Author Topic: What database or program should I use ?  (Read 54232 times)

Offline pinefamily

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Re: What database should I use?
« Reply #9 on: Thursday 25 September 08 10:04 BST (UK) »
Found this thread scrolling around eootschat.
When I started my one-name study, I created tables, forms,etc. in Access. A lot of messing around and restarting later, I found I had a reasonable database.
Then, I heard about Custodian, and later The Master Genealogist. This last one is a genealogy program, but I believe can be used for one-name studies. Having already purchased a genealogy program previously, U thought my money better spent on Custodian. 4,500 names later.....

Darren
I am Australian, from all the lands I come (my ancestors, at least!)

Pine/Pyne, Dowdeswell, Kempster, Sando/Sandoe/Sandow, Nancarrow, Hounslow, Youatt, Richardson, Jarmyn, Oxlade, Coad, Kelsey, Crampton, Lindner, Pittaway, and too many others to name.
Devon, Dorset, Gloucs, Cornwall, Warwickshire, Bucks, Oxfordshire, Wilts, Germany, Sweden, and of course London, to name a few.

Offline pinefamily

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Re: Best Computer Programme
« Reply #10 on: Thursday 25 September 08 10:17 BST (UK) »
Custodian. It is a database program, rather than a genealogy program, and you can import and export excel files.

Darren
I am Australian, from all the lands I come (my ancestors, at least!)

Pine/Pyne, Dowdeswell, Kempster, Sando/Sandoe/Sandow, Nancarrow, Hounslow, Youatt, Richardson, Jarmyn, Oxlade, Coad, Kelsey, Crampton, Lindner, Pittaway, and too many others to name.
Devon, Dorset, Gloucs, Cornwall, Warwickshire, Bucks, Oxfordshire, Wilts, Germany, Sweden, and of course London, to name a few.

Offline behindthefrogs

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Re: What database should I use?
« Reply #11 on: Thursday 25 September 08 11:15 BST (UK) »
I have tried using traditional genealogy programs for a one name database and i find that they rapidly become unmanageable.  They are not in general designed to allow you to link people after they have been included.

I find that an Excel Spreadsheet is the best solution.  You can in Excel carry out much of the linking which is available in Access.

If you take Gedcom as a model and have a sheet which corresponds to each of the types of Gedcom record (Individual, Family, Note) then a very sophisticated database can be built.

David
Living in Berkshire from Northampton & Milton Keynes
DETAILS OF MY NAMES ARE IN SURNAME INTERESTS, LINK AT FOOT OF PAGE
Wilson, Higgs, Buswell, PARCELL, Matthews, TAMKIN, Seckington, Pates, Coupland, Webb, Arthur, MAYNARD, Caves, Norman, Winch, Culverhouse, Drakeley.
Johnson, Routledge, SHIRT, SAICH, Mills, SAUNDERS, EDLIN, Perry, Vickers, Pakeman, Griffiths, Marston, Turner, Child, Sheen, Gray, Woolhouse, Stevens, Batchelor
Census Info is Crown Copyright from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline pjbuk007

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Re: Best Computer Programme
« Reply #12 on: Thursday 25 September 08 11:20 BST (UK) »
Rootsmap is quite a nice site, but very basic in terms of surname research.

Custodian is used by most one-namers.
http://www.custodian3.co.uk/

But have you joined GOONS?
http://www.one-name.org/

If not, I strongly suggest that you do, it is well worth it.  Also well worth registering the name if you have not done so. They have good meetings, and the website has improved a lot, with a growing Wiki which is very helpful.
BENNET(T); NRY- Brotton, CON
BURTON; NRY- Saltburn, Guisborough, Marske, Stokesley
Judge Newark Lincoln BURTON , USA
DALES; NRY- Brotton, LIN - Orby
DAVIES
GEORGE: GLA - Oystermouth & Penarth, CON
LINCOLN. Middlesbrough, NRY, Durham
PERRETT Gloucestershire
QUESTED London. Assisting with One-name Study.
TRASK; GLA - Cardiff, Barry etc, SOM - South Petherton
WESTED

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Offline mike175

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Re: What database or program should I use ?
« Reply #13 on: Saturday 25 October 08 16:35 BST (UK) »
I just installed Custodian 3 because so many people seem to recommend it for one-name studies. Now I'm not so sure it was a good idea. I guess you can get used to anything but it sure is hard work, and I'm already beginning to wonder if life is just too short to bother.  :(

After using RootsMagic (which I highly recommend), in fact after most modern software, it's like turning the clock back 20 years. It reminds me of my early efforts with dBaseII. Certainly not a 'user friendly' interface by modern standards. Every other genealogy program I've tried has been able to import GEDCOM files and incorporate them into the database, but Custodian seems to isolate all the GEDCOM data and leave you to enter the BMDs, etc. manually. Or maybe I've missed something? :-\

If you're thinking of using Custodian, I suggest you play around with the limited free download for a long time to make sure it works for you.

Mike.
Baskervill - Devon, Foss - Hants, Gentry - Essex, Metherell - Devon, Partridge - Essex/London, Press - Norfolk/London, Stone - Surrey/Sussex, Stuttle - Essex/London, Wheate - Middlesex/Essex/Coventry/Oxfordshire/Staffs, Gibson - Essex, Wyatt - Essex/Kent

Offline DonHugo

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Re: What database or program should I use ?
« Reply #14 on: Saturday 25 October 08 17:29 BST (UK) »
Don't re-invent the wheel! 

Contact the Group of One Name Studies for advice.  They have a wealth of experience.

If 800 or more records are involved, I would not even consider a spreadsheet; I would opt for a database. 

The downside of creating your own database is the design effort required, and this should include GEDCOM import/export capability.

DonHugo

Offline pursebearer

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Re: What database or program should I use ?
« Reply #15 on: Thursday 05 February 09 13:48 GMT (UK) »
I've used Microsoft Works databases since the 1980s with great success. I have separate files for births, marriages, deaths and censuses etc. It's simple to use, easy to manipulate data and design reports. The only issue is the inability to create links between files. But I'm now looking for something similar that will run under Linux as well as Windows. The Works word processor files I created 20 years ago are no longer readable by the latest Works, I'm afraid that eventually, the same will apply to the database files. OpenOffice.org has a nice database that runs on either platform but it's much harder to operate than with Works. I note that both Custodian and Rootsmagic are Windows only. Is there any equivalent for an open platform?
McSparran,McSparren,McSparrin,McSparron;all dates, worldwide

Offline vickifperry

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Re: What database or program should I use ?
« Reply #16 on: Friday 20 February 09 11:25 GMT (UK) »
I've found this discussion very helpful, and I didn't know that there was specific software available.

I've been doing a one-name study on my own surname in Ireland (not registered with GOONS as I don't want to include the UK). I have a separate spreadsheet for each source (births, deaths, census, deeds etc), with a column for each detail (name, date, reference number) etc. I've collected thousands of instances of the name now and I'm starting to link the families together. I have a column in each table which gives details of which particlar family the person in question comes from and once I've fitted them in I put details in this column, and enter them into my genealogy software. I'm also doing an index of other people mentioned in the documents, rather than the primary person who the document is about (e.g. witnesses, godparents, other parties to deeds) and index of placenames, which will hopefully flag up any connections between the different families.

What I want to know is....does this make sense? Can anyone foresee any problems with this approach and is it worth getting the software instead (and if it is, would it be easy to transfer all my data over?)

Thanks,

Vicki
Perry families of Ireland (www.irishperrys.com)
Vendyback family of Medbourne, Leicestershire
Van de Becks of Thorney, Cambridgeshire
Quartermain of Oxfordshire

Offline Berlin-Bob

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Re: What database or program should I use ?
« Reply #17 on: Sunday 22 February 09 16:00 GMT (UK) »
Quote
What I want to know is....does this make sense? Can anyone foresee any problems with this approach and is it worth getting the software instead (and if it is, would it be easy to transfer all my data over?)

Hi Vicki,

in the worst case, you will probably find that you need extra columns/fields which didn't occur to you when you were setting things up.

There is another topic on this board about using excel (with links to other topics, etc :) ).
Topic: Best System?
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,15396.0.html

If you read that, and follow all the links there, you will find various suggestions for which columns should /could be in an excel table.
And an advantage of excel is that it is easy to add columns later, if new aspects occur to you.
(some of the links are to topics on the FH Programs, Organisation, Presentation .
Could be worth checking out some of the ideas and the experiences with different FH programs there)

I prefer to keep everything in one file, with one line for each event, others prefer one line with every event for that person, others prefer a seperate file for each event   -  your research, your choice :)

One event per line means that I can record the addresses at each census (for instance)

In the other topics, Chris (one file per event) also explains how he merges the files to make one master file. Using the excel filters, it is then possible to look for connections (or coincidences ?), using place, age, or whatever criterion you choose.

And as I said in the other topic, excel has a lot of export possibilities, so you should be able to export the data in a format that other programs can also use.

Bob
Any UK Census Data included in this post is Crown Copyright (see: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk)