New Brunswick Genealogical Society

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SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Members may submit descendant reports, in “register” format, for any New Brunswick family. Most genealogical software will produce such reports with little effort. These guidelines are general in nature. Specific instructions for RootsMagic and Family Tree Maker are provided in other articles.

Number of generations - Include at least 3 generations in your report. You might want to start at the oldest ancestor for whom you have solid documentation and end at the generation that includes your great-grandparents, or, possibly, your grandparents.

Privacy - Exclude living persons from your report. In addition, exclude details about any person born in the last 100 years. Likewise, details about burials and marriages within the last 50 years must be excluded.

Font - We suggest that you use a font like Arial or Verdana, with a font size of 12.

Title page - Show the name of the ancestor and his/her date range and give some indications of locations. Include the submitter's name and the date the report was published.

Introduction - If possible, include an introduction that outlines your approach to genealogical research and your reasons for submitting the report. You could also set out any disclaimers and talk about the reliability of the information in the report.

Sources - You should cite your sources - any information without a source is little more than hearsay. We prefer that sources be shown as endnotes, rather than footnotes, if your software will allow that approach.

Index - It is very important to include an index, which should be in the following format:

Surname, Given Names…………...page

Submitter details - Include your name and, if possible, your contact information.

Send to: Send your completed report by email to: webmanager@nbgs.ca

How to create a Register Report using Family Tree Maker - See Submission Guidelines for more information.

Open FTM (Family Tree Maker) and click on ‘People’.

This is an appropriate place to select the ancestor who will be the starting point for your report. Navigate through your tree to find that ancestor, and you should now see something like this on the right side of your screen.

You will have other opportunities to select the starting ancestor but, assuming you have it right, you should now click on ‘Publish’.

At the next screen, click on ‘Genealogy Reports’ and then click on ‘Descendant Report’

The right side of the screen should display something like this:

Click on ‘Create Report’ and FTM will produce and display the first draft of your report.

The right side of the screen should look like this:

You should now start setting the parameters for your descendant report, since the default parameters are unlikely to be entirely appropriate.

Report Title: The title is editable. You may wish to add some identifying information, such as the years of birth and death.

Background: You have the option of using an image as background for your report, but we suggest you leave the setting at ‘None’.

Generations: You should consider several factors when setting this number. Your report must not include any living persons, so the number of generations should be low enough to exclude you and, possibly, your parents and grandparents. You may have to experiment with the number of generations to find the right cut-off point. Additionally, look at the size of the report. Anything more than a couple of hundred pages might be too much.

Generation indicators: There are a few options, but we suggest you stick with ‘Simple’.

Numbering system: It’s important that this be set to ‘Register’.

Pictures: It is probably best that you not include any pictures due to concerns about the size of the report and the storage space that it would require.

List non-vital facts separately: Your choice, we have no recommendation.

Include parent/child relationship types: Your choice, we have no recommendation.

Show generation divider line: Please tick this box.

Include preparer information: Your choice. If you tick this box, the software will pick up the information that you entered in Tools/User Information. If you have not entered your details in that area, then the preparer information will be blank.

There are lots of other options available to fine-tune the content of your report.

Click on the icon at the left just under the word ‘Descendant’ and you should see this:

The easiest approach is to simply accept the default options, but you will have to decide whether you want to include private facts and private notes.

Once you’re happy with the appearance and size of your report, you should save it by clicking on the right-most icon under the word ‘Options’.

The next step in the process is to incorporate your Descendant Report into a ‘Book’, as FTM calls it. In the upper-left corner of the screen, click on ‘Collection’.

You should now see a list of reports and books, like this:

Click on ‘Books’ and you’ll see this in the middle of the screen:

Select ‘Genealogy Book’ and you’ll see this:

Now, click on ‘Create Book’ and then assign a title as shown:

Enter the title you’ve chosen and then press ‘Save’. Don’t forget to save your work frequently as you build your book.

You should now start adding the other items that will ultimately form your book. We suggest that you include:

* Title Page (compulsory - already added above)

* Table of Contents (optional)

* Introduction (optional)

* Descendant Report (compulsory)

* Index (strongly recommended)

To add any of these items, click on the large, blue plus sign at the top of the left-hand column. The up and down arrows will allow you to change the order of items within your book.

To add the Descendant Report that you have already prepared and saved, click on the plus sign, and at the next screen click on ‘Saved Reports’.

Highlight the report you want to insert and then click ‘OK’.

Now it’s time to include an index. Go to ‘Other’, highlight ‘Index’ and click ‘OK’.

The index is generated by the software, but the process might take a couple of minutes - be patient.

After adding the index make sure that the font used in the index is consistent with the rest of the book.

You’re now quite close to the finish line, and this is a good point to critically review all aspects of your book.

Click on ‘Preview Book’ at the bottom of the menu column and, after waiting patiently for a couple of minutes, start scrolling through the book.

* Have you included everything you want in your book?

* Are things in the right order?

* Are the section titles appropriate?

* Do you have the right starting person?

* Did you include the correct number of generations?

* Have all references to living persons been eliminated?

* Did you list your sources?

* Are there any places where you would like to include more narrative?

* Have you used the same font in all sections?

* Is the type size consistent throughout the book?

Of course, you have been saving your work as you went along, but you should re-save the book now.

Finally, you should export your book as a PDF file. To do that, click on share in the upper-right corner.

You will be presented with a number of options; select ‘Export to PDF’.

Now, you should send your PDF file to NBGS. You should anticipate that you will be asked to make some changes. Thankfully, the difficult work is already done and the adjustments requested by NBGS should be tiny.

How to create a Register Report using RootsMagic 8 - See Submission Guidelines for more information.

Follow the prompts to Save the file.

You can now exit RootsMagic and open the file in Microsoft Word for editing.

Using Microsoft Word:

Use the Insert feature to add a cover page and/or a blank page which you can edit with the title, your name and other descriptive information. Several pre-styled cover pages are available. Page number, headers and the date are preformatted for you.

Scroll to the bottom of your Word document and, depending of the version, Word can create the index. If you see the Comments as seen below, press the F9 key to have Word create the index for you. The same can be done for a list of place names if you want to add those (on the page following the index).

Notes:

The Word file can be opened with Google Docs, but the 'create index' feature (F9) does not appear to function.

Open Office and other word processing software may open the file, but you will need to experiment with those.

How to create a Register Report using Legacy - See Submission Guidelines for more information.

Note: If you wish to include an introduction in your Legacy register report, you will need some additional guidance, which you can find in the next Knowledge Base article. Please contact the Co-Webmanagers.for further assistance.

Open Legacy and select Reports on the Ribbon bar, then click on Descendant Book.

The next screen should look like this =>

This is the control centre - the place to set the parameters for your report.

Options Tab - You should probably start by picking the person who will be

the starting point for your report.

At the bottom of the screen, click on 'Change'.

Next, decide how many generations to include in the report. You could set the number to include your great-grandparents, or, possibly, your grandparents, if all persons in that generation are no longer living.

We request that you include a table of contents, with settings as shown.

There are other settings under the Options tab that you may set as you wish.

Missing Information Space - Inserts an underlined space so that missing information can later be filled in for given names, surnames, dates and places.
Single-space children - By default,there is a blank line between subsequent children. Choosing this option removes that extra blank line and packs the child list a bit tighter.
Include Gender for Children - The original format for Register-type reports did not include the gender of the children.
Main Entries - Normally, only individuals who have children are given their own main block of information. Otherwise, they are just listed as children of their parents. You can also specify that individuals with either children or spouses be listed in a main information block, or that all individuals have a main entry. You can also decide to include the direct line back to the starting ancestor and to show the spouses for children who will have a main entry.

Page Layout Tab - The easy (and probably the best) approach is to simply accept the default options, as shown.

Here's a brief explanation of each option.

New Generation On Each Page - Starts each generation on a new page. If you want each generation to begin on an odd numbered page, choose the Start on an odd page number option. Bear in mind that the odd-page-number option will result in a longer book.
Print Names in Bold - Prints each name appearing in the report in a bold font.
Paragraph Indents - The distance to indent each type of paragraph included in the report.
Custom Report Spacing - Lets you adjust the amount of blank line space to be included above the various report sections.

Heading Layout Tab - A couple of the settings in this area are fairly important and we offer some suggestions for your consideration.

Title for Page 1 - The title that is printed only at the top of the first page of the report, after the title page. We suggest that you set this to be as close to the title on the front cover as space will allow. You can also embed replaceable fields within the title text. For example, "Report for [name]". The [name] field will be replaced with the person's name when the report is generated.

Headings - The title that is printed at the top of all the pages after the first page. You could make this the same as the first page or use a shorter title. Here, too, you can embed replaceable fields within the title text. For example, "Report for [name]". The [name] field will be replaced with the person's name when the report is generated.

Subtitles - Specifies the type of generation subtitles printed. These can include the generation number (Generation One, Generation Two) or the Relationship of the generation (Parents, Grandparents) or both (Generation Two, Parents). We suggest that you include both You can also specify the position of the subtitles as being left- or center-justified.

Wording 1 Tab - You can specify phrases that the software will use when creating the narrative paragraphs of the report. We suggest that you simply accept the default wordings, as shown.

Wording 2 Tab - You can specify phrases for the various note paragraphs of the report. These include General Notes, Research Notes, Medical Notes, Marriage Notes, Birth Notes, Christening Notes, Death Notes, and Burial Notes. For simplicity, we suggest that you accept the default wordings.

Index Options - An all-names index is, from our perspective, a vital component of your book. It is important that you follow our suggestions for the settings.

Start by clicking on Index Options, near the bottom of the main page.

Please use the settings as shown in the example to the right.

* Include a name index

* Use Style 2

* Surnames should be uppercase

* Use two columns

We would prefer that you not include a Location Index.

Title Page - We recommend that you include a title page for your report.

Start by clicking the appropriate box near the bottom of the main page.

Main Title - The title on the Title Page. There are 4 blank lines for inputting your title, so you can be quite descriptive. Please set the font to Arial and the size to 18.

Subtitle - The subtitle that prints at the bottom of the Title Page. This area could include your name. Please set the font to Arial and the size to 14.

Picture - You can include a specific picture on the Title Page.

Caption - The caption you want to print under the picture.

Size - The picture can be printed small, medium or large.

Shadow-You can have a drop-shadow behind the picture.

Report Options - This section contains many options that allow you to change the appearance of your report.

After clicking Report Options you will be presented with a number of tabs.

Include - The default options, as shown to the right, are generally appropriate. We strongly recommend that you not include any addresses in the report.

Format - Here, again, the default options are largely appropriate. That said, there are a few things we'd like to highlight.

You should click the box for "Don't repeat duplicate lines".

Under Page Numbering, click the box for "Number all pages consecutively".

Under Blank Line Removal, click the box for "Keep Bir., Chr., Dth., Bur. and Marr."

Under Event Addresses, do not click any boxes.

Notes/Stories - The default options, as shown at right, are appropriate for notes.

You should only include stories if they will not take up a huge amount of space. Depending on the ultimate size of your book, limiting stories so they take no more than 10% to 15% of the total space might make sense.

Sources - Every researcher judges the work of others by looking at the quantity and quality of sources that have been cited. If you want others to accept your work, you need to cite your sources.

Click the box that says "Print sources citations'

Click the button that says, "As endnotes at the end of the book"

Click the button that says, "Indent first line"

Pictures - For the purposes of the NBGS website, we suggest that you not include any pictures. If a few pictures are critical to your narrative, be sure to tightly control the number.

Report Settings - This is located in the lower right corner of the main page.

Save - Saves the current set of report options for either future use (saved under a file name you provide) or as user-default settings.

Load - Load a set of saved options (you choose from any settings you have previously saved) or load User-Defaults.

Reset - Change all the report options back to either the Legacy defaults or to your user-defaults (if you have saved user-default settings).

Printing - When you have set all the options, click either the Preview button to see an on-screen view of the report before it is actually printed, or click Print to have the report sent directly to the printer.

Descendant Charts can be output to various formats. Make your choice by clicking on the appropriate option button in the lower right corner of the Report Menu window. The choices are:

Screen / Printer Sends the report to either the Print Preview window or directly to your printer, depending on whether you click the Preview or Print button.

Rich Text File Sends the report to a disk file containing all the formatting options such as bolding, indents, fonts and font sizes. It also contains all the index and table of contents marks. This file can then be loaded into your favourite word processor for further editing and formatting.

Text File Sends the report to a text file on either your hard drive or a floppy disk. You will be prompted for a drive and folder. (Note: The Index, Table of Contents, and Title Page options are not available when using the Text File output format.)

HTML File Sends the report to an HTML file that can be used on a website or sent as an e-mail message. You will be prompted for a drive and folder. (Note: The Index, Table of Contents, and Title Page options are not available when using the HTML File output format.)

PDF File - Generates the report, displays it in the Print Preview window and then creates an Adobe PDF (Portable Document File) file. This file can be viewed with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader and easily sent to other people by e-mail.

How to add an introduction to a Legacy Register Report -

Many contributors to Ancestral Lines provide introductions to their descendant reports to outline their approaches to genealogy or to highlight things in their reports. The standard version of Legacy does not make it easy to include an introduction although the deluxe version offers the feature. These instructions are for the standard version.

There are a number of steps that you will need to take to add an introduction and the order is important.

1. Save your Legacy descendant report as an RTF file

2. Open the RTF file in your word processor. (We used MS Word but other word processors should work the same way.)

3. Make a back-up copy of the RTF file so you can start over again if something goes wrong.

4. Navigate through your document to the point where you wish to insert your introduction (We suggest that the introduction be added immediately after the Table of Contents.)

5. Insert a new section break (in Word go to Page Layout and then click on Breaks. You should see something like this:

6. Select Next Page

7. Add a header. Use the same ‘style’ as the other headers in the document. (Your word processor looks for a particular style to create the Table of Contents.

8. Edit the footer for the page number. You need to re-set the pagination so that numbering starts with your intro and is continuous to the end of the document.

9. Type in the text of your introduction.

10. Save your file.

11. Navigate to the Table of Contents page. It should look something like this:

12. If you’re using Word, click on ‘REFERENCES’ in the menu ribbon and then click on Table of Contents. (Other word processors may have different approaches and different labels so consult the user manual)

13. Word and other word processors offer multiple formats. Pick the one that suits you best.

14. Save your file.

15. Navigate to the Index page, which should be at the end of the document and will look something like this:

16. If you’re using Word, click on ‘REFERENCES’ in the menu ribbon and then click on Insert Index.

17. Your word processor should offer you some choices, like this:

You should select 2 columns in order to save space.

Click on ‘Right align page numbers’

18. When you’re satisfied with the settings, press OK at the bottom of the dialogue box. Don’t forget that you can undo the creation of the index if you’re not happy with the result and then try again.

19. Save your file.

20. You should now convert the finished document to PDF and send it to NBGS.

ANCESTRAL LINES

A few years ago, Capital Branch of the New Brunswick Genealogical Society launched a project to promote the sharing of genealogical research by NBGS members. Members were invited to submit descendant reports, in “register” format, for a few generations of any New Brunswick family.

A descendant report, in register format, uses the genealogical numbering system developed by the New England Historical and Genealogical Society and starts with a particular ancestor, who is given the Arabic number 1. Each child of this ancestor is then numbered in birth order with a lower-case Roman numeral (i, ii, iii, iv, etc.). If the birth order is not definitively known, children are listed in the most likely order. Any of these children who have descendants included in the report are also assigned an Arabic number (2, 3, 4, etc.) and they appear later in the report with their children listed as descendants. Children who do not have descendants listed in the report are only assigned a lower-case Roman numeral. Only the primary ancestor (number 1 in the report) and the primary ancestor’s descendants are assigned numbers. Non-descendants of the primary ancestor, such as spouses and partners, are not assigned numbers.