Has anybody got any tips please....

[greyingrey]

....about the best way to set about doing a chart of a mass of Hudsons ? My problem is that I can't write because of the shakes, otherwise I'd take a huge scroll & start writing them down. I've found about 5 or 6 other people, all with Hudson families & all coming to a Bermuda Triangle (where the connections disappear) around 1800 in Shepshed, Leics. They're probably related, but we can't find out how. We can find probable ancestors sprouting further back into Derbyshire, but we haven't got the missing links, so that's all speculation to a greater or lesser extent. I can get a one name study of Hudsons in Leicestershire but the Shepshed records haven't been properly transcribed & I've been told they're very difficult to read. You've helped me a lot on here, but we just can't find those one or two essential connections.

Any help in trying to see the wood for the trees welcome. My only idea is to type up all the families I've got & lie them side by side.

[margaretmarch]

If you typed them on a spreadsheet you can then sort the names into any order you like. I would have a column for each of these

first name, middle name or initial, surname, year of birth, place of birth, married/single, mother, father etc.

If you have Microsoft OS then you have probably got Works or Office so will have a spreadsheet application. If not then Open Office is free and can be downloaded and that has a spreadsheet application on it.

Margaret

[Darksecretz]

did you get MacFTM grey ??

if so you can create alot of mini trees within that, goto, 'Plan' then you will see 'new tree' and go from there.

[greyingrey]

Thanks to both of you. My Mac is too old for their version of FTM, Julie. I've got Reunuion, which I'm very pleased with, & I imagine I could do the same with that. I think I need to see the families side by side. I think we're missing one generation somewhere .....a group of Hudson brothers...& I imagine they were somewhere in the Derbys/Leics/Notts border triangle....or moving around in that area. But whether the records survive/whether, for some reason, some of them weren't baptised/married, I don't know

[Darksecretz]

hmmn well, I suppose you could use Ancestry? or Tribal Pages.. I don't know about Reunion not used it. (at least if you used ancestry then you might get contacts) rather than it sitting there on your puter-tree..

[greyingrey]

Thanks, Julie.

[Olde Crone Holden]

You could type out sticky labels, one per person, and stick them on a roll of wallpaper. Same as writing by hand, just using typed labels for neatness.

I write out my own "family group" sheets, based on the downloadable ones you used to be able to get on Familysearch. These are very handy for laying out on the carpet and comparing families!

OC

[Christine in Herts]

This is the sort of time when Velcro-type labels onto fabric might be useful!

Christine

[Darksecretz]

oooh just had a thought. maybe this will be an option...

http://www.lostcousins.com/pages/info/lostcousins_chart.pdf

[kylejustin]

you could do them in word. i don't know how to, but a friend does them. whatever you end up doing, just do the mini trees, print them, so you can see them all at once.

[greyingrey]

Thanks for all your suggestions. Julie.....I don't get anything when I try the link you've given. As well as the things you've said, I think it might be helpful if I did a kind of chart which takes what happened in what year as its starting point....that way I might be able to see where the gaps are. As I've said, I think we're missing a generation, or at least 2 or 3 brothers from that generation.

[herky]

Not sure if this would be any help but when I am having a problem family then I find a "timeline" very useful (as you mention in you post).
I include Date, Name and Place of Birth as a minimum (occupation is sometimes helpful) and it sometimes helps me see where families are coexisting in the same areas or era and, as you say, any gaps will be more obvious.
I usually do this just as a word document on the computer.
Good luck.

[greyingrey]

Thanks herky.

[Darksecretz]

did you get my email Grey?