5 Simple Rules for Family History
This is a guest post by Lee Everton from Everton´s Genealogical Helper, a magazine dedicated to family history and genealogy topics.
Are you a budding genealogist? Or, do you want to just add a couple of your relatives to your online family tree? Whichever the case, there are some basic rules to follow which will help you keep track of anyone in your family. Five rules to remember when writing down your information, or adding to Genoom follow.
Rule #1 - Enter the family name(surname) in capital letters. This allows a reader to quickly know what name they are looking at. For example, if you see Lee EVERTON, or EVERTON Lee, you will know that “EVERTON” is the family name.
Rule #2 - When including the name of a female ancestor, always use their maiden name. If you always do this when you are entering new individuals on your family tree, you will notice that the family lines become easier to follow. For example, my family name is “Everton”, the name of my father. However, my mothers’ maiden name is “Mathews”, which is the family name of her father. This is the name that I would include on my family history records.
Rule #3 - Dates are written in the format, “Day, Month, Year.” An example is 12 December 2008. To avoid confusion when you are writing the dates, you should spell out the month and include all four digits of the year.
Rule #4 - Keep documentation on your information. For a death date, it might be as simple as “I saw the gravestone at the Springfield, Illinois city cemetery with these dates. I was there on 8 August 2008.” If it was a date for your brothers’ wedding, the notation might be, “I have a picture with the date on the bottom of the picture.” You do this so that others can follow and verify where you discovered the information.
Rule #5 - Try to keep any stories that you have heard about a relative with that individual. It might be a simple story about your mother and how she learned to ride a bike with her head. (Maybe, she was the one who invented the bicycle helmet.) These stories are what brings people in your family tree to life. With these stories, you will begin to see family traits that are passed from one generation to the next. You might even have one of the “Hmmm” moments when you realize that your quirky way of holding your mouth when you laugh is just like your great great grandpa.
Every issue of Everton’s Genealogical Helper magazine provides you with great insight to doing little things for your family history. Also, included in every issue is current information on websites, CD-ROMs for genealogy, information on various countries (Germany, Sweden, England, Canada, Ireland, etc.).
As a member of the Genoom family, you have taken one step in starting your family tree. Now, as you go along, discover other simple things you can do in the pages of Everton’s Genealogical Helper.
To help you get started, when you subscribe to our print magazine, we are going to give you a FREE poster-size Picture Family Tree where you can add your own family pictures and display on your wall. This is a great way to show off your family. We will also include a poster-size 7 Generation Family Tree to match the picture family tree that we are sending to you when you subscribe.
To receive one of these with your order, simply follow the appropriate link:
United States
www.strictlyrockymountain.com/store/product_view.php?p=genoom1
International
www.strictlyrockymountain.com/store/product_view.php?p=genoom2
As an additional bonus when you subscribe, you will receive complimentary access to Everton’s Genealogical Helper online edition. This gives you access to the current issue and the archive of past issues.
Tags: everton´s, family history, genealogist, Genealogy
December 14th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Great advice Lee, thanks for sharing these tips.