Ancestry Brought Back the Family Group Sheets

Ancestry.com announced that the Family Group Sheets have returned. The purpose of the Family Group Sheet is to aid genealogists with their research.

Ancestry included information in their blog post for people who are unfamiliar with what a Family Group Sheet (or Family Group Record) is. They explain it this way:

“It is a view of parents and children in a family, and is designed to show names, dates, and places of birth, marriages, and deaths in an easy-to-read format. It has been a staple of genealogical research for decades and is a powerful tool when it comes to looking for gaps in research, viewing a nuclear family, and sharing information with others.”

It appears that Ancestry.com removed the Family Group Sheet in February of 2016. At that time, Ancestry had put together short video tutorials to show people how to use newly introduced features.

One of those features was called Facts View. At the time, Ancestry.com said: “The functionality of the current Family Group Sheet is duplicated with that of the Facts view. We are working to introduce a new Family Group Sheet report that offers more information about a family in one glance, and it will be similar to the family group sheet report.”

At that time, Ancestry.com stated that there was no specific release date scheduled for the return of the Family Group Sheet. It had been placed “under review”.

The Family Group Sheet was returned to Ancestry.com on June 26, 2018. It comes with its core functionality intact. The new version includes styling updates to make it easier to read, some improvements to make it easier to use, and a convenient print option.

In the blog post, Ancestry.com walks people through how to use the Family Group Sheet view. Selecting the profile button for their focus person, or their focus person’s spouse, will take you to that person’s profile page. After receiving feedback, Ancestry.com announced that the Family Group Sheet can now be accessed from both the tree view and from a person’s profile page.

There is a visual example of what the Family Group Sheet looks like included in Ancestry.com’s blog post about it. The family in the example is Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, who were married on December 30, 1816. The Family Group Sheet includes some information about their son, Percy Florence Shelley.

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