Family Group Cards, Part 2......The Personal Information Sheets

I thought I might expand a bit on my Family Group Cards (a.k.a. FGC). As you will see, on the cards I use, there isn't a place for any "Personal Information" you might have acquired for a person. And I'm sure you all are just like me & would love to have a quick way to look up what you might have on someone. The question for me was, what would be the best way? Well, I thought about that for quite a while & I think I have solved my problem here. I thought I'd share it with you, in case it might be something you could use in your own genealogy records.

I've written up a list of 16 items (at last count) that I believe I will be able to find on members of my family. Believe me, I know I won't have each item filled out for everyone & some information I will only be able to get for those who are still living....but the list I've come up with should cover most everything.

My Personal Information List Consists Of:

1. Weight/Length @ Birth
2. Hair/Eye Color
3. Weight/Height (this would only be filled out once they are adults)
   
4. Physical Traits/Marks (((such as scars, tattoos, wears glasses/contacts, etc)))
5. Medical Conditions
6. Disabilities
7. Cause of Death
8. Name/Place of High School
9. Name/Place of College
10. Degree(s)
11. Cities/States Where Lived
12. Occupation(s)
13. Religion
14. Hobbies
15. Club Membership(s)
16. Military Service

Of course, this list is very flexible & workable to fit your own preferences. You can list what is important to you to include on yours. Just keep in mind, what you can fill out, will be pretty limited the further back you go in your lineage. I know I'm not going to know what my ggg grandfather's hobbies were most likely, but I should know my grandfather's, my siblings, their children, etc. And 50 years from now, whoever might take over the "Genealogy Baton", will be ever so thankful to know what I listed/gathered today. :)

Another thing, if you want to cut costs, you can very easily work this list up on notebook paper. I haven't decided whether to go to the expense of writing the sheet up on the computer & then printing it out or not yet. I can see advantages doing it both ways. :) I'm kinda leading toward printing it out myself, instead of using notebook paper. My reason? Time saving for one & second, I know my hand would like not having to do all of that writing. :)

Finally, I've got a 3-ring binder(s) that I have (w/tabbed dividers for everyone) that the "Personal Information Sheets" would be filed in.

FYI: Being as there are only 16 items to be filled out, you "could" just add a 2nd card to the FGC's if you wanted. Just remember, that would add to the amount you'd have to store in your index card file box. As well as, being as there are only 17 lines to a card, you'd have to squeeze things up if you needed any extra lines.

Later, Deb