The approach described on this page entails some duplication of information, because each individual piece of information can have its own Source Reference added to it, whereas the Census Gramplet attaches most of the information to the Census event record.

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This guide explains how to use Gramps to record all of the information that a 1881 UK Census return contains about a household. It demonstrates how to enter Repositories, Sources, People and Families. How to link them together to ensure that every piece of information is attributed back to its source. It also explains how to use the Clipboard and "drag and drop" to speed up data entry.

Census returns are organized by location and each return shows a list of households living in a particular street. This means that once you find a return showing one of your ancestors it will also show the rest their family members living in the same house.

==Information contained in a Census return==

This Census page records the following information about where the census was taken and where the page is located within the Census record:

==Entering preliminary information==

Once you have copied the Source Reference to the Clipboard click the OK button on the Media dialog but keep the Clipboard open. You can resize the Clipboard window and move it to the side of your screen so that it does not get in the way.

==Entering the head of the family==

Now that we have created the Source we can start adding the people. We may as well start with the head of the family. The information that we have to enter is:

Now we need to add the birth event. Click on the Event tab and then the {{man button|{{icon|stock_add}}}} icon to add a new event. Select 'Birth' in the Event Type list and enter the date (about 1845). You may want to add a description to the event in the Description field (e.g. Birth of John Martin). Then click on the Sources tab and drag the Source Reference in from the Clipboard.

Each individual piece of information can have its own Source Reference added to it so that it is clear where the information came from. This is useful if you have a number of sources for a given person and you want to remember which one contributed a particular piece of information.

Now we need to add the rest of the information for John Martin. Change to the Addresses tab and click the plus button to add a new address. Illustration 8 shows the completed address dialog. Don't forget to add the Source Reference to the Sources tab as well. Once the address is complete click on the OK button and then drag the completed Address record on to the Clipboard. The Address record will be reused when we come to enter the rest of the family.

Now add an Attribute to capture the fact that John Martin was deaf and dumb. Again you need to add a Source Reference to show that this information came from the Census. By now you should have got the hang of adding information and then copying it to the Clipboard for later use. Obviously there is no need to copy records to the Clipboard if you can see that they are unique to one person and will not be needed again. Illustration 9 shows the completed Attribute dialog.

Now move to the Event tab and add an Event type of Occupation to capture the fact that John Martin was a labourer in an Iron Works on Sunday 3 April 1881. To add the place information click on the {{man button|{{icon|stock_add}}}} that is on the right of the Place field. Finally don't forget to add the Source Reference to the Source tab of the Event. There is no point copying this Event to the Clipboard because no one else in the family was a labourer in the Iron Works. Illustration 10 shows the completed Event.

On the right hand side of the icon bar at the top of the window there are three icons for 'Add', 'Share' and 'Partner' (if you screen is too narrow you may need to click on the small black triangle at the far right of the icon bar to see these icons). Click on the 'Partner' icon to add Zillah Martin to the database as John's wife. In the New Family dialog click on the {{man button|{{icon|stock_add}}}} to the right of "Mother". Fill in the Person record with the information for Zillah, be sure to change the "Type" to married name. Remember that you can use the information already on the Clipboard to speed up the data entry. Once the Person record is completed click on OK. Now add the Source Reference to the Family on the Sources tab of the New Family dialog and change the Type to "Married". You can now add an event to the Family for the marriage.

Unfortunately the Census records do not tells us anything about peoples marriage. In fact it is dangerous to assume that just because they say they are man and wife on the Census that they are actually married. How you deal with this is up to you. I change the Event Type to 'Possible Marriage' and enter a date of 'before 3 April 1881'. This captures what I think the census is telling me. You might choose to leave the Event Type as 'Marriage' it is up to you. Click on the Event tab in the Family View and then click on to add a new event. The Role will be set to Family. Don't forget to add the Source Reference as well. Illustration 11 shows the completed dialog. Click OK to close the dialog.

Now we want to add this event to each of the spouses but change their Roles. Drag and drop the Event on to the Clipboard. Then click on the edit button next to "Martin, John" (the one with the pencil). Drag the Possible Marriage Event from the Clipboard and drop it on the Event tab. This will open the Event Reference Editor, change the Role to "Groom" and click OK. Click OK on the Person dialog and repeat for Zillah Martin, but change the Role to "Bride".

Now that both parents have been added we can add the children to the family. Click on the "Children Tab". On the right-hand side of the Children window there are four buttons. The {{man button|{{icon|stock_add}}}} button will add new children to the database. Click this button and add the information for the first child. When you Click OK to close the Person dialog for the child you will be presented with a Child Reference Editor that will ask for the relationships between the Mother and Father in the Family and the new child that you have entered. This is useful if you are entering step children etc. Just leave the relationships as Birth and drag the Source Reference in again. Repeat for the other children shown on the Census record.

Once all the children are entered the information contained on the Census is complete. The finally Family View is shown in illustration 12.

Finally take a look at the Source record for our UK Census 1881 source. Click on the Sources tab on the left of the main window and double click on the UK Census 1881 entry. Click on the References tab. You can see all the records that have been linked to this Source. This is shown in illustration 13. You will note in this view that many of the records, especially the Events, do not have very useful names. You can generate meaningful names for all the Events by clicking on the Tools -> Database Processing -> Extract Event Descriptions from Event Data menu. A word of caution, you can't undo this operation so it may be prudent to backup your database before processing. The results of running this operation are shown in illustration 14.

==Conclusion==