Thursday, May 28, 2015

Getting Started

I've met people who were anxious to go to Ancestry.com and start building their family tree but that is definitely not the best way to get started. Tracing your family history starts with you, your siblings, and your parents. You must start with what you know and work your way backward from there. I will admit that that was not what I wanted to do when I first started. I was anxious to see where my family came from and who my ancestors were but I can guarantee that if you don't begin by documenting what you know, you will later have to prune many "ancestors" from your tree. You get really attached to these people whose lives you have researched and it's hard to accept that they are not related to you. So save yourself the wasted time and anguish and do it right from the beginning.

How do you do that? First, you will need a pedigree chart and family group sheets. You can download blank forms from many websites, including Ancestry.com and Cyndis List. Start with the pedigree chart and fill in as much as you can. Put yourself as Number 1 on the chart. Then add your parents' information and as much as you can about your grandparents and great-grandparents. It's a good idea to use pencil so you can make changes if it turns out some of your initial information is wrong.

Blank Pedigree Chart




















Next you will need some family group sheets, one for each marriage (or other relationship that produced children) on your pedigree chart. Here you will record birth, marriage, and death information for family units: parents and all children. If a person was married more than once, a separate family group sheet must be filled out for each marriage.

Family Group Sheet




















The pedigree chart shows you and your direct ancestors only (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.) The family group sheets are where you record your siblings and those of your parents, etc. It's very important to collect information on all family members. I'll discuss why in a later post.

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