The proper way to input information on a family tree.
Putting names into your family tree template:
First you would record the first name, then their other names, and finally the surname. Surnames must be capitalized, and this means it would be displayed as such: John Lyon Smith. Married women will always have their maiden name listed, but if you do not know their maiden name, you should write “unknown”. In order to indicate unknown, you would write the following: Mary Wright//. The // indicates that the maiden name is unknown.
If there are nicknames involved, then the nickname should be shown in quotes. For example, Jacob “Jac” SMITH. If someone has been adopted or undergone a legal name changed, then they should have the original name in brackets, and then a.k.a followed by their new name.
Remember to record surnames exactly as you find them. Don’t change them to what you think the correct spelling should be. Names were often misspelled due to illiteracy, transcription errors, or misunderstandings. Be sure to record every variation you find e.g. Smith, Smyth, Smithe may all represent the same individual so should be recorded as Mark Peter SMITH/SMYTH/SMYTHE.
In some cases, surnames were deliberately changed for political or social reasons, possibly when immigrating to a new country. If you know the original spelling, record that version first, followed by the later version(s) used.
Entering dates in a family tree form:
To enter dates properly, you would use the European standard. For instance you would record the day first, the month, and then the year(dd Mmm yyyy). Yes, the first letter of the month is a capital, so you would enter your dates as such: 12 Apr 1978.
If you don’t know the exact date, then you would place a prefix such as: abt which means: about. Another word you can use is ‘circa’ which means ‘around’. Use these when you want to use an approximate date rather than an exact one.
If you don’t know the exact date but can establish a range of dates between which the event occurred, then use the abbreviation bet. (short for “between”), with a hyphen between the two dates. E.g. bet. 22 Jan 1950 - 26 Feb 1950.
When dates are shown in numerals only, in North America the month is shown first (04/06 would be Apr 6). In Europe and former colonies it is the day that is usually shown first (04/06) would be 4 Jun). If you are not sure in which way the recorded date should be interpreted, you might want to add a comment in the notes to indicate how you think it should be interpreted and why.
Location data and abbreviations
Locations need to be recorded with extreme accuracy. It is important that you try to record the location in its entirety, and as such you should start with the smaller region, the country, and then the area. So with that in mind you would write it as such: London, England, United Kingdom (Or UK). Make sure you record births and deaths accurately; for a birth you would write B, for a death you would write D, and for marriage you would write M.
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