Budding Genealogists: April 2014

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Recording Those Important Events...Paper

One of the first things to think about is where to store the items you have collected once you have recorded them.

Over the years I have found that the D-Ring binders are the best for keeping papers and documents without getting crushed as you put them into the binders. They come in various sizes and colors so pick one that you feel will hold the records you have collected.

I use plastic sheet covers for all those important documents and papers. This helps to preserve them over time and will hold up through the various cycles life throws at us like moving, children, grandchildren, etc.

As you begin, perhaps the first thing to begin filling out is a simple Family Group Sheet that contains all the information about your own family first and then each of you as children for a total of 3 Family Group Sheets. Here is a sample of one.

As Your family grows you can easily add the children, if you are not married, filling one in with you as a child will do followed with one for each of your parents as children. Here is a link to print one out to fill out. This is from the series Ancestors and it will work just fine for someone starting out and wanting to take the time to get things recorded. Be sure to write down where the information came from right from the beginning, its a habit I wish someone had told me when I first began. There is a notes section on the back where this can be done easily.

The second form worth mentioning is an ancestral chart or a pedigree chart. Here is a sample:

Don't be alarmed at not being able to fill this one out completely...

This is just the beginning of your journey and no one knows all the ancestors when just beginning unless someone in your family has already done some research.

If that is so, it would be worth your while to get a copy of their information to add to your files.

This achieves 2 things, it lets that relative know that someone else in the family is interested in family history and by providing you a copy, they now have created a back up in case something happens to their records! Kimberly Powell from About.com provides one for easy download here.

These are two most common forms/charts that are used to put family information as you collect it from other documents.

Hopefully these two forms will help you to get organized as start to build your own family history!

Next article will discuss using software instead of paper, however, it is wise depending on your circumstances to do both.

Comments are always encouraged and welcome!

Building Bridges for All Generations!

Claire (*)
Timeless Genealogies
We're Your Family is "No. 1"

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Monday, April 14, 2014

All Those Records...

As you begin to sort through all the documents and items you have collected, it can be difficult to know what to do with each one and yet each item is important to the recording of your family's history and genealogy.

Take for instance a simple Birth Certificate, the time period determines the amount of information on the document itself. There is usually less information on the older documents than there are today.

Often, older records are listed in registers with a one line entry, if one is lucky both parents are listed.
While Marriage Records today list a lot of information, again, older records can be just a one line entry or a whole document with only the names of the bride and groom. It just depends on who was keeping the records at the time and each location throughout the world is different.

Copying down each bit of information is important but just what do you copy and where does it go?

It is at this point that you must decide where to keep this information, what program to use or will it be recorded and kept in a simple record book for your family?

Let's look at a sample of a birth certificate I discovered in a box of documents from my mother's home after she had passed away in 1998.

Notice that it provides all the important information concerning the birth of my father including who his father and mother were, their occupations and ages at the time of birth along with his position in the family.

While this entry from a family bible provides the bare minimum of information, but can lead to locating the rest of the information.

As you can see, it is just a hand written entry with a name and a date, however, it can be just a valuable as one can follow the name and date and locate an original record.

Gathering the clues for the current and next couple of generations is just the beginning of growing your own family tree!

Next we tackle some of the software on the market to help you save the valuable information you are collecting.