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Family Tree Guide - Step #1. Plan My Family Tree

How to Make A Family Tree Guide

When planning your family tree project, you must first determine a clear focus for your family tree research. How far back do you want to trace your family tree? Do you just want birthdates or do you want to compile biographies of family members. A family tree plan will help answer these questions and more and help schedule your valuable time, so you focus on what is important.

Family Tree Plan - Your Family Tree Focus

Do you want help with family tree planning or how to start your family tree? Before you start any family tree research project, use this family tree guide to help you set some goals that will help you focus your time and energy on a desired outcome. With that in mind, you can collect your resources, determine a focus, and execute a family tree plan that will help you successfully achieve your genealogical goals. Keep in mind if, even if you start out just wanting to write an essay on one family ancestor with this family tree guide, you can always expand on your research and produce a family tree on a much larger scale later.

Here are some ideas for focusing your genealogy research into a finished family tree report, essay, book, or website :

1.	Compilation of family documents, letters, recipes, and photographs - This record book using photo genealogy and would be more of a picture book than a narrative.
2.	Biography on one major ancestor - Develop a narrative around the life story of one main ancestor. This effort makes note of the chronological history and the history of friends, family and other associates taking part in this ancestor''s life.
3.	Multigenerational family history - This body of work would offer narratives, photographs, recipes, etc related to each person in the family tree.
4.	Documentation of family clusters - This would be a broader collection of family clusters. Each family unit would hold a separate narrative that may give more focus to a patriarch or matriarch of the family unit.
5.	Genetic Family Tree - The use of genetic genealogy is used to trace family histories across many generations and even continents.

Plan a Family Tree Mission Statement

Here are some tips for writing a family tree plan mission statement:

1.	What type of reporting method? - If you plan to create a collection of photographs and recipes, you know to search for those items. Also, you may want to record family interviews with a video camera and make a video family tree.
2.	What family lines will I include? - You can expand into so many directions if you track every family line related to you. We advise focusing on one, such as your matriarchal grandmother's family. You may also be the child of divorced grandparents, so you may want to start multiple family trees.
3.	How far back do you want to go? - If you wish it, it will happen -- if you want to track back to the Mayflower, decide this in the beginining. You may want to start with a progression, such as from now until the civil war time period.

Materials Needed To Make A Family Tree

You are going to uncover an abundance of information about many different subjects when using this family tree guide. Purchase supplies at the local paper products store. We suggest purchasing the following materials that will help you carefully organize your research data:

1.	Download Printable Family Tree Forms - Find free printable pedigree charts, family tree fan charts, and family record chart on our Organize Your Family Tree page.
2.	Index Cards - Buy a pack of 100+ because you will need to track each family member with its own index card.
3.	Index Card Box - This item will help to organize the cards and allow you to easily travel to your research destinations with your cards.
4.	Writing Tablets - Great for quickly jotting down information that can be organized on index cards later.
5.	Audio Recording Device - Necessary for recording conversations with relatives and other human sources.
6.	Digital Camera - This is great for taking pictures of family members, important places or even important documents and artifacts that you may not be able to remove from it storage area. You may also want to use a digital camera to record video of family interviews.
7.	Binders and Manilla Folders - You will want to organize your family tree documents into a separate binder for each surname. Within each binder should be a set of attached folders for each person grouped by family unit.
8.	Photo Albums - You will need a safe place to store pictures of family members. We suggest starting with an album for each surname that has removable pages with acid free picture protectors.

Information To Track When Researching Family

Before doing research, always know what information for which you are searching. Here is a list of key facts you will want to find on each subject :

1.	Full Name - [Title, First, Middle, Last, Maiden]
2.	Spouses - [Full Names \| Birth Dates \|Wedding Dates \| Divorce Dates \| Parents]
3.	Children - [Birth Dates/Locations \| Death Dates \| Birth Order]
4.	Home Addresses - You will want to define the addresses for each stage in a person's life (childhood, first adult home,etc), so that you know where to search for items that relate to a specific life stage. Search for the towns on maps, but remember that towns and map boundaries change over time, so you may have to search for older maps to find obscure towns. Understanding the correct town of birth, will help you pinpoint the location of facilities that store large of amounts of information of wich you will be searching.
5.	Occupations - [Locations \| Company Names \| Dates of Employment]
6.	Affiliations - [Churches \| Lodges \| Local Government \| Volunteer Groups\| Baptismal records]
7.	Military Records - [Discharge certificates \| Death records \| Training records \| Records of Training]

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	Make My Family Tree.com is a free online step by step family tree guide that explains how to make a family tree. Other genealogy resources found on this site include free family resources, famous family tree articles, informative genealogy articles, and family art drawings made by kids around the world, and family tree making crafts. The goal of this family tree website is to help family historians and genealogist learn more about genealogy in a fun and creative way. Subscribe to Tree Talk Ezine to learn more about the updates of make my family tree.com and read informative genealogy articles.
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