X Recording
There are numerous genealogical programs for you to buy or download to help record your family tree. You may need to do some research on the internet to decide which one best suits your needs and pocket. These programs are stored on your hard drive and therefore not available for others to see.
You can record your tree publicly on subscription sites such as Ancestry, Genes Re-united etc. The advantage of sharing information in this way is that it provides the opportunity for previously unknown relations to get in touch. For privacy reasons however, you should ensure that you do not provide information about living persons.
You can of course record your data manually.
AHNENTAFEL is German for ancestor (ahnen) table (tafel). Preparing a standard ahnentafel chart is a very efficient way of organizing your family tree data in order to make it quickly understandable by others.
Each person is assigned a number. You are always 1, your father 2, your mother 3, paternal grandfather 4, paternal grandmother 5, maternal grandfather 6, maternal grandmother 7, patrilineal great grandfather 8, and so on in consecutive fashion.
Each new generation has double the number of ancestors of the previous generation. Thus you have four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents and so on.