Heritage Album - I would like to start making a family tree, where do I begin?

I would like to start making a family tree, where do I begin?

I have joined a free trial with Ancestry.co.uk as I would like to research my husband's family tree as a birthday present for him. Its going to be a heck of a long tree and I want to be able to print it out afterwards, but it would obviously be A3 size!! My printer only does A4. To those of you who have vast experience in doing family trees, could you give me some tips and helpful advice i.e. do I need to buy a family tree maker software as well? With thanks

Public Comments

i dont know but have you tried genes reunited dot com?
you shouldbe able to set your printer to banner to print but I think you will find it will take quite some time to trace his family historuy. i have been at it for 14 years astill keep finding out new stuff.
I can't help you with your printer issue, but the best place to start a family tree is with immediate family and work your way back. Family Tree Maker programs are nice, but Ancestry.com works just as well. Personal notes taken by you, vital records documents, pictures are all the best places to gain information. A paper copy of everything helps immensely, letting you go back at a later date and possibly discovering more useful information as you go along.
if you have a flash drive you could possibly save the data and go to a printer that has the right requirements
Be prepared to have to buy certificates galore from GRO to break down brick walls in your tree. There are various sites like this one www.genealogyprinters.com that will print your tree for you.
First and foremost, start with the people who are living. Find out what they know. Talk with aunts and uncles, cousins, and so on - anybody who is part of your family. Get dates, locations, names, memories, stories - it's ALL important. Find out what they remember about people who are no longer living, too. Put all your information into a database that will help you organize it. The Mormon church offers a free one, "Personal Ancestral File," that you can download from their web site (they won't bug you in terms of their religion). Once you have included as much as you can from people who are living, start to search online sites, records, etc., for matching people and events. Computers have revolutionized genealogy in the last two decades, and there are ENORMOUS amounts of data available, as well as innumerable personal genealogical web sites. As to your printer, it should do whatever size is sent to it; the program I listed below has the means to print out what you need. In addition to being a genealogist in terms of hobbys, I'm also a tech-support agent and have worked for some very recognizable names :-) Good luck in your search! http://www.ldscatalog.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?catalogId=10151&storeId=10151&categoryId=14000&langId=-1&cg1=13669&cg2=&cg3=&cg4=&cg5=. http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin... http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.... http://www.ancestry.com
There are A3 printers out there but they are very expensive, may be a local printers can print it for you, If you are just starting out Ancestry is a good starting point but also try www.familysearch.org and once you have hit the 1881 census then have a look at www.lostcousins.com. good luck and good hunting
Get as much info out of relatives as possible then go back again later as the stories will be added to next time you ask- write everything down even if it seems insignificant at the time. Old address books are a good source. Gather everything together and keep it well organised and indexed. Do as much as you can on ancestry other than 1881 census before your free trial runs out as 1881 is free afterwards. Be careful about adding their ancestry hints without careful checking! If you get your own software you can work offline on the tree and merge trees together. I personally do not put living relatives details online (confidentiality). As far as printing goes Ancestry has a facility to make a book version but it is time consuming to put together. I have given up for the moment. You can get things printed on A3 if you go somewhere like prontaprint and take your file with you on memory stick as a picture. Hope this adds to your knowledge. Best of luck.
The best way is simply to start with your own family. If you want to do it on the computer, you can download PAF (Personal Ancestral File), which is free genealogy software at http://www.familysearch.org under Order/Download Products. I imagine you can pick it up pretty quick because it is very user-friendly. Then talk to his parents (and grandparents if still alive) and get as much information as you can from them including names, dates, and places. Here are a few online resources for you to use: http://www.familysearch.org - Probably the best free online resource. http://www.ancestry.com is one of the best but has a hefty subscription fee (for most of its databases). Also, you can check the surname message boards for his surname at: http://genforum.genealogy.com http://boards.ancestry.com For links to helpful sites, you will want to take a look at: http://www.cyndislist.com And finally for a lot of different resources: http://www.rootsweb.com For grave records: http://www.findagrave.com It won't all be free but it's worth it. You can also create a family tree website at http://www.familyinhistory.com/signup where you could upload his genealogy when you're ready and the charts would be very slick on the computer instead of printing them. Good luck, Dave
I have setup a couple of blogs: http://howtomakeafamilytree.weebly.com/ Explains how to start your tree. http://howtomakeafamilytreeforfreeuk.21publish.com/ shows various free resources. I am currently doing a whole set of videos on how to start doing your family tree