How To Fill in Eight-Generation Family Charts?

Two hundred and fifty four ancestors. That’s how many relatives other than yourself you’ll have to write into your eight-generation family chart to complete it. You will make number 255. That’s a lot of information. When you break it down that will be at least 255 names, birthdates and places, and who knows how many residential addresses and marriage locations to be recorded. To do so accurately you will need to have a well-organized research and filing system.

A simple index card type of arrangement is one option. Information for each individual is kept on an index card that is placed in a folder for that particular generation. As you can imagine, subsequent generations will contain more and more cards, but it is a simple way to keep track of your relatives’ details. As the files get full though, it could be difficult to keep the cards in their proper order. A rolodex, though old fashioned is effective in its own right.

FAMILY CHARTS: Free printer quality 8-generations family charts

Possibly a better way to itemize your data would be to keep a generation sheet for each generation. This could be in the form of a table on paper and might be a more efficient filing method. The point is to enter as much information as you can onto a paper before writing them in your eight-generation family chart. A good idea is to keep each generation on its own sheet of paper. This will simplify the process when you create your chart.

Be especially careful with names though. Simple misspellings can create problems for other genealogists whose search leads them to your family tree. Leaving a "T" out of Johnston for example makes it Johnson, a completely different family, and consequently could cause confusion for your own family as well. Write in any aliases or pseudonyms that could identify your family member who may have the same name as another. Tiny details can create giant distinctions when filling in an eight generation family tree template.