Tag Archives: family history

How To Complete A Family Tree Template


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Here’s how to record details in a family tree template.

Entering names in a family tree template:

In order to enter the names properly, you would need to enter the first name, any other names they were known by, and then their surname. Make sure that you capitalize the surname and the middle names. If there is a married woman in the family then you must never list their married name as this would throw the tree off significantly. If you do not know their maiden name, then you would enter a // to show that the name is unknown for the moment.

If there are nicknames involved, then the nickname should be shown in quotes. For example, Jacob “Jac” SMITH. If someone has been adopted or undergone a legal name changed, then they should have the original name in brackets, and then a.k.a followed by their new name.

If you find a surname that appears to be spelled incorrectly, do not correct it. Illiteracy was rampant in ages past, and this may have caused the name to be recorded wrong. In any case, you should make sure you write down the different variations.

In some cases, surnames were deliberately changed for political or social reasons, possibly when immigrating to a new country. If you know the original spelling, record that version first, followed by the later version(s) used.

Entering dates in a family tree form:

To enter dates properly, you would use the European standard. For instance you would record the day first, the month, and then the year(dd Mmm yyyy). Yes, the first letter of the month is a capital, so you would enter your dates as such: 12 Apr 1978.

It’s possible that you won’t know the dates for every single event, so you would need to use prefixes along the lines of abt, circa, or even a – in between the dates.

If you don’t know the exact date but can establish a range of dates between which the event occurred, then use the abbreviation bet. (short for “between”), with a hyphen between the two dates. E.g. bet. 22 Jan 1950 – 26 Feb 1950.

When dates are shown in numerals only, in North America the month is shown first (04/06 would be Apr 6). In Europe and former colonies it is the day that is usually shown first (04/06) would be 4 Jun). If you are not sure in which way the recorded date should be interpreted, you might want to add a comment in the notes to indicate how you think it should be interpreted and why.

Geographical data and abbreviations

List places accurately, proceeding from the smallest to the largest geographic area. E.g. London, England, United Kingdom. In regards to abbreviations, use genealogical standards such as b for born, d for died and m for married etc.

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How to Make an Accurate Family Tree


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When you build your family tree, with every piece of information your record, you’ll need to note where you obtained it, with specific detailed references. This is referred to as “citing your sources”. Citing the sources of your information is important for family history research because:

This allows you to figure out how accurate the info you gathered is compared to interviews and other possible stories that take place. Your family will appreciate the hard work you put in to provide everyone with accountable dates based on validating everything. It will be a crucial part of your genealogy if you ever decide to publish your family history online.

If you find information that conflicts with what you already have in your family tree data, knowing the source of your original data can help you refer back and determine which information is most likely to be more accurate.

If you later come across some new details, you can refer back to your original source and see if there is any other information there that you had missed the first time.

Validating your findings

Most of the information you provide in the beginning will be the things you already know. However, how much of it has actually been validated from original documents. Often times you will see that what you know is through stories told by parents, grandparents and other relatives. So if you can get a hold of the birth certificates, marriage certificates or anything else necessary it’s a good idea.

These are categorized 2 ways. They are either primary sources are secondary sources. Obviously, primary sources are the most reliable.

Understanding Primary and Secondary Information

Getting a hold of a primary source is the best finding available. It’s a record of when the event took place and usually someone witnessed it. Marriage certificates are great examples because they have a witness and specific dates when two people got married. This is considered a primary source of information. You will also find the full names of each individual.

A secondary source would be record that was created quite some time after the event had taken place, or by a person who did not actually witness the event. In the example of a marriage certificate, the document is issued at the time of marriage, so it would be considered to be a primary source for the marriage details. The certificate also states the dates of birth of the marriage partners. However these details are noted several decades after the births took place. So although the birth dates appear on the marriage certificate, the certificate would be considered a secondary source for this particular piece of information. A primary source for names and birth dates would be the original birth certificates.

In the end, it’s possible that one document can be both a primary and secondary source. Once you file it away I highly recommend making sure you consider it as both since each piece of information is present. This will allow you to come back to it when it’s needed for future reference. Plus, you will be able to save time and create a more reliable family tree.

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