Genealogy 101

When I was 16 my grandmother pulled out her box of photos and let me rummage through the pictures and scrap book. I was intrigued by the really old photos, strangers, yet I knew I wouldn’t exist without them. There was one picture of a family of nine sitting on their luggage at the peer. Grandpa Whicker told me that it was a picture of his mother’s parents and siblings when they arrived in Boston. There was an article of that story in the scrap book. I plied them with questions and got so muddled I collected paper and pen and started taking notes. With those notes I began putting together the story of our family.

In 1978 I purchased a small book by Len Hilts entitled “How to Find Your Own Roots”. Len taught me how to organize all those notes on Ancestor Charts and Family Group Sheets with a numbering system I still use today. Those handwritten pages took up four 3 inch binders. Since then I’ve graduated to Family Tree Maker software but still keep those binders.

Where to Begin?

All sources for how to trace your family tree will tell you to begin with yourself. I think it’s a great idea to use an Ancestor Chart http://www.familytreemagazine.com/forms/research/ancestor.pdf and Len Hilts’ numbering system. Print a copy and number the first chart “A” and record your name on line 1 and your birth date and place, marriage date and place, and spouse’s name in the spaces below. You are A1 on this chart. Next begin a Family Group Sheet http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~ruthann/charts/fmgrsht.gif number the sheet(s) “A1”. Record the information for you, your spouse, and children. Your children will be A1a, A1b, A1c, etc. and can have their own family group sheets.

If you are using software to organize your family history you can probably use the same system. I record the person number in Family Tree Maker on the “More About – Lineage” section as the “Reference Number”. The reference number shows down in the corner in the “List of Individuals” and when I view the ancestor chart I include the reference number in the chart. Neat system.

Once you have yourself on the chart add your parents, they will be A2 and A3 on your Ancestor Chart. Begin a family group sheet for them and number it A2, record their information on the sheet and the information for your siblings. On this sheet your person number will be A1 and your siblings will be A2a, A2b, A2c, etc. You can add Family Group Sheets for each of your siblings and their families. Their sheets would be numbered for instance A2a and their children would be A2aa, A2ab, A2ac. See the pattern? This numbering system is great. I know that a person with a reference number C161-4cbbbc is a descendant of my direct ancestor, Samuel Packard (C161-4), and a cousin (4th in this case) 5 times removed.

More to come!!!