Family tree making guide

If you are looking to make a family treefor the first time, here are some guidelines to help you complete the task in an easy and proper manner.

• First of all organize everything properly. Start by making a family group sheet for each member of your family. Remember you have to document every piece of information that you discover about your ancestors. You can also use a genealogy software program that can help you in storing your family’s data in a more convenient way.

• Prepare some good research Questions. They can be simple personal questions apart from the general ones that include information on things like birth, marriage and death. Your questions should also uncover information on immigration, religion, occupation, adoption, preferred languages. You can also listen to some family stories.

• Look for baby books and wedding albums. Scout for divorce papers, awards degrees, diplomas, funeral cards, school yearbooks, medical records, military service records and employment records. Also look for any diaries or journals kept by a family member.

• Look for birth certificates, they always offer some valuable pieces of information.

• Also look for marriage certificates and licenses. You can track witnesses who may also provide you with some important pieces of information.

• Check out the local newspapers for obituary notices. They provide you with a treasure of knowledge. A look at an obituary can provide you a lot of information on the person as well as his or her friends and family.

• Obtain some church records, they will provide you information on baptisms, christenings, marriages, memberships etc. These will be as good as any vital records.

• Check out the census records. They are available for as far as the year 1790. They will help you find the missing pieces of information on your family members. You can get them from libraries and government departments. Apart from that you can also look for the records on the internet. They are easily available on a lot of websites. Most of them will offer those records for free, while the others will ask for a subscription.

•  The key to make a good family tree is not to trust any information blindly. You should double check everything, so there is not any problem. The information you use should be authentic and reliable or else it can spoil all your hard work and will result in a wrong family tree.