Genealogy is a tough hobby. You finally think you’ve nailed down a certain branch of your family and poof a mystery child appears. Where in the world did the mystery child come from? It’s so frustrating. Sometimes secrets the dead keep are better left buried.

For those secrets that are bursting to come out (see my experience with helping solve an adoption mystery read here), having an ancestor profile can help you navigate and search for your relative in one specific place.

An ancestor profile should contain the following information:

– their full name, including maiden name if applicable

– their birthday and location of birth

– baptism or other church records

– marriage records

– their death day and location of death

– record of their burial or what happened to the remains

– cause of death

– their occupations throughout life

– addresses or locations where they lived

– names of siblings and parents

– their religious beliefs

– any notable accomplishments

Having an ancestor profile for your entire tree would be next to impossible. It’s favorable to make an ancestor profile for only your direct line. Grandparents, great grandparents and so on. Including the descriptions of the siblings to members of your direct line can help place a perspective on who your relative really was but it is a lot of added work.

The ancestor profile will be extremely beneficial to the researcher when they come across a name, place or other piece of information attached to the person to whom they are researching. It can help pinpoint specific data and eliminate the data that is not relevant.