them to find out just what they do and how to use them. Of course you could always consult the 'Help' function! I'd suggest that a printed 'Family Group Report' (FGR) be filed for reference as it contains a whole family's data in one place. An FGR in PDF format is a convenient way to send information to others.
* Gramplets are small plug-in applications that you may find useful in your work. Right-click the window background to see a list. I suggest that you use the TODO Gramplet to list the tasks that you've found needful.
So where can you find online relevant information to fill out your family history?
- If you're a relative newcomer to genealogy, I’d suggest that you visit https://www.familysearch.org/learn/getting_started, and work through many of the guides provided. The Family Search site is provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons. I understand that family history is very important in their religion. LDS has undertaken some very large projects to digitize original records – much of this work is available for your research on the Family Search website at no cost. They also have a worldwide network of FamilySearch Centers. At these Centers, you can view microfilm of these records, and use some for-fee sites at no cost on their computers. Microfilm not found at a Center can be rented very reasonably from their main library in Salt Lake City. No, I'm not evangelizing here - it’s just that LDS has generously provided these services for your use - at no cost, and with no strings attached.
- At some time, you will need to visit http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ to consult and register for some of their lists. You'll find a wealth of background information on RootsWeb. RootsWeb is hosted by Ancestry, but has remained free and independent of commercial influence.
- Other resources include www.worldgenweb.org, which will link to www.usgenweb.org, www.canadagenweb.org, and other national sites. The information you'll find here is organized geographically, and may contain information you need.
- If you can afford it, Ancestry.com has, probably, the most complete online digital content. You can search for names or places, find and view original and secondary sources, and participate in online training. Considering the vast content, the price is reasonable.
- Google is your friend even for genealogy!
I hope that this has helped you to get started with researching your family history, and recording it with Gramps.