| I will try to give you some basic tips to get you | | | | yourself and your family. Gather information from |
| started but you must remember that you need | | | | your parents and their children. Then your |
| to research a lot unless there's already some kind | | | | grandparents and their children. Remember to |
| of family tree created by some of your | | | | keep track of the family groups and the sheets |
| ancestors. | | | | of paper that belong to each ancestor. As you go |
| If you are serious, invest on a family tree | | | | back in time you may need to contact other |
| software that will organize all the information you | | | | relatives, family friends or even researchers. Ask |
| find. Paperwork may become overwhelming as | | | | them to help you fill the information on your |
| you will notice. | | | | sheets of paper. Tell them you are creating a |
| You will need a lot of paper. | | | | family tree for your entire family. |
| Use a single sheet of paper for every person | | | | It's a good idea to keep a family tree log of your |
| ancestor in your family. Then make small family | | | | actions. For example when you find a birth |
| groups of ancestors. You will write information | | | | certificate update your family tree log writing the |
| you find for every person in the single piece of | | | | date that you found that death certificate and the |
| paper that belongs to that person. And you will | | | | person that death certificate belongs to. |
| write a summary of the information from all | | | | Check out if there's already someone who has |
| persons who belong to a family group to the | | | | created a family tree for a certain family group. |
| sheet of paper that belongs to a certain family | | | | Use that information to save time but verify if |
| group. For example for your family group (e.g. | | | | the information you find is correct. Look for |
| you, your spouse and your 3 children), use 6 | | | | wedding books, divorce papers, birth or death |
| sheets of paper one for every member of the | | | | certificates, funeral cards, awards, diplomas, |
| family and one for the family group (5 members | | | | school books, employment records, military |
| and 1 family group). | | | | records, medical records and anything that you |
| In the ancestor sheet of paper you will write all | | | | might find useful. You can obtain a lot of |
| kinds of information you find about that particular | | | | information from such papers like dates, ages, |
| person: Date Born, Birthplace, Marriage Date, Date | | | | parents, witnesses etc. If you are really |
| of Death, Father's Name, Mother's Name, Spouse | | | | motivated and determined to create a family |
| Name and all other information you decide is | | | | tree, this journey to the past will be fascinating. |
| worth mentioning in the family tree. | | | | And now let's move on to the fun part. After you |
| In the family group sheet of paper you will write | | | | have gathered all the information you need, it's |
| a summary of the information you have gathered | | | | time to design your family tree. You may want to |
| from all persons who belong to that family group: | | | | use paper and fill the information so that it is |
| Number of members, Husband, Wife, Children and | | | | organized and easy to access. But I'm sure after |
| other kind of information you might find and want | | | | all that paperwork you will definitely need help |
| to include. | | | | from a family tree software that will save you a |
| Now it's time to work and research. Start with | | | | lot of time. |