Tips for Researching Your Genealogy
Researching your family’s genealogy can be a rewarding experience. Everyone likes the idea of finding their roots, but most do not know how to go about it. With a little patience and organization, along with a lot of free time, you can be well on your way to discovering your family’s genealogy. Starting a family genealogy is simple. Here are some guidelines to help you research your family tree and find those unknown people and branches.
Recording the Information You Already Know
The easiest part of researching your family genealogy is the beginning. You should start by writing down the full names of all persons in your family, as well as the following information for each family member:
- Birth date
- Marriage date
- Death date
- Place of birth
- Place of marriage
- Place of death
Do this for your siblings, parents, and any other family members you know. If you don’t know a name, date, or place at this time, don’t worry about it at this point, simply write down all of the information you know.
Get Organized
The sooner you get your family’s information organized, the better. The use of file folders is recommended to keep track of the information you obtain. Begin with one folder for each family member’s surname (last name) at this point, e.g., one for your surname, one for your mother’s maiden name, and so on. In these folders you will place all information gathered, copies of birth and death certificates, census schedule copies, and other records. Later, as your genealogy grows, you should separate the papers in these folders into new folders that will create less bulk, such as “Smith Censuses” and “Smith Vital Records.”
With your documentation for your family genealogy organized, you will save a lot of time searching through your information. It is very important that you are able to find documents quickly because you probably only have a limited amount of time to devote to tracing your family’s history in these busy times.
Ultimately, you should go with a type of organization that works best for you. The information above should be used as a guide to get you started. By choosing a plan of your own design, you will avoid a lot of stress.
Playing Detective with Your Family
The next step is to select the most senior members of your family—including parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents—and contact these relatives, preferably in person or by phone. Look at the holes in the information you have gathered thus far and have these family members help you fill in the blank spots on your genealogy. Be prepared for some surprises. It wasn’t uncommon for children born in the early part of the twentieth century to die. Sometimes, these children are forgotten in a family’s oral history. Also, you’re sure to hear about any family “black sheep” during this time.
During your interviews with these family members, ask about the availability of certain family documents and records—like family Bibles, or birth, death, and marriage certificates. If they are available, ask to have copies sent to you. These vital records are invaluable to a family genealogist. You should expect some errors in family Bibles; however, you will get leads that will help you find the correct information.
Be sure to take extensive notes during these conversations. This will prevent the need to make successive visits or calls to the same family member. Plus, this will give you an idea of how accurate a story is, or if other information is based on what several people say about the same topic.
Research Resources
Now that you have the basics of your family’s current history and its recent past, it’s time to go back further by doing a bit of research. There are several good resources for this:
Your local library. In these libraries, you will find a vast array of sources of information that may lead you to information on your family genealogy. Books containing county history, indexes to vital records, Federal and state census schedules on microfilm, newspapers on microfilm—the list seems endless once you are there.
Also found in libraries, are books containing birth, death and marriage indexes, along with county tax lists, voters lists, etc. These books are mainly published by certain genealogical societies, so availability depends upon the activity in certain regions of the country.
A local genealogical society. Most counties across the United States have genealogical societies associated with the local library. Generally, each society will attempt to have a volunteer in the library at all times. However, this is not always possible, so you should call the society for more information so that you can schedule your visit for the best possible time. Most libraries will have these contact numbers.
Joining a local genealogical society is very affordable. You should do so if you plan on keeping up your search for your family’s history. You will learn a great deal from the other members about researching a genealogy.
The National Archives. Believe it or not, one of the best resources for information to build your genealogy is from government records. The National Archives hosts an excellent website devoted to genealogy at www.archives.gov/genealogy. From their website you can research or order numerous records, including: census records, military records, immigration records and land records. Additionally the website offers valuable tips and links for starting, or continuing, your genealogy research—or even how to find an independent genealogist to do the work for you!
U.S. Censuses and their corresponding indexes. You need to keep the following in mind when looking for census information:
- The Federal Population Census has been taken every 10 years, beginning in 1790. The National Archives has the census schedules on microfilm available from 1790 to 1930. There is a 72-year restriction on access to population census schedules, which is why 1930 is the latest year currently available.
- Most of the 1890 census was destroyed by fire in 1921. However, 6,160 names survived the fire, and were from the following areas: Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and the District of Columbia.
Family History Center. Run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, these genealogy centers provide people with many resource materials mentioned above, plus, they have staff that will help you as needed. The centers are free to all and are located in nearly every city nationwide. The only charges you will incur are those for microfilm rentals if you have to order a film from another center or from a government archive. (These fees are generally less than $4 per roll.) To find a center near you visit their website www.familysearch.org.
County courthouses, state vital records offices, and state archives. Records for the twentieth century are usually obtainable for a small fee, which varies with jurisdiction. These records include: birth and death certificates, marriage licenses and certificates, deeds, law enforcement records, voter lists, and tax records. You need to keep a few things in mind about county records to prevent frustration at times:
- Some records are protected due to privacy laws, which vary depending upon the state and county. Most of the time, you will find this applies to birth and death records.
- A lot of counties were created between 1800 and 1920. Be sure the county in which you are looking existed during the time frame in question. If not, you need to find which counties existed at that time.
- Many courthouses have burned at some point, destroying many, if not all, records they contained. Any dates on which courthouses have burned, should be available from your local library.
- Some counties simply may not have any records during the time frame in question.
- It is a good idea to keep a list of courthouses and their phone numbers and addresses. Along with each entry, itemize the records you know they house, plus any dates on which they burned.
Building Your Family Tree
As you gather information on your family’s history, you will need to put it into some discernible form so you can see the genealogy as a “whole picture.” Two ways to do this are specialized computer applications, and preprinted templates.
There are many computer programs on the market for family historians and genealogists. With these you simply enter the information as you gather it, then the program will print reports and charts as you wish. Ask around about which program may be right for you. A free genealogy and family history program is available for download at familysearch.org.
Preprinted templates are available at some libraries. If not, you may at least find out how to get them. Two popular templates are family group sheets and pedigree charts:
- Family group sheets allow a genealogist to enter information family-by-family. That is, a husband, wife, and their children. Along with each person, you add their birth and death dates, and the places where these events occurred. For the husband and wife, you add the marriage date and place. From there, you make another family sheet for the parents of the husband and the wife, adding their respective siblings. Finally, you do yet another family sheet for each child that has married or has had children.
- Creating a pedigree chart for each relative is an option. This chart lists the individual and his or her vital information, then lists each direct ancestor over several generations, in tree form.
In the end, it is up to you how far to travel back, or sideways in some cases, on your family tree. At times, finding the information you need for your genealogy will be difficult. But you only need to keep in mind that it will be worth it when you find it. Overall the main thing to remember is to make sure the search for your family’s history remains fun.
