Okay, let’s talk about putting together this Rhodes family tree thing. It started pretty simply, really. Just got curious one afternoon, thinking about where everyone came from, you know?
Getting Started – The Hunt for Names and Dates
First thing I did was grab a notepad. Like, a real paper one. Old school, I guess. I just started jotting down names I knew for sure: parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins. The immediate folks.
Then came the slightly harder part. I had to actually talk to people. Made a few phone calls. Started with my mom and dad, asking them about their parents and grandparents. You get some interesting stories that way, not just names and dates. Some things they remembered clearly, others were kinda fuzzy.
I specifically asked for:
- Full names (maiden names are super important for the women!)
- Birth dates (and places, if they knew)
- Marriage dates
- Death dates (if applicable)
Got some conflicting info, naturally. Aunt Sue remembered Grandma’s birthday was in June, but Dad insisted it was July. Had to cross-reference that later. Found an old family Bible – goldmine! Lots of dates written in the front pages. Also dug through boxes of old photos. Sometimes names and dates were scribbled on the back. Pure luck, that.
Making Sense of the Mess
Okay, so now I had pages of notes, names, dates, little snippets of stories. It was a jumble. Needed to organize it. I decided to use a simple approach. Started with myself and worked backwards and outwards.
I basically drew rough branches on paper first. Like:
Me -> Parents -> Grandparents (Dad’s side) & Grandparents (Mom’s side)
Then filled in siblings at each level. Then aunts, uncles, cousins branching off.
This visual thing helped a lot to see where the gaps were. Like, “Okay, I know Great-Grandpa Rhodes’ name, but who was his wife?” That sent me back to making more calls or digging through documents again.
Putting the Tree Together (Digitally, Sort Of)
Paper was getting messy. I looked into some fancy software, but honestly, it felt like overkill. I ended up using a basic drawing tool on my computer. Nothing special, just something that let me make boxes and draw lines between them easily.
Started transferring the info from my notes. Box for each person. Name, birth year, death year inside. Drew lines to show parents and children. Different lines for marriage.
It took time. A lot of clicking and typing. Found more inconsistencies. Realized I had two cousins with the same first name – had to make sure I got their parents right! Double-checking became a big part of it.
The Final Look (For Now)
So now I’ve got this digital chart. It’s not perfectly designed, maybe a bit rough looking, but it shows the main lines of the Rhodes family as far back as I could reliably get – mostly great-great-grandparents.
It feels pretty good to have it mapped out. Seeing all the connections in one place is kind of neat. It’s not ‘finished’, probably never will be. Family trees always have mysteries, right? But it’s a solid start, a record of what I could piece together. And it was quite the trip down memory lane digging everything up.
