The title of this page says formatting your tree, but the typical family tree is only one way to format the data you've collected. I'll now cover the various ways you can put the information into an organized, written form so that you and the people you share your history with can make sense of all the names and dates.

Family Group Sheets     Family group sheets provide more space to add further details to your family history. Each box on the sheet is set aside for one person and some of their relevant data. In general, these sheets are set up for the name, birth date/place, death date/place, burial place, and occupation of each spouse. This is followed by a section for the names of the children along with their birth date/place, death date/burial, and spouses name/marriage date. Most of the forms provide a space for additional comments and information. While there's more space available, you're still limited to the amount of information you can add and you're stuck with a set format. Group sheets are great for placing in a loose leaf notebook so that you have the information available when visiting libraries and other places.

Outlines     Outlines are very similar to the family group sheets but, if you're creating the outline yourself, you can place as much information as you want, wherever you choose. In my opinion, outlines are the most convenient way to exchange information with other researchers. There are many commercially available computer programs that will allow you to enter your information into files and then print out group sheets or outlines. If you use one of these programs, be sure to make back up disks of all of your information in case you have computer problems or the files get deleted.

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Narratives     The narrative form is like writing a story. Instead of simply stating the facts, your history can be more interesting to read if you use this form. Each person in your family is represented by their own short biography. As with the outlines, you make numerical notes if a name mentioned in one biography has its own biography. For example, if you're writing about your father and he's #1 in your book, then your mother may be #2 and each child numbered accordingly. When someone reads your father's history, they can then read biography #2 if they want to read more about your mother.

The Combination     Of course there's no need to stick with any one particular format. My personal family history is a combination of all of the above. Each surname has its own set of notebooks with all of the typed pages, photos, and documents in sheet protectors. The first page of each surname book is a pedigree chart of the direct lines so I can easily see what names I have and how many generations back I have that particular surname. Each person's page has the generation number and their name at the top of the page. Birth and death dates, marriage information, and any children are listed in an outline form. The rest of the information follows this short outline and is written in the narrative format. All of the photos and documents for this person are located behind their main page.

Other pages in this section: How to Start / Places to Look / Cemeteries / Addresses / Documentation / The Extras

Copyright © 2004-2005 Sheila Rae Myers