Identify What You Know

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Step 1: Identify What You Know.

Start by reviewing what information you already know. Record that information on appropriate forms and keep your records organized.

By the end of step one you should have:


 * Facts and information recorded on family group records, pedigree charts, and if desired in personal and family history notes.
 * Organized copies of documents and family memorabilia.

= Use Appropriate Forms =

Begin by carefully recording and organizing your information so important facts and clues will not be lost. You can use computer programs to create standard genealogical forms, or fill out by hand pre-printed forms such as family group records, and pedigree charts. These forms are familiar to other researchers and assure that your findings will be understandable to others. The following forms, used by most researchers, can be purchased at genealogical stores, the Family History Library, Family History Centers, and most genealogical libraries:

Family Group Record
Family group records are forms with space to record information about the parents and children in one family. Good family group records show names, dates and places of births, marriages, and deaths (see the example to the right). You can enhance their value by citing the sources that document these events in the lives of family members. If you use computers to generate family group records, you also can easily display additional events such as censuses, change of residence, land purchases or sales, wills proved, and any other events in the family members' lives. The most useful family group records display as many events and sources as possible.

Start research on a new family by compiling a well-documented family group record. This will help you gather, correlate, and analyze information. A well source-footnoted family group record bristles with clues to help you find further sources. For a more detailed explanation of their value see Family group record: roadmap for researchers.

You may need additional pages for large families. While modern family group records are usually letter size, other sizes such as legal size have been common in the past and can still be used.

Create a family group record for each couple on your pedigree chart. A four-generation pedigree chart has seven couples, so you would make up to seven family group records for such a pedigree.

For a person who married more than once, make another family group record for each additional marriage, especially if the marriage produced children.

Pedigree Chart
Most pedigree charts, sometimes called “Ancestor” or “Lineage” Charts, have space for four or five generations (parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents.) There is space for dates and places of birth, marriage, and death. See the example at the right. Ancestral lines can continue onto other charts.

Prepare a Research Log
A research log (or calendar of searches) is a list of the sources you searched or will be searching for each objective, ancestor, or family. It includes notes about what you found (or did not find.) Most logs are kept in the order that records are slelected or searches made.

You may have a research log for each objective or locality, or for each ancestor or family. Most researchers keep a set of logs for each family they research.

A research log is crucial to successful research. It will help you—


 * keep your research organized.
 * keep your research focused on one objective for one individual at a time.
 * avoid duplicating searches of sources without good reason.
 * easily review and share search strategies with other interested searchers.
 * document the facts found during research.
 * record information about the records you searched in an orderly manner.
 * identify what is found or not found for each objective.
 * locate a record that was searched earlier if you need to check it again.

Effective research logs must include—


 * Ancestor's name
 * Research objective(s)
 * Date of search
 * Location and call number of the sources searched
 * Description of the sources, including complete information on author, title, and year
 * Comments, such as the purpose and results of the search and the years and names searched.

You May also use your research log to identify—


 * Your document number or reference to findings
 * Quality of the source (if indexed, legible, language, etc.
 * The place where the person you are searching lived.

You may purchase a basic log at the Family History Library, at Family History Centers, or at genealogical stores, or you may create your own. See the example of a partially filled-in research log at the right.

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