Another type of form you will use is the family group sheet. The
family group sheet is basically the worksheet that is used for your
research. This is the form you will use to keep track of your family unit
and the cousins, aunts and uncles that are in your family. A separate
form is used for each single family unit and you will record dates and
places of birth, marriage, death and burial and make notes on this
form.
There are some rules you should follow when entering your data on
the various charts. These rules will make it easier for you to refer back
to the data you have entered.
Names
When entering names, you should enter them in their normal order,
first, middle and last (or surname). Putting last names in all capital
letters will make it easier for you to follow the different family names
and to tell the last, middle and first name apart.
If a female ancestors maiden name is known, you should enter this
name, If it is not known, enter either a set of empty parentheses or
the husbands last name.
If a female ancestor has had more then one marriage, you should
enter her given name and then the maiden name followed by the last
name of her previous husband(s).
If an ancestor was commonly referred to by a nickname, you should
enter that in quotes after their given name.
If your ancestors last name spelling has changed due to a move to
another country or for ease of use, include both spellings on the form.
ie. SMYTHE/SMITH.
Dates
When entering dates it is best to use the European standard of day.
month and four digit year. For example 12 November 1903. You
should spell out the month but, you can abbreviate the longer months
using standard abbreviations. If you are unsure of the exact date you can use "about" or "circa" to specify the approximate date.
Places
The generally accepted method for recording place names is to begin
with the smallest locality first and then work your way up to the
largest. You would therefore begin with the town or city name then the
county or district name, then the state or province name and lastly the
country name. If you do not have all of this information you can easily
research it on the Internet. Just type the search phrase "geographic
place names" into Google or another search engine and you will find
many online resources.