What to Include in a Family History Book: A Chapter-by-Chapter Checklist

A checklist of the sections, charts, photographs and appendices that make a family history book complete, readable and useful for future generations.

Once you have decided to make a family history book, the next question is what goes in it. This checklist covers everything from the title page to the index, so that nothing important is left in a folder on your computer.

Front matter

• Title page: the family name, the scope (for example The descendants of Jan and Maria Kowalski of Kraków, 1790–2026), the author and the year.
• Copyright and contact page: your name and how future readers can reach you or your heirs.
• Dedication (optional).
• Table of contents.
• Introduction: why you wrote the book, what it covers, what it does not, and how much is proven. Two pages is enough.
• How to read this book: the numbering system, the abbreviations, the date conventions (for example about for estimates), and how the charts are drawn.

The main chapters

For a descendant book, one chapter per generation. For an ancestor book, one chapter per line or per generation. In every chapter:

• A chart of the families covered in the chapter, so that readers see the shape before the details.
• One entry per family: the couple, their marriage, their children with dates and places, and the sources in footnotes.
• Narrative paragraphs with the stories, occupations, migrations and the historical events that touched the family.
• Photographs of people, homes and documents, each with a caption naming everyone in the picture and the date.

Special chapters worth adding

• Places: a short history of each village or town, with a map. Many readers know the names but have never seen where they are.
• Surname origins: what the family name means and how its spelling changed. See our article on surname variations.
• Emigration: the voyage, the ports, the first years in the new country.
• Living memory: transcripts or summaries of interviews with the oldest relatives.
• Traditions and recipes: the things a family actually passes on.

Back matter

• Appendix of documents: transcriptions of key records in full, such as a will or a letter.
• List of sources: every archive, register and website used, so that anyone can verify or continue the research.
• Index of names: every person in the book with the page numbers. In a book with hundreds of people this is the most used section. Include maiden names under both surnames.
• Index of places (optional but appreciated).

Practical details

• Number every page.
• Put the family name and the chapter title in the running header.
• Choose a readable typeface at 10 to 11 points for the body and leave margins wide enough for binding.
• Keep a consistent format for dates: 12 March 1901 avoids the confusion between day-month and month-day.

What to leave out

Full birth dates and addresses of living people, unless everyone has agreed. Medical details of living relatives. Unproven links presented as facts; if you include a hypothesis, say so in the text.

Generate the skeleton, charts and index from your GEDCOM file with PrintFamilyTree, then spend your time on the chapters only you can write.