Starting my notebook =)

Well I've started my genealogy notebook. I bought some of those sticky label tabs from cvs yesterday and I've labeled the pages by surname. I also bought some dividers to separate the different sections, like charts, surnames, locations, etc.

I've also started on family record sheets. I tried to find some kind of chart on the internet that I could use to list the children, but I couldn't find any that I liked so i made my own. I made up a form in microsoft word that I think is perfect.

At the top of the sheet, i have the name of the married couple. Below it I made a little table box that lists their marriage date and place of marriage. Then below that, I have two table boxes, one for husband, one for wife. There, I list their name, date of birth and death, place of birth and death, a space for notes where I write a little something about them (like names of parents, interesting details, burial info, etc), then at the bottom of that table, i have a space for names of additional wives or husbands if applicable.

Below these two tables, I made a table for the children. This just lists the names of the children, birth and death date, and I numbered it so it's easy to see how many children the couple have and the order in which they were born.

I've also made sure to list at the bottom my sources and the current date for future reference, and that the information was compiled by me. I can just imagine years and years from now, someone in the family will look at my research and be like, "Wow, great aunt Melody really did a lot to help us!" I'm such a geek lol :)

The best part is that I can type in it, unlike the pdf forms. I don't know if there's a way to type into a pdf form or not, but I like the microsoft word forms. That way I don't have to write everything. Also, it's easier to make changes b/c i saved them.

I also added pictures to the ones that I could, just a little picture at top and below the picture, a little description of who is in the photo and the approx. year the photo was taken.

When I get enough of these family records typed up (So far i have like 8 or so done), then I'm going to put them in my notebook with protected sleeves and then i'll have something nice to show off at thanksgiving :) We might even be going to a family reunion soon so if we do, i plan to bring my notebook with me and maybe get some more dates for people. I also better remember to bring my camera this time. I'm kicking myself for not bringing it the last time we went to the cemetery, but I just didn't know at the time that I'd be so into genealogy like I am now.