And we may even, through luck, have some Bible records or an occasional letter or journal entry. I decided that it was less important to travel back 10 generations if I didn't know anything about these ancestors beyond the name and date than to have 4-5 generations and really know something about them and the way of their lives. I started out by collecting all the forms I could find on the internet. You know the ones for census records, pedigrees and family groups. I filled out each family on a family group sheet and then using the Resources Checklist from Rory's Genealogy, proceeded to fill in each family with all the resources I could find.
Ancestors also has a nice checklist to work with.
Not only is this a great way to organize our material, its the foundation we have to work from. When finished, I have a complete checklist of resources for each family group. But, I did not stop there. If an ancestor was a business owner, I looked for a picture and information about that business. I sought out pictures of the homes they lived in.