The Beginning Genealogist
Where Beginners Learn to tell their story
Where Beginners Learn to tell their story
Organize your Data with the Right Forms and Charts
Beginning genealogists need to start to record the information from oral history conversations and from official documents and store the information in an orderly manner.
To do this two types of documents are needed: Pedigree Charts and Family Group Sheets.
Pedigree charts are charts that will allow you to document your direct ancestors–parents, grandparents, great grandparents, Gr. Great grandparents and so on. Family Group Sheets will allow you to record family clusters. You will record yourself as the child of your parents, your parents as the children of their parents and your grandchildren as the children of their parents. This will allow you to capture not only direct ancestors, but also collateral ancestors–those aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Although most of this data can be collected electronically you are urged to collect this information on paper first. By recording this data personally, you will start to get a feeling of the grouping of your ancestors and to think of them in the appropriate family clusters. You will record your father as both head of house as well as a child of his own parents. The same thing will be done with your cousins–-they will be recorded as the children of your aunts and uncles, but as they become adults, you also will record them as parents of their own households. By capturing your family in varying stages of their lives, you start to frame the structure of your family, and to construct the frame around which your family story will be built. Enjoy these sample charts.
PEDIGREE CHARTS
Pedigree chart1
Pedigree chart2
Family Group Sheets1
Family Group Sheets2
To do this two types of documents are needed: Pedigree Charts and Family Group Sheets.
Pedigree charts are charts that will allow you to document your direct ancestors–parents, grandparents, great grandparents, Gr. Great grandparents and so on. Family Group Sheets will allow you to record family clusters. You will record yourself as the child of your parents, your parents as the children of their parents and your grandchildren as the children of their parents. This will allow you to capture not only direct ancestors, but also collateral ancestors–those aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Although most of this data can be collected electronically you are urged to collect this information on paper first. By recording this data personally, you will start to get a feeling of the grouping of your ancestors and to think of them in the appropriate family clusters. You will record your father as both head of house as well as a child of his own parents. The same thing will be done with your cousins–-they will be recorded as the children of your aunts and uncles, but as they become adults, you also will record them as parents of their own households. By capturing your family in varying stages of their lives, you start to frame the structure of your family, and to construct the frame around which your family story will be built. Enjoy these sample charts.
PEDIGREE CHARTS
Pedigree chart1
Pedigree chart2
Family Group Sheets1
Family Group Sheets2