Once you have those stories, it is time to organize.

Use the Family Group Record to group a set of parents and their children together. This helps you see the immediate family unit before you branch out.

Why the cluster comes before the tree

A single ancestor on their own is hard to find. A household is much easier. Siblings turn up as witnesses on each other’s marriage records, as neighbours in the census, and as heirs in a will. When you know the whole cluster, you have half a dozen ways to identify the one person you actually want.

Download the Family Group Record (PDF) — two pages, portrait. The front holds the couple and their first four children; the back carries children five to nine, and any other marriages either of them made.

Try it

Drag each clue to the record where you would expect to find it.