Welcome to my Genealogy Research Series: Pedigree Chart!
Have you ever wondered about your family history? Where did we come from? What is OUR story? How do we begin our family history research? Follow along in the video and I will show you how to take the first steps in filling out a Pedigree Chart. You can watch the video tutorial here or on YouTube.
Or, If you would rather, you can read the tutorial in the post below.
You can follow my Genealogy Research Series and learn how to begin your family history journey.
In today’s post, I will be teaching you how to correctly fill out a Pedigree Chart, which is the first step you need to take in tracing YOUR family’s history.
Gather What You Know
To begin our research we first need to determine what we know. We think we know a lot about our families because we know them. But from a genealogical standpoint, we may not know names, dates, and places that are crucial for our research.
Getting what we know written down, will help us determine what we REALLY know.
Pedigree Chart
The Pedigree Chart will be the first form that we will use. The Pedigree Chart or Pedigree Sheet, as some people call it, is the starting place that all genealogists use. When you fill out this form, you will be recording the very first information about your family tree. The Pedigree Chart is the best way to display your family tree in an easy and quick way. The Pedigree Chart is a PICTURE of your family tree.
You can download Pedigree Charts online, or you can go here Pedigree Chart and print one out. All genealogy software has Pedigree Charts as well as online genealogy websites. This form is the fundamental chart for recording your family tree.
Nowadays, a lot of people do all their research online, but it is nice to have a working copy of your Pedigree Chart that you can make notes on or share with others. So, it’s a good idea to have a hard copy printed out of your Pedigree Chart. You may want to print a Pedigree sheet to follow along with this lesson.
Filling out a Pedigree Chart will help us organize what we know about our ancestors and allows us to see in an organized manner what we DON’T know about our ancestors.
Information to Record on a Pedigree Chart
There are places on a pedigree chart to enter the following information:
- Names of ancestors
- birth date and place
- marriage date and place
- death date and place
Pedigree Guidelines
This chart is very simple to use, but it DOES have a few guidelines. These guidelines should be used when recording information on every chart used in genealogy. By sticking to these basic standards of recording information it will help you reduce mistakes.
Let’s go over these guidelines:
1) Names
- When entering names, you want to put your first, middle and last names in the same order they are spoken,
- Use all caps when recording the Last names. Many times, first names are actually the mother’s maiden name so if you use caps for all the last names or surnames it will help you keep them straight.
- Always use maiden names when recording names for females, even when they are married.
- Biblical names are the most common names used in America and everyone has females named Elizabeth, Ruth, Sarah, and Mary. Recording Maiden names attached to these common names will help you in the long run.
Understanding the dynamics for recording names will help you in your research
2) Dates
- The safest format for recording dates is to use the day expressed in numerals, month spelled out or abbreviated, and the year expressed as all 4 numerals. For example, 10 August 1963.
Popular date formats change over the years, but the best way to record dates with the least chance of mistakes is to spell the month. For instance, 10/8/1963 could be mistaken for October 8, 1963. It is best to leave no doubt and record dates where you spell out the Month.
3) Places
- When recording the names of places, start with the smallest and move to the largest jurisdiction. In other words, record place names in the order in which they are spoken. Such as city or town, county or parish, state, and country. For example, St Joseph, Tensas Parish, Louisiana, USA
- If the town and the county are the same, the county doesn’t have to be written out, such as San Francisco, CA. It is not necessary to write San Francisco, San Francisco County, CA
Standard Pedigree Charts
Standard Pedigree Charts have spaces to display information for 4 generations and can be printed on a standard 8×11 1/2 sheet of paper.
There are larger “Pedigree Charts” that show more generations. They are often called ANCESTRAL CHARTS. But know that the more generations on a chart the less room there is to enter information about your ancestors.
Today I will be talking about the 4 generation Pedigree Chart. We will start with this chart because it gives us the most room for entering information about ourselves, parents and grandparents. Because these relatives are closer to us and most of us know our parents and grandparents, we tend to know more about them and can use the extra space in recording their information.
Filling Out a 4 Generation Pedigree Chart
The first space at the far left is where you enter your name and information.
It is the space that will have the most recent person on the chart.
You will be in the #1 position on this chart. Enter your full name, just like it is spoken, FIRST name, MIDDLE name, LAST Name.
Be sure to use your maiden name even if you are married.
Next, fill out your birth date, and place of birth.
If you are married, fill in that information. You can enter your spouse’s name in the line below your name.
Ancestor’s Information
Next, we need to enter the information about your parents.
Your father’s information will be entered in the upper section of the next level. He will be the #2 person on the Pedigree chart.
Your mother’s information will be entered in the lower section of the next level. She will be in the #3 place.
Enter all the information on your parents that you know. If there is any information that you do not know, leave it blank.
As you enter your ancestor’s information keep in mind that your paternal information will be entered on the upper lines of each generation.
Maternal lines information will be entered on the lower line of each generation.
Numbering
Each person on the Pedigree sheet will have a number that corresponds to them and their information.
Males will have even numbers, and females will have odd numbers.
After 4 Generations
After you have filled out 4 generations of information you will need to create additional Pedigree Charts as you work your way backward.
Each person in the fourth-generation position on the original chart will need to be the #1 person on a new chart. When entering them on the new chart, be sure to note their number on the original chart so you will be able to easily follow the families from generation to generation.
New Charts
In addition to your ancestors’ numbers, your new charts will also need to be assigned numbers, such as Chart #1, Chart #2, Chart #3 etc.
Your person #1 on your new chart must have a notation letting you know what their number is on the original chart.
Fill in Blanks
When you have filled in all the information you have in your first 4 generation Pedigree sheet, you will be able to see ALL THE INFORMATION YOU KNOW, about your ancestor in one place.
More importantly, you will be able to see what you DON’T KNOW.
Seeing what you DON’T KNOW, will give you a starting place for your research.
Remember to start with yourself and always work backward, recording what you DO KNOW, filling in the blanks.
You will easily be able to see quickly what information you need to look for that is lacking on your Pedigree sheet.
On Your Way
Genealogists experienced and newbies alike, benefit from filling out Pedigree Charts to help them pinpoint what information they know, and what information they need to look for.
If you can not fill in every detail on your 4 generation Pedigree charts, don’t worry. It will be the starting place for your detective work.
So, get your Pedigree Chart filled out, and be on your way to a family history adventure.
Stay Tuned
Stay tuned to the Genealogy Research Series for tips on how to start your family tree research.
The series will explain the very first steps to take in your search.
I will teach you what records will help you learn about your ancestors and where to find them.
So, if you are interested in tracing your family tree and don’t know where to begin, or if you have been just dabbling with genealogy a little bit and are ready to get serious about it, then stick around for lots of information to guide you on your journey.
You can go to this page for a list of other posts and videos in this series that are guaranteed to guide you in your search for ancestors!
Until Next time!
Happy Hunting!
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