It's time for this week's Ancestry Quick Tip Jamboree! Thanks to everyone who has sent in a Quick Tip. Please keep them coming so that we can keep this tradition going. You can send your tips to ADNeditor@ancestry.com.

Quick Tips may be reprinted, with credit to the submitter, in other Ancestry publications, so if you do not want your tip included in a publication other than the Ancestry Daily News and Ancestry Weekly Digest, please state so clearly in your message.

Have a great day!
Juliana

Creating a Family Medical History
Recently, my sister asked me to write down our family's medical history. I found a ready-made chart in Microsoft Works for medical history. I revised it to include birth dates and eliminated the columns that didn't apply. I included everyone back to great-great-great grandparents. If I had their children's names, I included them. I have contacted all family members for help, and the chart is growing. I plan on mailing the list to all family members and extended family members. It's a great way for the family to know the medical records and names of our ancestors. It is also a great way to take a break from research. I was getting tired of research since I wasn't making a lot of progress. Creating the chart made me realize how much I have accomplished in my research, and it gave me the incentive to continue.

Barbara Clowson

Record Memories for Children
When I take my grandchildren on an outing, I write a summary of the event as though it is the child describing it. I give a copy to the parent (or make a file for each child) and keep a copy for my files.

I include descriptions of what we did the night before, who went with us on the outing, what we wore, what we ate, what we liked about the outing (and didn't like), and other memorable events of the day.

These summaries help preserve those memories.

Hazel Rawls Carr
West Palm Beach, FL

Look for Footstones
I read your article regarding finding only the family name on the tombstone. When I visited my family burial ground in Washington, D.C., I found the same thing, but the director of the cemetery advised me that each of the four graves had footstones, which he uncovered for me to reveal the names and dates of each person. I would have walked away disappointed had it not been for the caretaker.

Doris