When you first start tracing your family history, you might be able to keep everything straight in your mind, and mistakenly think you don’t need to follow a specific plan for organizing your materials. You’ll be able to get away with that for awhile, but when you start interviewing older relatives and doing research at libraries and courthouses, you’ll quickly reach the point of information overload. More importantly, you won’t be able to remember just where it is you found that really critical piece of information about an ancestor you’ve spent hundreds of hours—or days—looking for.

Fortunately, you don’t have to come up with a plan for organizing your information, because there are standard forms designed just for that purpose. The Toolkit available with this article includes all the forms you need to get started.

Let’s take a look at the three most basic forms: the Pedigree Chart, the Family Group Record, and the Research Calendar. If you requested the Toolkit, you might want to take a moment to check your email, open the Toolkit, and print out the forms.

The Pedigree Chart
The Pedigree Chart is like a snapshot of your whole ancestry. You fill in the chart starting with yourself as Number 1—your father is Number 2, your mother Number 3. Go ahead and fill in everything you think you know about your family, but do it in pencil. That way, when you have to make corrections, you can erase your mistakes easily.

If you look at the upper right-hand corner, you’ll see a spot that says Chart no. ____. The first chart is Chart no. 1 (obviously). If you’re lucky enough to know about a great-great-grandparent, you’ll have to make a continuation chart. Just fill in the next available Chart number where it says Cont. on Chart no. below your great-grandparent’s name. Mark the new chart with that number. Then, right below where it says Pedigree Chart, fill in the No. 1 on this chart … statement.

The Family Group Record
While the Pedigree Chart is a snapshot of your ancestry, the Family Group Record is a detailed record of one family, whether that family is just two people or twenty-two. Each family on your Pedigree Chart should have a corresponding Family Group Record. Optionally, you might also want to make Family Group Records for the siblings of your ancestors.

When you fill in the Family Group Record, be sure to record the source of information for each “fact” you fill in. Use as many Notes pages as you need (the more Notes you have, the better).

The Research Calendar
The Research Calendar is a brief record of your family history research—what you looked at, when you looked at it, and what you found. It helps you keep track of the clues you’ve found and their sources so that you’ll be able to find things again.

Stay Organized
If you use these charts to help keep your family history research organized, or purchase a genealogy software program to do the same, you’ll have much better luck tracing your roots. Staying organized keeps genealogy fun!

First Steps Free Genealogy Toolkit