Back to Basics -1

When you want to organize a family history, you can start by filling out a Family Group Sheet, or a Pedigree Chart. If your mind works in outline style, a pedigree chart will get you off and running. If you like more details first, a family group sheet is the place to start.

Let's start with the PEDIGREE CHART. THE BIG FOUR!

This chart holds four generations, and each column is a generation.

Your name goes on line #1. Notice that under each numbered line there's space to fill in dates and places - "Born/Christened, Place; Married, Place; Died, Place."

Fill in YOUR full, legal name on Line #1, (the left middle line) with your birthdate and place, marriage date (if it applies) and place, and ignore the death date and place. Write the full name of your spouse on the line labeled "Spouse of #1," if that applies.

Example: Martin John Smith, 3 Mar 1966, Topeka, Shawnee, Kansas.

Okay, now on Line #2, (the line just above your name) write your FATHER'S Full Name, including any extensions like, Junior, or titles like, Dr., Capt., etc.

Example: Dr. John Quincy Smith.

Then, on Line #3, (the second line just below your name) write your MOTHER'S full, MAIDEN name, which was her last name as a child. Example: Mary Ann White

When there were other marriages, the husband's or wife's names should reflect a previous marriage.

If John was married previously, add a "(2)" next to Mary's name, indicating that Mary is John's second wife. If Mary was married previously, add a "(2)" next to John's name.

Example, Dr. John Quincy Smith (2), meaning John is Mary's second husband; or Mary Ann White Smith (2), indicating that Mary is John's second wife.

Clear as mud? It'll be easier to understand when the family group sheet is discussed.

When filling in dates, it is common to write: dd/mm/yyyy (ex. 10 Oct 1834), and places of birth, marriage, and death should always include city, county, and state.

Ex: Portland, Multnomah, Oregon.

Okay, with lines 1, 2, and 3 filled out, the first column is finished! Sometimes, the next column (lines 4, 5, 6, and 7) can be challenging, and the last column even more difficult. But with a little perseverence, you'll have completed a Four Generation Pedigree Chart!

Family Togetherness

We've discovered a way for all of us to keep in contact (which we do anyway) in a way that's more private than email. A friend told me about http://myfamily.com/ where we can have a private gathering of posts with questions, answers, pictures, news, etc.

Anytime during the day, we can touch base via the internet and pass along news, thoughts, and just about anything. It's a fun way to keep in touch. Create your own site with free backgrounds and within minutes be ready to add news, upload pictures, make comments, etc. Or, upgrade to a better level (for a fee), and get more choices of backgrounds and less advertising.

For us, it's been great! Give it a whirl!

Our Family History book, update

I've been working on our familys' book for about two months now and have found it to be quite fun to add things to. I've included some favorite songs, recipes, events (minor and major), and slowly, but surely, it's getting fuller.

Recap: I bought a 2-inch, 3-ring binder to begin our book. I had some white and pastel colored card stock, and some miscellaneous scrapbook paper, along with some fancy-edged scissors, and a few glue sticks (which work better than regular glue). I added some copies of some of our favorite music, put recipes on cutsie card stock, dressed up a few other pages, and every once in a while, the kids will look at the book and remember things we did as a family. I'm not a scrapbooker, so my pages are "interesting." I've tried to remind the kids that this is OUR family book, for the FAMILY (not just another "Mom" project), and anything they'd like to add should be included. The book is kept in a safe place (almost too safe, because sometimes I forget where it is - out of sight, out of mind), but still accessible. It has been fun, so far, to add events to our book.
The only hard part is to choose WHAT to include, and remember to add pages. The days and weeks race by. So I decided to choose one day a week to spend evaluating the week's activities and collect, cut, paste, and write about the happenings in our family to add to our book.

This is something that'll add quite a bit of variety to our family when all the photo books come out for a reunion, and hopefully others will be sparked to copy.

(Okay, so I wasn't going to share pictures, but how else will you see how I did it?)

Walk Away

There are times when working on genealogy can be quite frustrating.....like when your papers get all mixed up, when you hit a dead end with searching for a family members' name, or when (like stated previously) you lose all the information stored on your computer.

Frustration is quite common. Just walk away for awhile, leave it alone, take a vacation, give it a rest; and when your mind is clear again, you can pick up where you left off and move forward.

The 15-generation chart

For those who have completed a 6-generation pedgiree chart, with all the names filled in (which is quite an accomplishment, indeed), you might want to move on to a 9-generation or a 15-generation pedigree chart which allows you to see more of your ancestry. These charts aren't very common, but if you're interested in documenting your family names, you'll want at least one of these.

One family history web site, called "The Family History Store" has several selections of smaller pedigree charts you could display on the wall of your home. When you visit this site, click on the "Charts" tab, then the "Misbach Genealogy Charts" picture to see the 15-generation chart. You can enlarge it to get a better look.

The 15-generation chart is invaluable for the "at a glance" ancestry we claim.

Backup! Backup! Backup!

A lesson I learned (again) about having a second copy of family records: BACKUP EVERYTHING IMPORTANT.

After recording on a computer program some family names on a pedigree chart that extended back some 7, 8, or 9 generations (and some lines went even further back), I somehow lost the entire file! I think it got deleted accidentally while trying to download and save some other files from the internet. I had been compiling information from old family records onto one master pedigree chart, and had really been making some fantastic progress; in fact, I was getting close to finishing!

I do have a hard copy (pedigree charts and family group sheets I copied as I filled them out, and put in a notebook), but now I have to start all over with the computer program. I should have copied it onto a flash drive, but didn't. A few months ago, I tried to burn a CD with all the information, but the file was too big to put on the CD, so I just forgot about it.

Good thing I had this notebook with all the family group sheets and pedigree charts in it! Now, the daunting task of re-entering the information onto the computer program again!

Lesson for the day: BACKUP ALL COMPUTER PROGRAM FAMILY FILES!!!!