In my post about using reverse genealogy with DNA (Step 2), I told you about a tool I created to record DNA matches discovered during online collateral research.

I will share with you how I created this tool that I call a living family tracker.  The tracker lives in my Google Drive as a Google sheet. 

Here’s How

Step 1:  Create and name a new spreadsheet

• Open the Sheets home screen at https://sheets.google.com/ 
• Click New +.  This will create and open your new spreadsheet.
• At the top of the page, click Untitled spreadsheet and enter a new title.
  • Surname Living Family Tracker or 
  • Surname DNA Match Tracker

Step 2:  Create column titles on line 1.  This will serve as your header row with columns.

• Column A:  Name
• Column B:  Cousin Type
• Column C:  Parent
• Column D:  Status of D or L
• Column E:  Contacted
• Column F:  Resource Info

Step 3:  Freeze line 1 to keep it in the same place when you need to scroll through the spreadsheet.  On the menu bar, click View > Freeze > Up to row 1.

Step 4:  Record your descendants and/or DNA matches.

• Name:  Name of descendant (first and last)
• Cousin Type:
  • 1C for first cousin
    • 1C1R for first cousin, once removed (refer to https://www.edrawmax.com/article/what-is-cousin-chart.html to establish this relationship)
    • 1C2R for first cousin, twice removed
  • 2C for second cousin
  • 3C for third cousin
• Parent:  The name of the descendant’s parent.
  • Example:   Name is Jean.  Her cousin type is 1C1R.  Her parent would be Erin, who is your first cousin.   
• Status D or L:  Indicate D if person named is deceased or L if person named is living.
• Contacted:  Indicate Yes if you contacted the person named or No if you didn’t contact the person named yet.
• Resource Info:  Indicate where you found the person named online.  You can add other comments to it like how the person is related to someone else.
  • Example for living:  23&Me & Facebook; half sister of X X.
  • Example for deceased:  GenealogyBank obit; DNA match.

In Conclusion . . .

You can create the same spreadsheet if Excel is what you’re comfortable using.  If you prefer an offline approach, creating a chart on paper will work too.  What matters is that you have a place to record your findings as you do collateral research online.