Assembling a Family Tree

When you first start researching your genealogy and you see a well-done family tree with easy instructions, you may want to immediately start one, but that is not your first concern. You need to find all your ancestors and their vital records.

This is going to take from a few months to several years depending on your family and the methods you use to confirm the existence of the members. First you find your grandparents and all the vital records and certificates for them and store them using archival methods.

Find all the birth, death and marriage certificates. Find photos and any memorabilia concerning a family member. Use a method you prefer for keeping all these things organized.

Some people use color coded notebooks and tabs. Genealogists are usually buried under piles of notes and documents. Be sure you put the source of all your information on the documents.

If it is a census, put the number, year, place and address. If it is a certificate, put down where you obtained it whether at a church or courthouse.

Be sure to keep track of what is rumor and what is accurate. Census records are excellent. Birth and marriage certificates are usually accurate.

Now, you are ready to make a family tree. There are several ways to make your tree. If you are an artist with beautiful handwriting or the ability to write in calligraphy, you may draw a tree with the leaves being the family members.

I do not have an artistic bone in my body, so I chose Family Tree Maker software to document and organize my family and the records. You can then make trees and books.

Computer software really helps keep people organized and it will find errors and let you know if that mother was too old to have that son or other obvious mistakes.

I think it helps if you draw a diagram in pen or pencil on a sheet of firm paper or cardboard, putting the oldest ancestor at the top and then flare out the rest of the family under him.

You can add spouses and children all on this one diagram. Make one of these for each branch of the tree before you really start making a final product.

Whatever you do, do not go online and put in a surname and think that the results you receive are your family. They might well be if some of your relatives have already submitted a tree online. However, use caution when adding these names to your tree until you verify them.

A well assembled, well documented family tree is a wonderful keepsake for the members of your family.

Elizabeth Larsen has researched her family tree for 35 years. For more information on beginning a good genealogy and good tips, go to http://www.squidoo.com/basicgenealogy

Source: http://www.womenfavor.com/home-and-family/genealogy-family-trees/assembling-a-family-tree.html

the band perry zac brown band thunderbirds temple grandin tumblr themes google doodle online guitar tuner