Getting started

The first step for anyone interested in tracing their family is: Start with yourself and work back. Get a basic family chart like this, and start filling in the blanks with you as number 1. Fill in as many dates and places as you can, because this information will be helpful to you down the line. Talk to family members, and look at family records that you or they might have. Keep in mind that any information, particularly dates, that you get from family members will have to be verified with primary documents, but this information will ususally get you headed in the right direction. Primary documents that you or family members might have include birth, marriage and death certificates, military records, copies of wills or property deeds. Look also for photographs, especially useful are those that identify the subjects, newspaper clippings of family events or obituaries (two of my great-aunts clipped and saved obituaries of family members and I have found them to be a great source of information), family bibles, church records or certificates, family correspondence, diaries and any other documents that record the life events of your family members.
Once you have gathered and recorded all of the information that you have readily available to you, you can start filling in the blanks. You will want to record information about more than just your direct ancestors. You will find that siblings are equally important. In order to record all of these children, you will need a different form, a family group sheet.

At this point, I should mention that I don't use either of these forms any more. I have a computer program that I find a great time saver and a much more efficient way to keep my family information in order. I think filling out the forms is a great way for a beginner to get an idea of what information is important, and there are some genealogists who still prefer to use the paper forms, but I always recommend using a computer program if you have the resources available to you. I use FamilyTree Maker, but there are several others and even one you can download for free from the LDS website, Personal Ancestry File. Here is a site that compares and reviews the various genealogy software products that are available.

The family group sheet will give you space to record information about each child in a family including spouses and marriage dates. You will fill out one of these forms (either in paper or electronically) for each family that you encounter on you way back through the history of your family.

To start my research of Davis Street Families, I wrote down the names of people as I could remember, starting at the bottom, south side of the street and working up and around.
1. Burkie(Alcide) and Marion Burke - actually on Brunswick Street
Austin Bearce family
2. Leslie and Mrs. Jollymore
3. Percy and Mrs. Wedgewood
4. Bob and Fran (Frances Sirois) Huyett
5. Ray and Dot (Dolores Bamford) Spinney
6. Charlie and Natalie Crawford - actually on Fourth St.
7. Tick (Charles) and Florence Lowell
8. The Old Maids
9. Woody and Dot (Dorothy Bailey) Burr