Step 2a – Gather Your Family History Stuff

Look around the house and gather up any documents, photos, etc. that might contain family history information.

In various places around your house — in closets, files, storage — you’ve probably got a lot of family history materials. You want to get these all gathered up into one place so you can eventually sort them into appropriate file folders.

Gather all your family history stuff together into one place.

Place it all on a table or in a few boxes.

This will include all of the following that you can find:

Pedigree charts and family group sheets.
Birth records, Marriage records, Death records.
Obituaries, wills, newspaper articles, etc.
Old photos and Books about your family.
Research notes.
Letters about your ancestors (or that are family history related).
Emails that are family history related (print them and add them to the pile).

Now that you’ve got a big pile of family history stuff — your next step is to set up a simple file folder system. Then you’ll take this big pile of stuff and quickly sort it into the proper file folders. Once that’s done you’ll know exactly what information you have on each ancestor, and what you still need to find. So, start smiling!—because when you’re done you’re really going to be pleased with yourself (but, of course, beware of pride).