Genealogy
Tips and Guidelines
1.
Let's begin by learning that you must organizing yourself. For as time
goes on you will find yourself with so much paperwork that you will be
lost. For each person make a Family Group Sheet, a Research Log of
where you obtained your information and Research Questions you might
have on this person along with a checklist. Remember to document
everything you find on your ancestors. We will discuss each of these
in further details below. Also remember that you certainly want to
look into purchasing a genealogy software program to store your family
data as paperwork can become overwhelming as you will see
2.The Family Group Sheet is a very simple way to keep track of
family groups. Take the information that you receive on each ancestor
and make a Family Group Sheet (an example is shown at end of this
page) on each person in your family. Start with yourself, then your
parents and their children, your grandparents and their children, etc.
As you go back further in time you may contact relatives or other
researchers. Ask them to please fill out your FGS (Family Group Sheet)
and return them to you. It is always welcomed if you enclosed a SASE.
3. The Research Log is very important for in the future when
you share you data or decide possibly to publish your work you will
need to know your sources for obtaining the information on your family
lines. It is always nice to keep a log for each ancestor. Show their
name, birth, death, married, spouse. For instance if you found the
persons birth certificate show the date you found it, birth
certificate, the source (quoting file#, etc.), source name &
address. Wherever you obtain information be VERY specific with the
information quoting authors, titles, pages, publishers, etc.
4. Research Questions can sometimes be personal
questions you have on a certain ancestor other than birth, death and
marriage. Again make a chart for each ancestor with their name, birth,
death, married, spouse. You might have a list of questions for
example, Immigration, Occupation, Religion, Adoption, Military
Service, Spoke Foreign Language, Family Stories about this Person.
These questions could also add some color into your gathering of
materials on your family as time goes by. After all genealogy is not
just about birth, death and marriage. We want to know about the
history of our family. You might just find some interesting facts on
your family lines.
5. Now to get into the real fun part of genealogy. Do
interviews with your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins
in your family lines. Even talk to your families friends. Tell them
you are researching your family roots. Ask them birth and death dates
and places, marriage dates and places and who the person married.
Always begin with the current year and work backwards. When you get
stuck move to the next line or investigate the brothers or sisters of
your ancestor. I have found some of my best information by researching
the brother or sister of my direct line of ancestry. Also ask them to
check their homes for information they might have on ancestors and
family members.
6. Check all your family members for family bibles, genealogies
and histories, an excellent resource for family lineage. Sometimes the
dates might not be exact but you can always correct them later after
you obtain birth, death, marriage and baptism records.
7. Ask family members if they have available baby and wedding
books, divorce papers, funeral cards, awards, diplomas, school
yearbooks, employment records, military records, medical records. It
also could be that your family kept journals or diaries. Check the
attic.
8. Get birth certificates on individuals. These most always
show parents and sometimes other valuable information including where
the parents were both born, their occupations, etc.
9. Get marriage licenses and certificates. These show ages,
parents, witnesses and other various pieces information including in
some cases where the bride, groom, and parents were born and their
occupations, etc.
10. Get death certificates. Of course these show death dates,
birth dates, parents, who reported the death, where the deceased
person was residing and much more info including causes of death, etc.
11. Go to your local newspaper and get copies of obituary
notices. Obituary notices are a wealth of knowledge. Look at an
obituary in today's newspaper and you will see all the information
that can be obtained from one. In the older obituaries, longer
write-ups are given on family members when they died telling about not
only the person but about their life and in some cases about when
their family line settled in a certain area of the country.
12. Get church records on your family. Baptismal, Christening,
Marriage, Membership, etc. These will show as much, in some cases, as
vital records.
13. Go to the cemeteries that you know your ancestors are
buried in and look for other family members. Write down all
information off of tombstones even those that may not necessarily
apply to your current direct family members. You might not visit this
cemetery for awhile and you will have the necessary information right
in front of you for future reference
14. Ask all your family members to gather family picture albums
out check for data, names, etc. You never know what you might find on
the back of an old photo. Or who might have something hiding in their
attic, garage or basement that has long since been forgotten.
15. Get Census records. Begin with the latest census available
and work backwards. Census records have been take since 1790. Before
1790 you can use Tax Lists and other local lists that might have been
compiled according to the state you are researching in. This will help
you fill in the missing pieces and find family members. Some libraries
and historical societies have census records on microfilm at their
branches. Of course, today with the advent of the Internet and CDs, it
is convenient for us to do our research in the privacy of our own
home!
16. Go to your local library, historical society or LDS center.
This is where I began my research on my own family line and found many
of my ancestors in local history books, resource files and collections
of family related material. Click on the banner below for the Ancestry
Book Store, where they offer over 3,700 different genealogy related
books. Some of their book categories include: Ancestry Publishing,
Custom, Genealogy, History, Reference and Pictorial, Ancestry
Magazine, Biography and Memoir, Family and Heritage Cookbooks.
17. Some other sources to look for might be these records:
Adoptions, divorce, emigration, medical, ownership of land,
naturalization, school, biographies in history books, wills, etc.
18. Go to Court Houses and check records for your ancestors.
Check deeds, probate (wills, estate, intestate), voters records,
indenture, marriage, court proceedings, any kind of legal papers that
would have been filed in a courthouse.
19. Search the internet for Genealogy Links where you
will the top genealogy sites on the internet. These links are great
for beginners. Featured are major links and surname sites, genealogy
tools and services, coats of arms and family crests, new and used
books, CDs, software, web rings, search engines, message boards, chat,
genealogy shopping and much more.
20. Post your information including the family or families you
are searching on a genealogy message board or forum . Family
Researcher's will gather not only on these genealogy boards across the
Internet to exchange information and try to connect family lines. You
might get lucky and find a cousin or missing family link! So post on
as many Message Boards on the Internet as possible. Although, be very
careful what you post. Take some friendly advise and do not post your
home address or home phone online. Always use common sense when
posting personal information online. Our fellow genealogists are
wonderful individuals but you never know who else is looking at these
boards.
21. Use the search engines (MSN, AOL, Google, Yahoo, Excite,
Lycos, AltaVista, AskJeeves, etc.) on the Internet to put in the names
you are looking for. I have found many connections using this method.
You will find Web sites and also individuals listed. Also use the
Internet White Pages to look for current generations that have the
same last name as you. Remember, missing cousins!
22. Remember, in order to receive family information you have
to share your family genealogy with others. That includes telling
others where you obtained your information. If you received your data
from a specific person, please give them credit for providing you with
their research findings. It might not only have cost them a lot of
their valuable time and patience in deciphering records, microfilm,
etc. but additional expenses such as gas, copying & research fees
and travel expenses.
23. Most important, look into buying a good Genealogy
Software Program so you can keep track of all your findings.
* Reference - http://www.genealogicaljourneys.com
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