How to Visualize Your Ancestor-Finding Progress

I've seen lots of graphics lately showing how many direct ancestors we each have. Two parents, four grandparents, eight great grandparents, etc. It adds up fast!

Since I've been lucky enough to find a handful of 5th great grandparents lately, I thought it would be a good exercise to see where I stand.

I made a spreadsheet you can download with placeholders for grandparents in one column, great grandparents in the next column, and so on through 10th great grandparents.

Update: I've made a revised spreadsheet to include color coding for your four basic tree branches: one color for each grandparent. I've also created a row at the top to show how many ancestors we each have for each generation.

Then I used Family Tree Maker software to create a chart of my ancestors, labeling the generations. I scrolled across my chart and filled in the blanks on the spreadsheet.

Color coding the 4 branches helps a lot.

My results are mixed. When I identified four of my 8th great grandparents and four of my 9th great grandparents, I couldn't have been happier. But now I can see that they aren't even the tip of the iceberg. They're a crystal of the iceberg!

To focus on the plus side, I'm missing only three of my 32 3rd great grandparents. That's pretty good considering they never came to America.

I'm missing 23 of my 64 4th great grandparents. After that, I'm not even counting. Yet.

On the plus side, now I can focus my work on finding as many of the missing "younger" generations as I can. (See "5 Steps to Grow Your Italian Family Tree" and "How I Gained 2 More Generations in 1 Day".)

See what this progress report can tell you about your research!

Simplify Your Genealogy Info Gathering With This Form

Skip the handwritten notes with these fill-in-the-blanks family genealogy worksheets

Years ago on a trip to the New York City Municipal Archives, my genealogy buddy Dawn gave me Word document forms to print out. There was one for birth records, one for death records, and one for marriage records.

The forms saved us each a ton of time because we were focused on locating and writing down all the key facts.

But after 35 years at a keyboard all day, I can barely sign my name anymore. Typing, on the other hand, I can do in my sleep.

I created a series of PDF forms you can download and use repeatedly. They are fill-in-the-blanks forms you can save. When you begin using one, do a "Save As" and give it a unique name. You can return to a saved file and add more to it at any time.

Write on the sheet or type in the field and capture the critical information.

Note: I've created several new forms since this article was first published. Let me know if you have any problems or find any errors. This group is in PDF format:

• Family Group Sheet
• 1900 U.S. Federal Census
• 1910 U.S. Federal Census
• 1920 U.S. Federal Census
• 1930 U.S. Federal Census
• 1940 U.S. Federal Census

This group is in Word format:

• Family Group Sheet
• 1900 U.S. Federal Census
• 1910 U.S. Federal Census
• 1920 U.S. Federal Census
• 1930 U.S. Federal Census
• 1940 U.S. Federal Census

Tips & Tools to Help You Translate Foreign Genealogy Records

There are tons of Facebook genealogy groups devoted to very specific readers. If you search, you can find a group devoted to your area of research: Southern Italian Genealogy, Hesse Germany Genealogy Group, Polish Texan Genealogy, French Canadian Genealogy. You name it!

In these groups you will find many people seeking translations of foreign birth, marriage and death records. And there are countless people willing to help.

But you can become a self-sufficient translator of your own documents. Often the hardest part is figuring out the letters themselves. It helps tremendously to know the types of words you're looking for.

If you learn the genealogical keywords, numbers, months, days, etc., in the language you need, the words will become clearer to you.

When you're stuck on a letter or two, search the rest of the document for any other markings that may be the same letter. When you have an educated guess, plug it into Google Translate and see what you get.

Don't be intimidated! You just have to know what you're looking for.

Here are several excellent resources to help you learn the words you need to know in four languages. If the language you need is not here, visit the FamilySearch Wiki for more.

Italian

• Genealogical words
• Numbers
• Occupations
• Common name abbreviations
• List of many surnames
• Surnames used for foundlings

German

• Genealogical words
• Numbers
• Occupations and other general words
• List of 100 surnames and their meaning
• Helpful spelling rules

Polish

• Genealogical words
• Numbers, months, and days
• Occupations and other general words
• Free book: "A Translation Guide to 19th Century Polish-Language Civil-Registration Documents"

French

• Genealogical words
• Numbers
• Months and days
• Occupations and other general words

Still getting stuck? Join a Facebook genealogy group for your ethnicity. You'll find a wealth of knowledge and very helpful genealogists.

And speaking of foreign-language documents:

• What Language Barrier?
• How to Read Names on Badly Written Vital Records
• You Can Read Foreign-Language Genealogy Records