Manage Information Using Free Forms From Internet

By SHARON TATE MOODY Tribune correspondent

Published: Apr 27, 2008

Who doesn't appreciate getting something for free? Some handy forms available online can help in what is critical for genealogists - managing the information they gather and keeping their records organized. Best of all, these forms don't cost a penny.

Census forms: Many researchers complain about the cost of a subscription to Ancestry.com. It's expensive. But Ancestry also features excellent census abstract forms on its public pages - for free - at www.ancestry.com/trees/charts/census.aspx. For those of you who use public library computers to access Ancestry's digital census images, take the time to print the census abstract forms from your home computer and take them with you to the library. You can print the forms directly from Ancestry. Or save them on your computer, which will eliminate the need to go online every time you want to print copies.

Good census abstract forms are also available from Family Tree magazine at www.family treemagazine.com/forms/ download.html#.

Census summary: An excellent census summary sheet, created by Lynne Johnston Weston of Illinois, is available at www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilfrankl/resources/forms.htm. This form allows you to enter the names and ages of family units in censuses from 1790 to 1930 and see a side-by-side comparison of data. It is a good way to "look at the big picture" of your census research.

Non-American census forms: If you've already crossed the border or the pond with your census research, you might find useful forms at www.free -genealogy-forms.com. This site offers forms for censuses in England, Canada, Ireland and Scotland.

Vital records sheets: It's impossible to remember when each state began requiring vital-record keeping because each did so at different times. For example, Florida began requiring state registration of births and deaths in 1899 but didn't require marriages to be recorded until 1927. Massachusetts mandated registration of all vital events in 1841; Michigan did so in 1867.

Family Tree Magazine offers a really nifty single-page printout of the 50 states that tells when each began collecting statewide vital records. It's a handy item to put in a sheet protector or to laminate and keep with your computer or in your research briefcase.

Cemetery records: One of my favorite freebies is from the Web site of Mary and Duane Bailey. The couple offer the standard pedigree charts and research logs, but the best offer is their sheet for keeping track of cemeteries. If you've ever walked a cemetery and tried to sketch it out on paper and record gravestone transcriptions, you'll certainly appreciate the Baileys' efforts in creating this form.

The form consists of boxes in which tombstone inscriptions can be jotted. It also offers a reminder to look at adjacent stones and a place to check off whether you photographed them. The best part allows you to draw trees, buildings, roads and tombstones for each person you list in the boxes. I can't wait to use this. Go to www.cs.williams.edu/~bailey/genealogy.

Pedigree and family group sheets: Once we had to rely on preprinted pedigree and family group sheets to keep in notebooks. Now it has become more common to rely on a computer with genealogy software; information can be entered into databases and printed out in a variety of ways. But there may be a few of you who still prefer the old pencil-and-paper system, and numerous sites provide the preprinted forms. They include www.ancestry.com/save/charts/ancchart.htmand Family Tree's forms page listed above. Martha Stewart has joined in, too, with a pedigree fan chart at images.martha stewart.com/images/content/web/pdfs/pdf1/0104_fanchart .pdf.

Other forms: When you go to the Web sites mentioned above, take the time to explore each one for other forms that might be useful. The Family Tree site probably offers the biggest variety, including deed index extract forms. I don't find these deed forms particularly helpful, but you might feel otherwise. The magazine's site also includes a cemetery transcription form, but it's not as good as the one offered by the Baileys.

South Bay Meeting

Cindy David will present a program, "Writing Your Memories," at the May 20 meeting of the South Bay Genealogical Society at SouthShore Regional Library, 15816 Beth Shield Way, Ruskin. Reservations must be made by May 13 by sending a check for $12 to the society at P.O. Box 5202, Sun City Center FL 33573. The program begins at 1 p.m. Call Rose Huggard at (813) 633-0868.

Write to Sharon Tate Moody at stmoody0720@mac.com.