Charting Your Family Tree
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Before you panic about the idea of charting your family tree, take a quick trip around the internet.
There are a lot of genealogy sites that offer free “starters” from which you can fashion your own documentation, including a Google genealogy chart.. I strongly advocate this approach if you’re a beginner to family tree research. It helps a lot.
There are also software programs out there into which you can add your discoveries as you find them. The problem with software is that you can’t always see the whole chart on your monitor, so if you want something global you’re back working on paper. No matter your chosen approach, the first step to building a family tree is get yourself organized.
Gather as much paperwork as you can from your own research thus far, or those given to you by others in your family. Begin writing down what you know about yourself and the family members of which you currently know. Effectively you work backwards from yourself. As you do, you’ll start needing information that comes from sources other than direct family like military records and deeds.
For this reason, it’s suggested that you keep the information on each individual or each “branch” of a family tree separate in your documentation. For one thing it’s not so overwhelming. Focusing on one person or small group at a time also typically yields more successful results because you’re not diverting your attention in 101 directions.
This approach also provides a linear overview that you can line up later with other branches based on years … slowly connected the dots. If there’s a family reunion in your future seize that opportunity and ask everyone to bring photo albums, family bibles, scrap books, etc. that might help you in your efforts.
This is the point at which you need to decide how detailed you want to be. Most family trees do not include cousins, aunts, and uncles because they’re not directly part of your family “trunk”. However, these individuals may provide valuable clues to the family’s global connections. It’s really a personal decision as to who gets included in your charting efforts, but each person included should minimally have their full name (including maiden name), date of birth, place of birth, and date of death if applicable. If you have documentation to prove each piece of data, even better. Things like birth certificates as solid gold to anyone interested in genealogy.
Besides talking to your family, all those little things in and around family members homes will help you fill out missing pieces of the overall puzzle. Look at journals, check old books to see if there are notes inside that were long since forgotten. Check out old dressers and mirrors – all the places clues might hide for years without anyone being the wiser. Think of this a bit like a treasure hunt where the reward is carefully safeguarding your family’s history and memories all in one place.
Good hunting!
