Use the ancestor record chart to assign a unique number to every one of your direct ancestors and see where they fit into the structure of your family tree. Keep the set of charts at the front of your file as a quick reference index.
How to use the ancestor record chart
Print your first chart and number it chart 1.
Enter your own name as person 1. You can enter details of your birth, marriage and spouse.
Enter your father as person 2 and your mother as person 3. Your paternal grandfather will be person 4, paternal grandmother person 5, maternal grandfather person 6, maternal grandmother person 7 and so on.
Each person in the far right hand column of the chart will become person 1 in a new chart. On chart 1, write the number of the continuation chart beside the person’s name.
Use the family record sheet to summarise information about each family group.
Some people like to file the family groups alphabetically. But this can be confusing, especially when people are named after their parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles.
I prefer to assign each family group a number based on their position on the ancestor chart. For example, the family group sheet for my maternal grandparents is numbered 1.6/7. For family group charts of children who are not my direct ancestors, eg aunts and uncles, I add a suffix based on their birth order. So the family group chart of my maternal grandparents first-born child is 1.6/7.1, for the second-born it is 1.6/7.2 and so on.