As a lover of things on paper I have been preparing a kind of reference book (in a large exercise book) into which I have entered my ancestors individually with useful notes, including all important dates and places, names of parents and children (with dates and places), list of sources of information (certificates, censuses and general notes). I find that this will take a double page spread of A4 paper per ancestor. The first page in the book is an index of names entered with birth year and all the pages are numbered, so it is quick and easy to find the person you are looking for.
Of course I have everything on my computer as well, but I have found this a very helpful way of looking facts up quickly without firing up the computer and searching around. I have one book for my father's side of the family and a second one for my mother's side. I can see that for those with massive family trees this system would be unworkable, but for mine it's a great help and compiling it has been a helpful reminder of so many family details. I think it could be useful for my children and grandchildren, too, in years to come, though perhaps a family tree on a scroll of wallpaper would complete the story. OK, I get that this was the way people used to do things before computers became so common, but I have found it most helpful.
The next time you find yourself asking, "Now who was that fellow?", think of how easily you could just look him up in your book and find him in the index and see all the information about him on a page. Simple!
