Sources and Family Group Sheets

In this post I will touch on two things, sources and Family Group Sheets because they go hand in hand.

Firstly, sources and citing your sources is very important in genealogy because you want to be able to  direct anyone looking at your work to the exact spot you found your information so that they can verify it. This sounds like a very daunting task and it is, but in the end it is well worth the time you spend on it. This wiki article on sources footnotes explains it better than I ever could! Cite Your Sources (Source Footnotes)

Myself I don't follow that model because I found it became very daunting. I prefer to save my sources on separate sheets. I use a sheet for sources, that includes the citation to the source  so I know exactly where I got the information from, also I record what document I have and who it is for and some of the information I found on the document. Then I print the sheets out and put them with the family unit in my binder as well as keep a copy in my One Drive. For records that do not have documents attached I use a Research Extract sheet to record the name of the suppository, the information found and again I copy the source citation from the website (if provided) and again I print these sheets off and put them in the binder with the family unit.

Here are the links for the sheets I use, I made these myself and the links are for google documents. You can save them and use them if you like, they should be editable in google doc's or open office. They will get longer as you type in them,

Family Source Summary

Research Extract

When it comes to first hand knowledge or information you got from Grandma, (remember our list and color coded legend) you can use the Research Extract form and in the Source Citation section write down:

Information obtained by (your name), on (date) from (sources full name) at (address or place you talked to the source).


Now on to the Family Group Sheets. 

These are to store more detailed information about your  family members.

Remember that list we made in the last post? Remember I said we will transfer this information later? Well now we are going to do just that.

Note the flowing 3 family group sheets are PDF files that will need to be printed and filled out by hand, if you are crafty with a word processor like word, open office or even google docs you can easily make your own editable copies. You will only need to make one copy and save it. To use it you open the copy you saved fill it out and use the save as feature and give it a different name like family group sheet Jane doe, this will save  a copy of the original with the information you just filled in while leaving your original copy blank to be used again.

For my family unit packets I use the following sheets:
(each family packet keeps track of one couple and their  children/ grand children etc)


Family Group Sheet 1  (page 1)

 It's a simple information sheet list only names and dates on this sheet.

Family Group Sheet 2  ( page 2 and so on)

 You can use sheet 2 more than once if there are more than 8 children, here you will record the parents and the children and the children's spouses. There is an area at the bottom of sheet two for other marriages (I use it for notes as well) and sources (here I would note any sources that I wasn't sure of or hadn't put in the source summary yet, or for extra note space.)

Family Group Sheet 3  (pages after family group sheet 2 is completed)

This sheet you will use for each child of the couple listed on Family Group Sheet 1. You will record the child's family including their spouse, and children and their children's spouse. I also use these sheets to record information about the children's families.

Relationship Chart

This is a really handy chart, it helps identify your relationship to the people you are researching.

After I have filled out the sheets I paper clip them together. Then I make a folder for each branch of the family I am working on, ie Doe, Robinson, etc etc and file the sheets in the proper Family Folder.

There are many different ways to organize your family tree information, but that's a whole other post on its own!!!

Sources: 

1. Family Group Sheets 2  sheets were found on the Cite Your Sources (Source Footnotes) link above.

2. Family Group Sheets 1 and 3 and the Relationship Chart were found at Digging For Ancestors.There are a lot more sheets on this page if you want more.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!!