Create Family book (Ortsfamilienbuch)

[geoglorus]

Hello,

Is it possible to publish a family book from one’s Gramps tree?

My genealogy circle publishes family books (Ortsfamilienbuch) when they do a complete review of the records of a village. They use Omega software to generate these books. I find this format very practical, even for consulting a family genealogy on paper. The presentation is roughly as follows:

• each family has a number
• the couple is listed with dates of birth, death and marriage
• there are cross-references to “other families” (= another family number) if there have been other marriages for either member of the couple
• cross-references to the families of each of the couple’s parents
• there’s a list of children born of the union, with their date of birth, their spouse(s) and a reference to these families

Here’s two example:

Thank you for your help.

[emyoulation]

Depending on the direction of the content, you will want to look at:

• Detailed Descendant Report (downwards from a particular progenitor/progenitrix)
• Detailed Ancestor Report (from a particular individual)
• addon variants of the above which generate the reports for multiple persons/branches in the tree.

The Books report feature allows additional context to be wrapped around reports (Table of Contents, Index, et cetera). Supports output to word processor formats so you can use the sectional page numbering (and other post-processing) of desktop publishing tools.

[geoglorus]

Thank you for your reply. However, it’s not the function I’m looking for. In fact, in a family book, there’s no such thing as a stump individual. The whole database has to be exported, and the export software has to manage the family numbering and cross-references itself, because if you do it manually, there’s too much risk of error (and it can be tedious if you’re working on a very large database).

[emyoulation]

@geoglorus

The whole database has to be exported, and the export software has to manage the family numbering and cross-references itself, because if you do it manually, there’s too much risk of error (and it can be tedious if you’re working on a very large database).

That’s why Matt Keenan and Giansalvo Gusinu contributed the addon. (Mentioned as the 3rd bullet point. And why that one has a hotlink. It is the preferred reference even though it lacks screen captures found in the 1st two.) The addon can do the whole tree or filtered portions thereof… not just a particular individual.

[geoglorus]

Oh dear, I hadn’t realized that. I’ll have a look at the documentation and do my tests. Thanks for your time.

[geoglorus]

I’ve just tested the gramplet. However, the result is not exactly what I’m looking for. In fact, it took each oldest individual and gave me a descending report with the different people in each generation. But I end up with a lot of duplicates (which can be deleted, but which complicate the reading).

The principle of a family book is that it should be double-entry (I can search for the ancestry or descent of each individual). To do this, each family has a unique number. Here, the references for a single individual are multiple and unordered. I’m a little confused by this and don’t find it practical, as the families are not in alphabetical order.

When I read the documentation, the descendants’ reports are generated and aggregated into a single document with cross-references between the different reports. So this isn’t what I’m looking for, or I’ve set up the gramplet incorrectly.

[RenTheRoot]

Looking at the software you mentioned using, it does appear there is a gedcom import feature. Gramps will allow you to export a gedcom that can then be imported into the other program.

I do also want to say that I know you are specifically talking about making an Ortsfamilienbuch which while it does translate to family book in English, as far as I am aware we don’t typically publish town genealogies in the same format as the German version. It would probably be best to refer to them as Ortsfamilienbuch in the forum, therefore, as a clarifying vocabulary word since it implies a standardized format.

[geoglorus]

@RenTheRoot

It would probably be best to refer to them as Ortsfamilienbuch in the forum, therefore, as a clarifying vocabulary word since it implies a standardized format.

I’m happy to use the German word if it clarifies things. It’s true that I only translated the French word (itself a translation of the German word).

@RenTheRoot

Looking at the software you mentioned using, it does appear there is a gedcom import feature. Gramps will allow you to export a gedcom that can then be imported into the other program.

Yes, it do. Omega has a gedcom import function. However, I don’t personally have a license for this proprietary software, which runs on Windows. I am, however, a user of the books generated with this software. I’m looking for a solution to obtain an equivalent result with Gramps (on Debian).

[RenTheRoot]

Ah I see thank you for the clarification. I have read OFBs but have not made one myself. It may help us determine if GRAMPs has a feature that allows the creation of one if you can find and post a good overview of the OFB format that fits what you are looking for, preferably in English. It would also help if you linked a reference with only a couple families so we can understand the format easily.

[geoglorus]

I’m not sure what you need. Do you want that I take some pictures of an OFB or do you want that I generate an OFB from a small GEDCOM?

[RenTheRoot]

ideally it would be a digital example, but really just make a template if you want to make one yourself with your requirements. Or find one online that matches what you need. I would consider taking some time myself to spin up a report generator for you if you do this since gramps makes programming new reports pretty easy.

[RenTheRoot]

Generally the smallest possible OFB you can find / make that meets all your requirements and shows what you need would be the most ideal. The idea would be to make it really easy to understand your format requirements without having to look at all the entries in a large book to try and find outlier formats.

[Woody]

I also know the “Ortsfamilienbuch”. I have spent many hours with them. Shortly after their expulsion in the mid-1980s, the Banat Swabians began researching their origins and put everything into printed Ortsfamilienbücher.

All families and individuals without further connections are listed alphabetically with a preceding number (family number-here the Nr.135).

After the father’s name (with name variants) comes the family he comes from in brackets ( <127.4> ). This means he comes from family 127 and is the 4th child.

Then the abbreviated names of the father and mother.

Then the marriage dates with place (abbreviated)

The wife is then listed (<1376.6, 5090> )
She is the 6th child from the family 1376 and was already married once in the 5090 family.
Then the abbreviated names of the father and mother.

Then comes the list of children. If a child was married, the reference to his family ( <110> ) appears after the date of birth.

Here is the entry of the father Andres, Michael <127.4> in the parental family. It´s the 4. Child

Here is the family of Johann Andres from the first family with the reference to the family <110>

It goes on like this, sometimes for over 1000 pages.
At the end there is an index of names and a place index.

It would be good if all links were linked as hyperlinks. Then you could have the whole thing as a PDF or even make a print version of it.

[geoglorus]

@RenTheRoot

really just make a template if you want to make one yourself with your requirements

Is it OK for you ?

401 EGLOFF Théobald <400.1>, weaver, son of EGLOFF Valentin and BRANDMANN Anne Marie
* 04/02/1834 Sarralbe + 18/04/1897 Behren-lès-Forbach
Ier x 16/02/1858 Nousseviller
ADAM Anne Marie <9.3>, winegrower, daughter of ADAM Pierre and BAYER Catherine
* 09/08/1833 Sarralbe + 03/05/1871 Nousseviller
IIème x 13/01/1874 Nousseviller
GRIN Catherine <489.2,1038>
*09/02/1830 + 16/06/1901 Nousseviller
[Ier x 26/01/1854 Tenteling WELTER François <1038>]

Children of 1st marriage
1. Marie		* 27/11/1869 Nousseviller
2. Sophie           * 03/05/1871 Nousseviller   + 26/06/1948 Metz <620>
   x 27/01/1896 Petite-Rosselle **GORIUS** Charles

Children of 2nd marriage
3. Marguerite       * 04/02/1874 Nousseviller   + 19/09/1948 Metz <33>
   x 14/11/1898 Nousseviller **ALMAN** Jean

401 is the family number of EGLOFF Théobald and all its wives

400 is a reference to his parents’ family and 1 means he is his father’s first child.

• (star) means “date of birth” and “place of birth”.

• means “date of death” and “place of death”.

Ier x means first marriage and the date and place.

ADAM Anne Marie is the first wife of EGLOFF Théobald.

9 is a reference to her parents’ family and 3 means she is her father’s third child.

GRIN Catherine is the second wife of EGLOFF Théobald.

489 is a reference to her parents’ family and 2 means she is her father’s second child.

1038 refers to the family formed by GRIN Catherine and her first husband WELTER François.

620 is a reference to the family Sophie (EGLOFF) forms with GORIUS Charles.

Families are created in alphabetical order by surname, followed by the first name of the 1st parent (usually the man).

A family can be created even if there are no children.

The same family can therefore have a different number if a new book is generated later, having added new families.

WARNING the genealogical data in this example are fictitious.

[UlrichDemlehner]

@geoglorus

Is it possible to publish a family book from one’s Gramps tree?

You may be interested in an alternative approach. The “Dynamic Web Report” (DWR) will produce a “website” that is fully equivalent to a Ortsfamilienbuch (OFB) with the added value of everything being linked to everything. I use the term “website” in quotation marks since the DWR produces a set of files that do not need a real webserver but if one is available (either on the local machine or somewhere over the internet), it can be used.

The author of the original DWR appears to have given up working on the report, but there is a much improved version available on Github.

Best regards

Ulrich

[geoglorus]

I still use DWR (my website) but I want to be able to print a book

[UlrichDemlehner]

Just being curious: what’s your reason to prefer a book over a website?

[geoglorus]

Complicated question, but I think paper is still my preference in certain situations (I use computers a lot, by the way). I can work offline with a paper book and exchange information more easily on the move, I can drop it off in a library or offer a copy of the book to someone unfamiliar with computers (my grandparents or an old cousin who helps me). A paper book is still a beautiful object.

[UlrichDemlehner]

Ok, I see the points you’re making (even if I do not agree with all of those). I used to be a big book fan all of my life with quite a large personal library and was always convinced that I would never give up books over electronic devices. But a few years ago, I sold or donated my library (I still haven’t had the heart to simply throw it into the trash), and switched to my ebook reader …

BTW: you can run the DWR website (i e the output of the DWR report) on an Android tablet even without an internet connection, so the “on the move” part of your arguments has some competition

[OlliL]

If someone would want to publish it online instead of a book (which is the requested format here, I get it ) I wouldn’t reinvent the wheel and go with the Online OFB software CompGen provides. All it takes is a GEDCOM file…

For example my OFB Online Local heritage book of Güstow (main page only available in German, sorry).

I chose online over a book because it reaches a wider audience and in my personal evaluation, there is not much money to earn from publishing a book with that kind of topic so why go through all that trouble…