Family Group Sheet
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A family is entered as the sources show it, and every person keeps the same profile ID everywhere they are recorded.
The sheet has no room for sources, so where each fact came from is kept separately, such as on a Source Sheet. A date line only has room for an exact date, or for abt., bef. or aft. with a year; a bet. date, which needs two years, or any longer qualified date or a record's own wording, goes with the research notes. On a location line, standard abbreviations are clearer than words shortened arbitrarily. A county may be left out when the town identifies the place well enough, and a country may be left out when it is clear from context; the full place name can be written out in the research notes.
Versions — The form has two versions which can be selected from the Version list above the form: the Fillable version, filled in on screen, and the Print blank version, a blank copy for filling in by hand.
Printing — Print opens the browser's print window, where the form can be printed or saved as a PDF instead.
Continuation pages — When more entries are needed beyond the first page, a continuation page provides more space. In the Fillable version, "Add a page" at the bottom of the form adds another page of children's boxes, and can be used again whenever the boxes run out. For a page filled in by hand, choose Print blank under Version and Continuation under Page, then print it as many times as needed.
Form options — Four options change the sheet, alone or together.
- Layout: children in one column gives each child the full width of the page, with room for five children; children in two columns sets them side by side, with room for six, entered left to right across each row.
- Christening and cemetery: adds a christening line for each person and, with each burial, a memorial ID and the cemetery name. With them, either layout has room for four children.
- Ref IDs: shows or leaves out the FGS Ref(s) line for each person.
- Page no.: adds a page number line to a single sheet.
A Family Group Sheet organizes one couple and their children, showing their relationships and major life events. The couple is the focus, connecting the generation above them (their parents) with the generation below them (their children). Unlike a pedigree chart, which follows one person's direct ancestors, two to a generation, a Family Group Sheet includes all the couple's children, even the brothers and sisters the pedigree leaves out.
Also known as — a family group record or family unit chart.
The standard genealogical date format is DD MMM YYYY: the day, the abbreviated three-letter month, and the four-digit year, without commas or slashes. Writing the month as letters avoids confusion between day and month, and consistent formatting makes dates easier to read and compare. Documents made closer to the time of an event are usually more reliable, while later ones often relied on memory and can be inconsistent. When a complete date isn't available, only what the sources support is used, rather than an exact date that isn't established. To set incomplete dates apart from exact ones, genealogists use qualifiers, such as abt. (about), bef. (before), aft. (after), and bet. (between).
The Husband and Wife boxes hold the couple at the top of the Family Group Sheet. They are listed as Husband and Wife whether or not a marriage record has been found; the labels are the conventional ones, and the sheet works the same for any couple. Each is also a child on their own parents' Family Group Sheet.
Children are listed in birth order, oldest first. A child who died as an infant belongs on the sheet as much as one who grew up, and so does a child known from a single document. Seeing the whole family together can show gaps between births, children who died young, and children who may not yet have been identified. When a parent had children with more than one partner, each couple has its own sheet with that couple's own children, so half-brothers and half-sisters generally appear on separate sheets. A child who married, or had children, is the head of a Family Group Sheet of their own, as its husband or wife.
Family Group Sheet Reference(s): the Form ID of other Family Group Sheets where this person also appears, as a child, a husband or a wife, linking their entries across sheets. Someone who married more than once, or had children with more than one partner, appears on a separate sheet for each couple, so the line can hold more than one reference, separated by commas.
Name — A person is named in full, with a woman's birth surname (maiden name) rather than a married one. The birth surname connects her to her parents' family and to the records made before her marriage.
Profile ID — A profile ID can be whatever identifier the researcher chooses: the ID a family tree or database gives a person's profile, such as a FamilySearch ID, or one from the researcher's own numbering system. A consistent system across a body of research gives the same person the same ID on every form. The ID ties the form to one specific person where a name alone could fit several, and makes that person quick to find again.
The date this person was born; see Dates. Birth records were not always kept as consistently as they are today, and many people only knew roughly how old they were. When no birth record survives, a christening or baptism date shows the person was born before that date.
Supporting the research — Birth certificates, church registers, and family Bibles are some of the first places to look for a birth date, and later documents, such as a census, a death certificate, or a gravestone, often give one as well. State and county offices keep birth certificates; see FamilySearch's United States Vital Records guide.
The place where the corresponding event occurred. Together, the locations of life events trace the places the family lived and moved through over the years. A place is written as it was named when the event happened, since county lines and place names often changed, and documents are filed under the name used at the time. Places are listed from smallest jurisdiction to largest, separated by commas: town, county, state, and country. If no town or smaller jurisdiction is known, the entry begins with the county, using the standard abbreviation Co. When a city and county share a name, the entry shows which one is meant.
Supporting the research — Historical boundary maps show which county held a place at the time, such as the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The date of the person's christening or baptism; see Dates. Christening is a separate event from birth: an infant was often christened within days or weeks of birth, but some were christened years later or as adults. Without a birth record, the christening date at least places the birth before it, and the church that kept the register often points to where the family lived and worshipped.
The date this person died; see Dates. When no death record survives, the last record of them living and the first record that shows them as deceased can give a date range for the death.
Supporting the research — Death certificates, obituaries, church burial registers, probate files, and gravestones are some of the first places to look for a death date. Which records survive, and where they are kept, varies by state and period; see FamilySearch's United States, How to Find Death Records guide.
The date this person was buried; see Dates. Burial is a separate event from death, usually following it by a few days, though it could be longer in some cases. Without a death record, the burial date at least places the death before it. Reinterment, where a grave was later moved, is a separate event, and the original burial date stays as it is.
Supporting the research — Church burial registers, sexton's books and cemetery indexes, funeral home files, and obituaries are some of the first places to look for a burial date. Sexton's books and funeral home files often stay with the cemetery or business that kept them; see FamilySearch's United States Cemeteries guide.
Memorial ID: the identifier that connects this person to an entry in a memorial database. It can be an existing identifier or one of the researcher's own. Like Cemetery, it shows the person's final resting place, so after a reinterment it can differ from the burial location.
Supporting the research — Online memorial databases often hold a photograph of the stone and links to family members buried elsewhere, and an ID from one leads straight back to the memorial; see Find a Grave.
The name of the person's final resting place, written as it was named when the person was laid there, since the records of their burial use that name. Cemetery names can change, and small family or church burial grounds may go by other names as well. A later or current name goes with the research notes, or follows the earlier one after a slash, such as "Pine Grove/Oak Hill Cemetery". After a reinterment, it can differ from the burial location.
Supporting the research — A cemetery's own books, such as a sexton's book or lot map, can show others buried nearby who may be family; see FamilySearch's Cemeteries search, which finds a cemetery by name or place and often links to its own website.
The full name of the person's father; see Names and profile IDs. The father takes the family back one generation, to a sheet on which he is the husband and this person is one of his children. When the evidence points to a stepfather or an adoptive father, the relationship is worth explaining in the research notes.
A father can be missing or uncertain in the records. The birth or christening of a child born outside marriage may leave the father blank, or name him only in a court document such as a bastardy bond. A child may also have taken a stepfather's surname, so a surname alone doesn't prove who the father was.
Supporting the research — Birth and christening records, marriage records, death certificates, obituaries, and wills are some of the first places to look for a person's father.
The full name of the person's mother; see Names and profile IDs. The mother takes the family back one generation, to a sheet on which she is the wife and this person is one of her children. When the evidence points to a stepmother or an adoptive mother, the relationship is worth explaining in the research notes.
A mother is often harder to name than a father. Many early records, such as censuses before 1850, deeds, and some marriage records, list only the husband or call her simply "wife of."
Supporting the research — Her children's death certificates, her marriage record, and her father's will are some of the first places to look for a mother's birth surname.
The date of the marriage for the couple named with it; see Dates. A couple who had children has a sheet of their own even if they never married, and the line shows “Not Married”. Other marriages of either person are not included here; see Other marriage(s). Various marriage-related documents give a date for their own event, and these can differ by days or weeks from the actual marriage date. The ceremony date is the marriage itself; when only a license, bond, or banns date survives, it shows the couple were likely married on or after that date. Which document the date came from is recorded in the research notes.
Supporting the research — Marriage licenses and bonds, banns, and church or civil marriage registers are some of the first places to look for a marriage date; see FamilySearch's United States Vital Records guide.
The box is marked when the person had a marriage other than the one on this sheet, or children with another partner. A marked box shows the sheet isn't the whole story. Each of those couples is on a separate Family Group Sheet, with their own children; see FGS Ref(s).
The full name of the person the child married; see Names and profile IDs. Together, the child and their spouse make up the couple on a sheet for their own family. When a child had two or more spouses, which one is listed here follows a single rule, kept consistent across the research. The spouse goes with the marriage on the child's Marriage line, and any other marriage, or children with another partner, is marked in the child's Other marriage(s) box.
Supporting the research — Marriage records, censuses, obituaries, and wills are some of the first places to look for a spouse.
An identifier for a specific form. The same identifier goes on every page of the form, so pages that become separated can be put back together, and another form can refer to it.
The prefix is unique to each type of form. The rest, up to four characters, is chosen by the researcher and can be numbers, letters, or both. Combining letters with numbers allows more forms to be referenced with fewer characters. Each Quick Reference chart carries a fixed identifier instead, such as "QRC-C2", which names the chart itself and has nothing to fill in.