Beginning Your Genealogy

 

 

1. Starting with yourself, create a pedigree chart

-         List your parents, then both sets of grandparents, then your great-grandparents (as known)

-         Include birth, marriage, and death vitals (with locations) as known and as appropriate

-         Go back as far as you can, you will “prove” your data later on

-         It’s never too late to start (or too early)

 

2. Work from the known to the unknown

-         Talk to relatives, photocopy any relevant records and photos that they may have

-         Obtain birth, marriage, and death certificates as necessary to prove your data

-         Cite all sources of information, be passionate about accuracy

-         Be cautious about making conclusions,  be sure that you have enough evidence

 

3. Flesh out your family tree

-         Interview yourself, record your family memories, record your family traditions (even the ridiculous sounding ones, they may be important)

-         Interview your parents and grandparents (if possible)

-         Create chronological profiles of each person on your chart (note important events)

-         Write brief bios of each ancestor, particularly the ones that you know personally

-         Seek out other records such as family bibles, military service, land ownership, letters, diaries, scrapbooks, yearbooks, probate/wills, etc.

-         Locate tombstones of deceased ancestors, get photos and transcriptions

 

4. Be a “cluster” genealogist

-         Create family group sheets for each family group

-         Record all children and their vitals, and their marriages

-         Remember that your ancestors lived in a community, they had friends and neighbors

-         Look for church affiliations, labor groups, farming co-ops, societies, etc.

 

5. Start out organized and stay organized

-         obtain genealogy database software and learn how to use it

-         create a filing system for your data, records, photos, etc.

-         consider scanning all records and photos and organize them on your computer

-         use a research log, record what you have looked for and whether you found it or not

-         be systematic, create research plans for each ancestor as you need them

 

6. Understanding names

-         Identify spelling variations of surnames

-         Variations can be due to:

o       people were mostly illiterate, hence phonetic spelling of names

o       translation from a foreign language into English

o       recording errors on official records

o       transcription errors when records were indexed

o       legal name changes

-         Surnames can contain clues

o       namesakes – named after another ancestor, political figure, etc.

o       naming patterns – patrynomic

-         Nicknames (“Betsey” or “Lizzie” for Elizabeth)

-         Biblical influences on given names

-         Be wary of common name combinations (“James Davis”, “Thomas Williams”)

 

7. Working with the US Census

-         1790 thru 1840 lists head of household by name, then has “tick” counts grouped by ages and gender

-         1850 thru 1870 lists each person by name, with ages, occupations, and birthplace

-         1880 thru 1930 adds relationships to head of household (can often help discover new ancestors), also adds birthplace of parents for each person listed

-         1890 census was destroyed in a fire in 1922 and hence is not available

-         Know the census day for each census

-         Learn and use the soundex code for your surnames

-         Record all information found on the census image pages, save a copy of the images

-         Census reading challenges - poor imaging, unclear handwriting, incorrect indexing

 

8. Using the Internet

-         Can you do all your research on the Internet? No, not today.

-         But more and more records are being made available every day

-         Census indexes and images via Ancestry.com, HeritageQuest.com and others

-         Passenger Lists via Ancestry.com, HeritageQuest.com, and others

-         Civil War records, WW1 and WW2 draft cards via Footnote.com

-         Posted family trees – use as reference but assume that you will need to prove data

-         Google – search for your surname and a keyword such as “genealogy”

 

9. Other sources

-         National Archives – regional research centers

o       Census, immigration, and naturalizations records

o       Military service records and pension records

o       Federal land records

-         Family History Library/Centers – Mormon church regional library extensions

-         Court house records – deeds, wills, probate, naturalizations, court cases

-         Newspapers – obituaries, advertisements, legal announcements

-         Local historical societies – journals, collections

-         Libraries – may have genealogical collections focused on the local area

 

10. Sharing your research

-         Create reports and charts from your genealogy software

-         Post your family tree online – see Geni.com

-         Don’t wait until you are “done” (you’ll never be “done”)

 

11. Have fun!!

 

Compiled by Brian S. Lingard (bslingard@yahoo.com)