Re: [Gramps-users] How to show adoption in a family tree

[Craig T. <ctr...@co...>]

At 4:17 AM -0800 1/15/13, RayArdia wrote:
>Hi Doug, I'm still struggling!
>I followed your 'To merge two people, select both in the People View (click
>on one,
>control+click on the other). Then click the "Merge" button in the
>toolbar.'
>(As I had done before) the result is that in Ancestry view Raymond Allinson
>(sic)  appears as a legitimate child of William and Ethel Clutterbuck (which
>is wrong because he was illegitimate, father unknown, and should be shown as
>Godfrey his given name at birth). The 'tile' for Godfrey C doesn't show in
>the tree at all,nor in the index list in Person. (If I undo the 'merge ' he
>reappears.)
>When I do the Merge there is a choice between making Raymond or Godfrey the
>'source info' person, choosing R gives the above result, choosing G causes
>an error and invites me to submit a bug report.
>
>Re:- 'The Ancestry View in Gramps 3.4 only shows the direct ancestors of a
>particular person. Use the Relationship View to see all of the
>children. Or open a Gramplet in the Side or Bottom bar and add the
>"Person Children" gramplet. That will show the children of the
>currently active person. '
>OK, I understand, so my Ancestry View is performing as designed even tough I
>would prefer it to give me a 'picture' of a whole family. I can see the
>family in Relationships and I THINK I follow the logic of why some names are
>in bold, blue, italics or just grey. No doubt these permutations are
>incredibly useful to clever people like yourself but I must confess to being
>more than a little confused. BTW adding the Person Children gramplet didn't
>appear to do anything at all.
>
>If it's true that we lose brain cells at an increasing rate as we age then I
>guess my three or four (dozen?) that remain are struggling to cope. Maybe
>there is a simpler program that would do what I need to do but in a more
>ancient-duffer-friendly way?
>
>My thanks once more to you and to the others who have replied, for the help
>so far, it is very much appreciated.

Hi:

I'd suggest you create a family tree just for testing:  from the menu 
bar, select Family Trees>Manage Family Trees... and click New.  Give 
it whatever name you like--I use "Junk Test" so it is crystal clear 
to me!

In your new, empty tree, create the four parents:  two birth and two 
adoptive.  Again, I wouldn't use real names..something like "Birth 
Dad", "Birth Mom", "Adoptive father" and "Adoptive Mom".  Start with 
the birth parents and add a child to their family in the normal way. 
(Maybe name it "Child".)  Your family tree now has 5 people in it. 
Now, start with the adoptive parents in the Families view.  To add 
the adopted child, click the icon with the pointing finger; NOT the 
regular Plus icon.  Select the child from the list.  When you click 
OK, you'll be presented with a dialog titled "Child Reference 
Editor".  Here, you specify the relationship with each of the parents 
is "Adopted".

Now regardless of which parent you choose, the Relationships window 
will show Child as a child of each of the parents.  The Ancestory 
window shows the birth parents.  If you run the "Complete Individual 
Report...", it will show the birth parents and an extra section 
called "Alternate Parents", with "relationship:  adopted".  The 
"Detailed Descendant Report" for the adoptive parents will also list 
Child.

(Notice that there are several other relationship options available. 
I think this is how you handle the illegitimate child issue.)

Note that we haven't recorded the date of the adoption, the agency 
involved, etc.  If you want to record those details, select the child 
and add an Event
"Adopted", where you can add as many or as few details as you wish. 
I then like to 'share' this event with the adoptive mother and 
father.  Again, this is done by using the icon with the pointing 
finger rather than the Plus icon.

Looking at it now, I realize 'Families' can have events as well as 
the adoptive parents as individuals.  I'm not sure if it is better 
for the adoptive family to share the event or for each of the 
adopting parents.  You may want to play with your test family tree 
and decide for yourself.

When you are done playing, use the Family Trees icon in the toolbar 
to navigate back to your main family tree.

HTH

Craig