Pike County Missouri

	What is a Family Group Sheet? A Family Group Sheet will contain information about a nuclear family - husband, wife & children. Each spouse could have more than one Family Group Sheet, depending on the number of families that person has had. As an example, take the gentleman who started a family in Kentucky, moved to Iowa when wife #1 died and started a second family. When Wife #2 died, he moved to California where he started family #3. This gentleman would have 3 family group sheets.
	What is a Pedigree (or Ancestral) Sheet? A Pedigree (or Ancestral) sheet shows those people from whom you directly descend. You can and may choose to create a Pedigree sheet for any individual.
	How do you determine if a cousin is "removed" or 3rd or whatever? According to William Dollarhide, a genealogist since 1971, this is easily determined by placing direct lineages side by side. From there you can determine "whole" cousins and "removed" cousins. Read his explanation here. You may also review the chart here.
	Why is the census so important? The census will tell you who was living where when. The federal census is taken every 10 years and is available for 1790 through 1930. You will want to be careful as you use it, though. Keep in mind that the information was gathered from whomever was available. Nicknames and middle names were often given in place of given names. Also, census takers spelled names as they sounded, so many different spellings may exist for any surname. You can discover what information is available on each year's census here.