Updated: 28 Jun 2020 – new ideas on how to use the tool are given at the end.
When I create a family tree and have a sufficient number of people on the branches, I copy the list of people off of the Ancestry.com “Find Person – list of all people” drop down menu and paste it on an Excel spreadsheet.
| Name | Birth | Death |
| , Ann | Dec 1817 – England | – |
| , Jane | – | – |
| , Plaque | – | – |
| – in Hotel Fire, List of dead | 11 Dec 1934 – Lansing Michigan | – |
| Bristol, Edith Virginia | 4 Feb 1905 – Oklahoma, USA | 4 Jul 1987 – Almont, Lapeer County, Michigan, USA |
| Childs, Harriett | abt 1877 – Rhode Island | – |
| Courts, Ada M | Dec 1888 – Michigan | – |
| Courts, Clara V | Dec 1890 – Michigan | – |
| Courts, Edeth L. | abt 1877 – Michigan | – |
| Courts, Edwin L | Dec 1881 – Michigan | – |
| Courts, Ernest L | Sep 1884 – Michigan | – |
| Courts, Ethel B. | Nov 1886 – Genesee County, Michigan, USA | 24 Aug 1966 – Genesee County, Michigan, USA |
| Courts, Louisa L | Jan 1857 – England | – |
| Courts, Mabel L | Aug 1878 – Michigan | – |
| Courts, Mabel L. | abt 1879 – Michigan | – |
| Courts, Phelipp B. | abt 1821 – England | – |
| Courts, William | Jan 1848 – England | – |
| Crawford, Beatrice L | Oct 1883 – Michigan | – |
| Crawford, Betty Jean | abt 1916 – Michigan | – |
| Crawford, David K | 01 Apr 1857 – Forest Township, Michigan | 29 Jul 1930 – Goodrich, Genesee, Michigan, USA |
| Crawford, Fred A | May 1887 – Michigan | – |
| Crawford, Ida L | 9 Mar 1881 – Otisville, Genesee, Michigan | 12 Oct 1907 – Otisville,Genesee,Michigan |
| Crawford, Jesse C | Aug 1885 – Michigan | – |
| Crawford, John | – | – |
| Crawford, Millie | abt 1886 – Michigan | – |
| Crawford, Nan | abt 1912 – Michigan | – |
| Denton, Christine Laura | abt 1880 | abt 1975 |
| Dezell, Alice Ortensa | Oct 1855 – South Mountain, Stormont, Ontario, Canada | 26 Jan 1922 – Genesee, Michigan, United States |
| Donald, Mary | – | – |
| Fairbanks, Eunice C | Aug 1834 – New York | – |
| Fairbanks, Hettie Mariah | Jan 1863 – Appleton, Outagamie, Wisconsin, USA | – |
| Fairbanks, Zelotes C | Mar 1836 – New York | – |
| Ginger, Cora Celinda | 30 Mar 1868 – New Paris, Preble, Ohio, USA | 01 Aug 1942 – New Paris, Preble, Ohio, USA |
| Goodwine, Cory | Dec 1885 – Illinois | – |
| Goodwine, Everet | Nov 1889 – Illinois | – |
| Goodwine, Gilbert Bennett | 10 Nov 1909 – Oklahoma, USA | 17 Aug 1990 – Marlette, Sanilac County, Michigan, USA |
| Goodwine, Harriet Sarah | 22 Apr 1879 – Michigan, USA | 19 Aug 1973 – Marlette, Sanilac County, Michigan, USA |
| Goodwine, John “Jack” Washington Jr | 2 Dec 1848 – Blount Township, Vermilion County, Illinois, USA | 30 May 1924 – Potomac, Vermilion County, Illinois, USA |
| Goodwine, John James | 1 Jul 1903 – Vermilion County, Illinois, USA | 24 Aug 1972 – Marlette, Sanilac County, Michigan, USA |
| Goodwine, John Washington | 20 Nov 1877 – Potomac, Vermilion County, Illinois, USA | 11 Dec 1934 – Lansing, Ingham, Michigan, USA |
| Goodwine, Lidora Alice | 22 Sep 1855 – Ohio, USA | 2 Aug 1918 – Potomac, Vermilion County, Illinois, USA |
| Goodwine, Maggie | abt 1885 – Illinois | – |
| Goodwine, Ullysses “Uley” S | Feb 1884 – Illinois | – |
| Goodwine, Vesta A | Jan 1892 – Illinois | – |
| Goodwine, Wayne | May 1895 – Illinois | – |
| Houser, Sarah C | Mar 1865 – Canada | – |
| Howlett, Thomas | abt 1840 | abt 1914 |
| Howlett, Thomas Henry | Aug 1870 – Michigan, USA | 11 Dec 1934 – Lansing, Ingham, Michigan, USA |
| Kerns, John | – | – |
| Kerns, Manley W | abt 1901 – Michigan | – |
| Kerns, William G | abt 1867 – Saginaw, Saginaw, Michigan, USA | – |
| Leeke, Charlotte | – | – |
| Leidlein, John | 03 Sep 1864 – Saginaw, Saginaw, Michigan, USA | 11 Dec 1934 – Lansing, Ingham, Michigan, USA |
| Leidlein, John M. | 14 Jun 1915 – Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan, USA | 18 Apr 1984 – Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan, USA |
| Leidlein, Orea M Oren | 3 July 1889 – Michigan | 8 November 1955 – Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan, USA |
| Leidlein, Richard A. | 23 Jun 1919 – Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan, USA | 24 Mar 1991 – Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan, USA |
| McFarland, Edgar D. “Richard” | abt 1868 | abt 1911 |
| McFarland, Russell Sage | – | 11 Dec 1934 – Lansing, Ingham, Michigan, USA |
| Meyer, Anna | 14 Jun 1866 – Reese, Tuscola County, Michigan, USA | 12 Aug 1948 – Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan, USA |
| Monroe, David C | abt 1906 – Michigan | 11 Dec 1934 – Lansing, Ingham, Michigan, USA |
| Monroe, Donald | abt 1901 – Michigan | – |
| Monroe, Douglas | abt 1908 – Michigan | – |
| Monroe, Douglass | abt 1909 – Michigan | – |
| Newspapers, Michigan | – | – |
| Newspapers, Other states | – | – |
| O’leary, Mary C | abt 1886 – Michigan | – |
| Palmer, Charles Wilson | abt 1866 | abt 1939 |
| Parker, Charles Dezell Chas D. | 22 Sep 1877 – Canada | 11 Dec 1934 – Lansing, Ingham, Michigan, USA |
| Parker, Donald D | abt 1916 – Michigan | – |
| Parker, Harry | abt 1879 – Michigan | – |
| Parker, John A | Dec 1886 – Michigan | – |
| Parker, John Grant | Jul 1848 – South Mountain, Stormont, Ontario, Canada | – |
| Parker, Roscoe G | abt 1919 – Michigan | – |
| Parker, William | abt 1823 – Canada | – |
| Parker, William H | Feb 1884 – Michigan | – |
| Perry, Mary Kathleen | 1 Apr 1918 – Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan, USA | 18 Mar 2013 – Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan, USA |
| Robbins, | – | – |
| Robbins, Elisa Elsa | – | Lansing, Ingham, Michigan, USA |
| Sias, Donald W. | – | 11 Dec 1934 – Lansing, Ingham, Michigan, USA |
| Timblin, Clifford Alvin | 18 Mar 1887 – Cameron City, Cowley, Kansas | abt 1921 – Michigan |
| Timblin, Edith | Sep 1888 – Kansas | – |
| Timblin, Samuel | abt 1860 | 21 Jul 1892 – Traverse City, Grand Traverse, Michigan, USA |
| Voorhees, Vern | 1878 | 11 Dec 1934 – Lansing, Ingham, Michigan, USA |
| Waters, Florence K | 5 Feb 1891 – Saginaw | 22 Apr 1971 – Saginaw, Saginaw County, Michigan, USA |
| Westfall, Daisy | abt 1874 | abt 1900 |
| Name | Birth | Death |
Once I show the list of people on the tree, I then copy the list and paste it onto an Excel page.
The names and dates fall into columns on the Excel spreadsheet so I can work with them much easier.
I can add columns and label them such as census dates, military, baptism, marriage and then put an “X” in the person’s row if I found the record for the person.
I create columns for baptism, school, marriage, military, city directory, and grave, because those are usually the records that one can find in the various web sites.
By having those columns I can put an “X” for the records I’ve found and I can see at a glance which records I still need to find.
The list of people and the Excel file above comes from a tree I created about a 1934 Lansing, Michigan Hotel Fire. I needed a way of sorting through the list of people that are on the tree and a way to manage the records as I found them.
I saw the story in a newspaper and thought a tree for the hotel fire would help people answer the question of how an ancestor died.
Many times all that is found about the relative is a death index with a date but nothing else. By creating a tree for the “event”; The Hotel Fire, and putting on the tree all the people affected by the hotel fire, a person looking for information about a relative will come across the tree and see exactly how the relative died.
Below is the link where you can find the Hotel Fire story.
Hotel Fire 1934 Lansing Michigan News
I’ve created other event family trees that allows genealogists to see exactly how their ancestors met their deaths or survived a tragic historic catastrophe.
Here is a list of some of those event family trees.
| 1863 Hunley – The crewmen of the Hunley – Civil War |
| 1893 Train Crash at Kingsbury Indiana in Boston news |
| 1934 Hotel Fire – Lansing Michigan |
| 1949 Cape Girardeau Missouri Tornado 21 Killed |
| 1959 Yellowstone Earthquake |
| 1961 OLL school 8th grade graduate class |
| 1965 RU HS graduate class |
By grouping people together in the various events I can have a record, in one place, of all the people involved in the event. I can create individual trees for any one of the families if I wanted to expand the history of that one particular family.
By having all the people in one place, also allows me to make connections between family members, connections which would be lost if the people are on separate trees.
NEW IDEAS for the use of the tools (Excel spreadsheet and Group family trees).
The grouping of people on one tree can be used for family gatherings such as weddings and reunions or any time when various branches of the clan gather together.
The group tree for Julie’s wedding will contain all the people who came and will be a good way of managing relationships between the family branches. An Excel spreadsheet for the tree, will be an easy way of managing the gifts and thank you notes.
The Excel spreadsheet allows you to handle huge amount of data. Data that you might want capture about an event.
I hope this post has given you some new ideas for recording the lives of your relatives or friends.
Related blog post: LIST OF PEOPLE ON A TREE – (AGOSTINA BOLENA FAMILY TREE) October 4, 2018
Thank You
Jose from Clarkston, Michigan, USA
Blog: https://newspaperproject2012.wordpress.com/
Genealogical Collection 
This is awesome! This is going to really help me in organizing my research. Bravo for creating tree information on events for others to benefit from.
Thank you for visiting my blog and for the nice comment. I am glad it has helped you. I am sorry it took so long for me to see it and reply. Stay Safe and have a happy new year.