Genealogy Chat

Has a family member ever asked you “Can you send me what you have done so far?” And as we like to share our findings with all our families we print out a tree along with a whole host of other bits and pieces, send it on to them and surprise, surprise they can’t make head nor tail of it!!!! After having this problem myself I decided to type it up in a book (very small book!) see below

The book contains the families of my maternal grandmother and I have written an A4 page on each of her direct ancestors. I included as much information as I could and tried to add in lots of interesting snippets!!! So the book makes sense to whoever the recipient maybe I explained on the first page a bit about the book ie. This book follows the lives of two families in different counties and moves forward in time until the two families meet in London blah blah.blah. As I said before I did a page for each of my nan’s ancestors and just so the reader didn’t lose track I put at the top of each page my Nan’s relationship to that particular ancestor ie. 3xgreat grandfather to Jean Doe (not her real name!) Well, it worked a treat because rellies that have so far read it said it made sense!!!!! The best thing about it is because its on computer I can always add to it!!! Please feel free to add your own tips to this thread as I will be starting a second book soon and am always open to new ideas!!!

Yes Deb, I did the same thing last year for my in-laws! Great minds think alike! I knew they wouldn't be able to follow a report from my FTM. So I made a book. I also colour coded each family, so all the children from OH's 3x Gt grandparents had diferent coloured heading on their page. (does that make sense?) . I also made a simple tree using word and text boxes, using the relevant colours. That sounds ever so complecated!...but it wasn't really!!...lol The in-laws loved it and could follow the family quite easlily. Sue

Hi Sue, I like the colour coding idea!!! I think I might use that next time :-) also I use roots magic and did use some of the publishing features but then saved it as a rich text file (.rtf) I could then customise it exactly how I wanted it in word. Deb

I am just puttingn the final touches to mine-I am so very pleased with the almost end result-my sister hates computes but loves reading so it is for her.

Deb, I also used those coloured subject dividers, taking my colours from those for each family. As I also have a passion for patchwork & quilting, I made a fabric cover for the folder with their intials on using shadow applique work. Again, it sounds complicated! But not too difficult if you like sewing...and if I can do it..anybody can!...lol Sue

Now there is a good idea, patchwork quilted covers, or even embroidered or cross stich covers, especially if you can find a pattern which represents your family, like Willow pattern for instance.

Oh yes....Patchwork....that's a lovely idea. I just used a ring binding machine for my book but I did produce a lovely front cover....I was lucky enough to have a very old photo of the high street where my Nan's parents lived and I used that as a watermark covering the whole page with the title (and author!!!) written over it.. I think eventually I will have it professionally binded but I'm sure that won't be for years yet!!! Deb

Hi Deb, It's so good to know I'm not alone, I have also written mine up like a book and like Sue have colour coded it, but with so many ancestors I have had to add icones (can't remember correct name) eg. stars / hash / inverted comas etc, and variety of fonts. It's working well so far. The reason I started mine was because I was also following siblings too and it got quite complicated. I'm now trying to think up a simple idea to put the tree on paper without using loads, the only way I can think of is to use lining paper and pre-printed info and stick it on. Patchwork - what a great idea you've given me, although not related to patchwork. Just received my Family Name Shield, with a copy of that I could cover the file for that family. thanks for that tip. Any further ideas would be appreciated, Good hunting to you all, regards Lou

Thank you everyone for your useful tips as I need to do something like this for cousins from both of my lines. Deb N Air...I also have Roots Magic but being completely computer illiterate I am still waiting for hubbie to show me how to use it!! I also have plans to start scrapbooking some very old photos I have ie gt grandparents and 2x gt grandparents...I have loads of ideas but need anther 10 hours in the day to do everything I want to do...who said life gets easier when you retire lol. Linda