Charting your family genealogy can be fun and an interesting way to learn about your history. It’s easy to get started, and can be a rewarding family experience for adults and children alike. To begin, you can start with a sheet of paper or you can find free downloadable charts on the internet by searching for “family group chart”, in any major search engine. Some people prefer computer software, but it’s easiest to begin simply.
Start with yourself. Turn your sheet of paper sideways, so it is wider than it is long. Write your own name midway down on the left hand side of the page. Write your birth date below your name. If you have a spouse, write their name above yours for men, or below for women. Keeping spouses in the same gender order makes charting easier as your chart grows.
Now draw a horizontal line from the end of your name, about an inch in length. Write your father’s name above the line, and your mother’s below, with their birth dates and death dates below their names. Do the same for your spouse. You’ve just created a two generation genealogy chart!
The next step is where most people start to find they have name blanks to fill. You’re now going to draw that same horizontal line, about an inch long, back from your parents names, leaving a space for their parents, or your grand-parents. You may need to angle your lines up or down, as space allows. After you’ve completed your grandparents, continue as far back with your great-grandparents as you wish. Your chart will soon outgrow the one piece of paper, since every person on it has two parents, and four grandparents. Begin each new page with the name you ended with on the last. Start with the information you know, and keep working backward until you’ve run out of names to fill the blanks. You may be surprised at how much you know!
Some people also like to record siblings, aunts and uncles. The most efficient way to do this is to start a new sheet of paper for each married couple. This time, you will use a different format, more like the family group chart mentioned above. If you have siblings, start with your own parents at the top of the page. Use a line for each individual person. At the top of a new page, write the name of the spouses, and their birth and death dates. This information may seem unnecessary now, but it will prove useful to have it in one place in later research. If you know the information, also record the date and place of marriage, as well as the birth and death locations. Now that you have the parents listed, begin listing the children below them, along with their spouses. Most people list children in birth order.
Create a page like this for each family you wish to record. If you want to have a record of your aunts and uncles, you will make a family page like this for your grandparents, and your parents, with their siblings will be listed as the children. You can continue in this format for as many family groups as you would like.
The best sources of information to fill those gaps are your own family members. Ask them to name their parents and grandparents, as far back as they remember. Look for old birth certificates, marriage licenses, and death certificates. Most families keep these records together, or record information like this in a family bible.
The best source records are birth, marriage, and death certificates. These are valued because the person, or someone who personally knew them, was present at the time the record was made. This means these records are more likely to be accurate. If your family didn’t keep records like this, you can usually obtain them by writing to the courthouse in the county or state where the event recorded, such as a birth or death, occurred.
When you run of out information from your relatives, it’s time to start the research. If your family has lived in the same town for a few generations, your public library is the best place to start. Most libraries have genealogy or town history rooms. These rooms will include resources such as city directories, club rosters, and historical notes that can point you in the right direction. While you’re at the library, don’t forget to look in the newspaper archives. Useful information, such as birth and marriage announcements, obituaries, and community news can be found in the archives.
Once you have your rough chart as complete as you wish it to be, you can get creative with it. Turning your chart into an illustrated family tree is a great way to get your children involved, and interested in their own history. A family tree can be as simple as a drawing with crayons on construction paper for younger children. If your children are older, or you want to create a lasting record, most arts and craft supply stores have pre-drawn archive quality charts suitable for framing. Calligraphy markers can add elegance to your tree, turning your family history into art. Once matted and framed, your work of art will be a lasting reminder of your personal family history.
