Do you have an Ahnentafel?

The word is German, and it’s an important one to genealogists. In English it means ancestors’ table, and many of us find the Ahnentafel a simple way of organizing ancestors.

I’ve done a six-generation Ahnentafel for my dad’s side of the family to show you how it works. The first generation could be you, or any member of your family.

The second generation is the parents, and the third is the person’s grandparents. Count down to the fifth generation, and you’ll see that these are my dad’s great-great grandparents.

The person you start with, yourself or someone else, is No. 1. For anyone on the chart, the father is double that number, and the mother is double that person, plus one.

Wherever there’s an ancestor whose name you don’t know yet, keep that space open by inserting dashes or asterisks – anything that reminds you that someone isn’t identified.

Always use maiden names for the women. If the husband and wife have the same last name, maybe they’re cousins, and maybe they aren’t. If they are cousins of one degree or another, you’ll find they share grandparents or great-grandparents, for example.

. First Generation

1. Gayland Alton Moore Jr.

. Second Generation

2. Gayland Alton Moore Sr.

3. Ione Alvara Bennett

. Third Generation

4. Alton Jotham Moore

5. Hattie Evelyn Moore

6. Walter Sherman Bennett

7. Rena Alice Bennett

. Fourth Generation

8. Gaylan Harrison Moore

9. Susan D.W. Holbrook

10. John Colby Moore

11. Rebecca Packard

12. Sumner R. Bennett

13. Roxana S. Briggs

14. Prosper Alvarus Bennett

15. Mary Alice Cummings

. Fifth Generation

16. Jotham Moore

17. Lovina Leighton

18. Thomas Holbrook

19. Julia Welts

20. Jotham Moore

21. Lovina Leighton

22. James Packard

23. Lydia Harris

24. David Bennett

25. Lucy Clark

26. Abiathar Briggs

27. Eunice Turner

28. Prosper Bennett

29. Mary Ann Comins

30. Silas Harris Cummings

31. Sarah Abigail Hildreth

You may want to add birth and death dates, and places, to your Ahnentafel.

A copy of the chart could become the skeleton for a simple family history. After working on my family tree for more than 25 years, I’ve decided to work up a simple history – perhaps no more than 20 pages or so for each side of my family – just so at least that much gets done.

Then I can distribute copies to my relatives and other interested parties. As time permits, I would hope to flesh out the family history further, adding more information.

I’ve known too many people who were always “going to do a book,” and it never got done.

I’ve started by adding dates and places to the entries, where my ancestors lived and went to school, military service if applicable, what they did for a living, and the cause of death from death certificates. Where I’ve found a family in a census, I can add that data as well.

For some entries, the information might be only three to four paragraphs, to begin with. I can include a family story, and who told it.

For my great-uncle, I’ll have to mention the fact that three boys in the family were named Mike after him – even though his name was Alvarus Frank Bennett. I’ll include information on his family, and the fact that Uncle Mike was a teacher and principal at Abbot High School.

He graduated from Colby College in 1927, and played on the baseball team. His third of a page in the Oracle yearbook notes that “he once quoted Browning in his Math final – and passed the course!”

Further, the yearbook tells me, he wrote for the Echo and the Oracle, and was “the essence of gentleness and kindliness; his quick wit and whimsical humor open many doors to him; his ready sympathy and unbiased views endear him to his many friends.”

Uncle Mike died years before I was born, but I can easily write up a few paragraphs that will give my children a glimpse of why he is recalled so fondly.

Like many a genealogist, I have a mind-boggling amount of names and dates, documents and photocopies pertaining to my family. For me, it’s time to start putting some of it together in at least a small way.

A free beginners’ workshop, “Unearthing Your Roots,” will be offered by the Penobscot County Genealogical Society from 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 5, at the Bangor Public Library. It is expected that topics will include vital records, Internet research, family interviews, other resources, computer software and census records. For information, contact Dale Mower at DWMower@aol.com.

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402; or send e-mail to familyti@bangordailynews.net.