Family History : Getting Organized

I have been researching our family history, on and off, for nearly fifty years now.  Twenty years ago I printed off and put together books for each branch of the family and gave them to various extended family members. 

Now I want to gather together all the new information I have obtained and produce new books, for immediate family this time.

The thing that interests me most with genealogy is who my ancestors were, how they lived, where they settled, the kind of lives they led.  Lots of descendants and dates are not my thing at all, so I decided to restrict my information to the birth of a grandchild. 

Unfortunately, in the early years, I failed to keep a record of where I found my information and it has been quite a task to track it down again (it’s taken me a couple of years), and some I cannot find at all.  My new books will have references to most of the information in them.

One thing I did do right when I first started, and that was to give an identification number to each couple.  My husband and I were, naturally, given ID #1.  His parents became #2 and mine became #3.  His grandparents became #4 (my husband’s father’s parents) and #5 (my husband’s mother’s parents), and my grandparents became #6 (my father’s parents) and #7 (my mother’s parents).  Basically the numbers double as they proceed back through the generations.

I have also split the family into ‘branches’ with each one representing the ancestral history of one of the grandparents, making eight branches for our entire family.  This makes it easier to keep similar information together, makes it easier when it comes to publishing anything, and makes it easier when handing over information to some other person who will belong to one or other of the branches.

I should explain that personal computers were not around when I first began (everything was recorded by hand), and when they became available I couldn’t afford to purchase a suitable programme to use.  Consequently I have developed my own system of storing information, using Word on the computer, and it works well for me.

Next time, I will discuss more about how I do this.

Margaret J

(The wedding photos are all members of my husband's family and date to the last century)

Family History : Getting Started can be read here
Family History : Family Pages can be read here
Family History : Recording Stories can be read here
Family History : References can be read here
Family History : Publication can be read here