File boxes with lids
Colored hanging file folders
Standard green hanging files
Manila folders
Pens
Highlighters
Labels for folders
Dot or star Stickers
Lined paper
Additional boxes to expand your storage
A carrying case to hold all of this in
Wall size pedigree chart
Pedigree charts can be found at most genealogy websites and local libraries.
Steps in tracing down your family genealogy.
1. Organize your family pedigree charts – Print a complete set of all your pedigree charts. You have to start with your name and working backwards. Choose a color among the hanging folders and label it “Pedigree Charts”. Then put all the printed pedigree charts in it. Fill them out as much as you can.. It is much easier if you do it with someone close in the family. Old family member may give great information since they knew some details that you don’t.
2. To start your family genealogy, print a colored copy of the Circled 5 Generation Pedigree Chart. You are the 5th generation and your sixteen great grandparents are the first generation. Refer to the color code provided in the chart to fill in the rest.
3. Place 16 hanging file folders in your box. You will need 16 boxes for all your great grandparents, you may need one more later on but let’s just start start with 16. Separate 8 folders, then label them with the surnames of each of your 8 great grandfathers. The remaining 8 folders will be labeled by the maiden names of your 8 great grandmothers. This part ios quite tricky since you have to get all of the surnames and maiden names of your first generation. You need all the help you can possibly get. Try to list as many as you can and try to communicate with relatives who may know theri names. You can also conduct a family research to track your family history.
4. Use the highlighter and highlight your 5-generation pedigree chart. Then place the highlighted copy in each of the colored folders. Print 16 more copies of your 5-generation pedigree chart with you as 1 on the chart. On one of the pedigree charts, highlight the names of all the persons with the same last names using the color assigned to those last names. File the highlighted pedigree chart in its last name hanging file folder.
Repeat the process of highlighting a last name line and filing the pedigree chart in its hanging folder for each of the 16 last names of your great-great grandparents. This may seem tedious, but you will appreciate how much easier it makes things later.
5. Set up manila folders for each of the families by putting colored labels on the file tab. Match the label color to the color of each family group record. Be sure to use sticky labels. Sticky labels are great because if you have to change something, you just place a new label over the existing one. They help keep things organized.
6. Place the manila family history folders in hanging folders,matching the color of the label on the manila family folder to the color of the hanging file folder. Color coding everything makes things so much easier to find later.
7. In a family folder place the family group record of the family, documents and notes you have already gathered for that family.
8. Set up other files containing letters, photos, emails, birth certificates, etc. Anything that you can think of that may fit into its own category, make a file for it. This will make your files easy to find later if you need them.
9. When one of your files gets too big to fit into your box, simply move it to another box. Take as many boxes as you need to get all the information you need. Having multiple organized boxes is much better than having it all in one box unorganized and a jumbled mess.
Again, there are many websites that offers extensive family research which can give you accurate results if you have troubles in filing the names in your family tree. You can always consult their expert advices and services in case you are desperately in need of a missing name.
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