Ask Grammy...

Now that you have gathered information about your Spouse and Children, they need to be organized in the same way that you did for yourself. This is going to take quite a chunck of space in whatever container you have filed them in. Don't fret though, you'll find that as you go back each generation, there is less and less to have.

SECURITY! At this point you won't want to leave your certified copies in files where they could be damaged, so you'll want to scan them into your computer. This way you can print them and you'll have them available to you without having to handle your originals. For any person that is alive, original documents should be stored in a secure place. By scanning them, you can also print them in any size you want. This helps if you are putting a book together since the original size is usually a little large to do a creative page layout.

Be sure to work with your parents and get them involved in gathering and preserving. Get their stories while they can still recall things from thier childhood and stories they were told. Have them go over pictures with you so they can be labelled with who, what and when. Take them to where key events took place if possible and take pictures to go with the stories.

WARNING! This is the part where things can get a little obsessive. The spirit of Elijah gets hold of you.

If you are living in the city where your ancestors live, try looking in the local library where you can find stories. Go to the historical section and look through the index at the end for the surname(s) you are looking for.