
Getting Started Suggestions

        Most people find it is best to not immediately begin entering
all of their family data. Instead, they find it helpful to just play
with the program awhile to help them get used to it.

        Enter a few persons.  Link them together in the family records
screen to create a few family records.  Try out all of the keys.  Read
the help screens.  This will give you a chance to get used to the
program.  When you are ready to get serious, go to the Utilities Menu
and choose the Re-Create the Current Database option.  It will clear
everything out so that you can start with a "clean slate".

Here are the most important things to remember:

        1.  F1 is the Help Key.  Use it.
        2.  Reindex the database after adding or deleting some records.
        3.  Make regular backups of your data.

        Persons can be added to the database through either the Person
Records screen (F3 key) or the Family Records screen (F9 key).  Try out
each one to decide which method you prefer.  Most of the users that have
discused the two methods with me prefer this approach:

1. Go to Person Records and add all of the persons that you can remember
(using the F3 key).
2. Reindex the database (This is a VERY important step.).
3. Go to Family Records and begin adding families (F3 key) by linking the
persons together (use the F6 key to find them).

        You must also decide how you will use Family Scrapbook.
Genealogy, by definition, is the study of blood relationships.  Do not
confuse it with Family History. Here is an example to help differentiate
the two:

        Man #1 and Woman #1 have two children.  They are the biological
parents of the children.  They later separate and the Woman keeps the
children.  She then lives with her children and Man #2.  How should you
record it in the database?

        If you are recording genealogy, you -might- enter two family
records. The first would have Man #1, the Woman, and the two children in
it....REGARDLESS of whether they married or not. The second would have
Man #2 and the Woman, but it would be entered ONLY IF they married
and/or had children together...DESPITE the fact that the Woman's two
children live with them.

        If you are recording family history, you might decide to enter
Man #2, the Woman, and her children in the same family record, because
they live as a family.  You -might- enter a record with Man #1 and the
Woman, but you'd leave the children out because Family Scrapbook will
only let you attach one mother and one father to a child.

Since most people are recording genealogy, here are a few guidelines:

        1.  When entering information about individuals, be sure to use
the name that the person was given at birth.  This means that females
should be entered using their maiden names.  Family Scrapbook has
special places for recording nicknames and official name changes.  By
clarifying these things, your ancestor search will be more accurate and
less confusing.

        2.  When entering children, enter the biological children of the
parents...not step children.  Each marriage should have a family record
in the database.  Whenever two people that did not marry have children
together, it should also be recorded in a family record.  The date code
field for the marriage date will allow you to specify when people are
unmarried. Doing this will insure that your reports show true blood
relationships.

