Organizing Your Family History

Your research should begin by setting up a good filing system, one that will allow enough storage and promote easy retrieval of data. Many forms are available free on the Internet. A place for these forms is Family Tree Magazine.com. This site has a chart or form for almost any genealogical research.

In today's rapidly advancing technological world however, it was not going to be long before someone found a way to make our friend the computer do the real work of data storage and retrieval, and those researchers with access to even the humblest of personal computers will now find a suitable program available.

Whichever method you choose to use, software or pen and paper, you will need to know which charts or forms to use and how to enter the data that you have collected.

The most often used chart is the ascendant pedigree chart. The ascendant pedigree chart will start with you and move backwards through time. Your first entry will be yourself and then there will be two branches where you enter your parents. It will then move on to four branches where you will enter your parents (your grandparents) and so on. On these forms, you will record the name, birth, marriage and death dates and places of your ancestors.

These charts normally record four or five generations on each page, but are available with up to fifteen generations per page. You will find the four generation per page format is easier and more convenient to work with.

There is also a numbering system for the pedigree chart known as the ahnentafel numbering system (after the older ahnentafel chart not used often today). The numbering system is easy and works like this: you would be number one on the chart, your father would be two times the child's number (2x1=2), and your mother would be two times the child's plus one (2x1+1=3). Your male ancestors will always be an even number and your female ancestors will always have an odd number assigned.

Another form you will use for your research is the family group sheet, which is used to keep track of your family unit and the cousins, aunts and uncles in your family. A separate form used for each single-family unit and you will record dates and places of birth, marriage, death, and burial and make notes on this form.

There are some rules you should follow when entering your data on the various charts. These rules will make it easier for you to refer to the data you have entered.