10 Tips To Start Your Family Tree

The following are my top 10 points to creating a family tree. Do your points differ?

This list also assumes that you have genealogy software, but if you do not, check out this free software from Family Search.
You will find the link at the bottom of their page.

These are my 10 points:

1. Always start with what you know. Begin with yourself. Here are sample Family Group Record Sheets.

2. Use birth, baptismal, marriage or other certificates to ensure correct dates and places.

3. Enter your immediate family's details, in the order in which they were born and their relationship to you. Again, using certificates, where possible.

4. Once you have your immediate family's details, you can branch out to the families of brothers, sisters, grandparents or the families of aunts and uncles.

5. Where possible double check your details and cross reference with the appropriate certificate.

6. Interview older members of your family to get the stories only they can tell. Once these family members have gone, there stories are gone with them.

7. Use some form of audio recorder and let them know you are recording the conversation, but be careful how you use it, some people do not like to be "taped".

8. Ask them questions like: What did you do for enjoyment when you were younger? Or, what they remember about their parents or other loved ones?

9. Make it an enjoyable two-way conversation, not an interrogation.

10. When entering data into your computer or log, ensure you note who or where you received the information from. You never know when you may have to return to that source to double check some detail, and believe me, you will forget where you received it from.

For more information on how to begin your own family tree, review this site:

Allan Scahill