Getting to the Roots of Your Family - RootsWeb - Ancestry.com

1
Introduction
How to Organize Your Paper Files
Created by Mary V. Hill
www.familyrootsorganizer.com
Genealogy is fun when you can find things, and it can be frustrating when you
can’t. Therefore, you need a simple system for organizing pedigree charts, family group
records, To Do Lists, Research Logs, documents, photographs, memorabilia, notes and
research tools so that you can quickly find them again when you need them. Even in
this computer age, preserving your family history requires a well maintained filing
system. The system needs to be:
• Simple
• Easy to maintain
• Flexible
• Inexpensive
• Well organized
• Understandable to future
generations
The following steps will help you begin to organize your family records and documents.
• Step 1. Gather together items you already have that give genealogy
information. Find a place that you can put a simple box to place genealogically
related documents, pictures, letters, and so forth as you find them. Make quick
notes or lists of items that other family members might have in their possession
and place them in the box. The purpose of this box is to have one place to find all
your unorganized genealogy.
• Step 2. Fill in a pedigree chart with as much information as you can. Write
down your name and the names of your parents and grandparents. Include birth,
marriage and death dates and places if you know them. Add any information
about your great grandparents and other ancestors further back.
• Step 3. Divide up the items you found by the family surnames of your
ancestors and place in temporary containers. Label temporary containers
such as shoe boxes or manila envelopes with the surnames or last names on
your pedigree chart. Depending on how much information you have, you may
have several containers. Sort what you have gathered, putting items related to a
surname into the container labeled with that surname. For example, have one
container labeled with your father’s father’s last name (one of your two
grandfathers), and put items about that grandfather and his family into it. Make
sure to use your grandmothers’ maiden names as the surname on their
containers. Example:
Box for Father’s Father
Box for Father’s Mother
Box for Mother’s Father
Box for Mother’s Mother