My tip of the day! When you are just beginning genealogy research there is one thing that really is key. Cite your sources! Citing your sources will help you in the end because you will know which materials you have already gathered and used. For help with citations I like to use this site: http://www.genealogy.com/19_wylie.html -last used October 2011
When you are just beginning genealogy it would be good to consider how you want to keep track of your family. I use Legacy (a software program) which has a free standard version you can download here: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/DownloadLegacy.asp . I also have paf which stands for Personal Ancestral File available from the LDS church here: http://www.familysearch.org/eng/paf/ . You might find it easier at first to see it all of your work on a hard paper, here are some free forms you might find helpful as you get started also from the LDS church, http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Search/Rg/frameset_rhelps.asp?Page=./research/type/Form.asp&ActiveTab=Type
Actually Beginning, what to do. The first thing is to start with what you know. Usually you know when you were born, who your parents were, and that you haven't died yet. Start by filling in your information using either your software program or paper form. Add your spouse, and children, then add your parents and siblings. Work each generation until you can't by yourself. Then you'll be ready for the next step.
Hi! Once you have filled in all of the information you can think about what documents exist that prove everything you've written. Do you have a copy of your birth certificate? How about one for you spouse and children? Do you have a copy of your marriage license? These are the types of sources that you should gather and cite as a part of your genealogy research. I know that we haven't gotten to any undiscovered relatives yet, but it is important that you remember to include sources of information for yourself and other close family. Next we'll talk about learning new things.
Learning new things about your family is pretty easy. Start by talking to parents and grandparents, cousins or aunts and uncles. See if they can fill in some of the holes of your research, then try to find records to go with the information. Talk to your living relatives first before trying to hunt through archives. It will connect you to your family in a special way, you might find stories and pictures that will bring your ancestors to life.
I was lucky when I interviewed my Mom, she had done a lot of genealogy research. Unfortunately not all of it had sources cited. This has been my on going project. I am going through my Mom's research and trying to find the records that she already used, or I might find out she was wrong, then I can fix it with what I have found. If you start right away with citing your sources then you will save your children from that responsibility. The really cool thing is sometimes I will find an interesting story, or picture and can then share that with my family.
So now you've gotten some basic's down and you'd like to do some new research. I have some tips! Generally new research works best backwards. Meaning you start with someones death. Then look at their life events like marriage and eventually get to their birth and parents. Also you'll want to look at when your ancestor was living. If they were living after 1900 more likely than not you will find certificates for them (Death, Marriage, and Birth) If they were alive in the 1700-1800's you'll want to look at census records, tax records, and wills and probate records. There are a lot of choices. Feel free to ask questions and I will try to answer them for you.
Location Based Research...This is an idea that while not entirely new has pointed out some interesting researching potential. The idea is that historically people really didn't move around a lot. When they did move, they tended to move to neighborhoods that had similar roots. For instance, in NY you might have a "little Italy" community but that can be further subdivided into Italian regions- one block would be from Sicily another block from Florence, another from Tuscany. How this is helpful. If you are having trouble determining where your ancestors are from you can often look at their neighbors and see if you can tell where they are from because it is likely that they are from the same "motherland."
Stories are the heart and soul of genealogy. Names and dates are pride. If you want you family history to really mean something try to find out about the lives of the people that you are researching. For instance we have Bercaw's that were coopers who lived on the Ohio river, during the time in history when there was the underground rail road. Were they ever apart of the underground rail road? We don't know and may never know but that is a lot more interesting than just saying the Bercaw's were coopers. Bringing history and stories together can really bring your genealogy alive, which will in turn excite the rest of your family.
Photo's are a wonderful addition to your genealogy. Photo's of people, of important places, photo's from history there are a lot of different photo's or portraits or landscaped paintings that could help bring alive your genealogy.
If you start running into "brick walls" or research that is not going anywhere you might try 3 things. 1) Ask for help. Someone else might be able to point you in the right direction. 2)Try researching a sibling or 3)Go in another direction for awhile when you come back to your work you can look at it again with "new eyes."
My tip of the day- If you've looked for records online and they haven't been available, and you haven't had the chance to search using another method. Then try again in a few months you might be surprised to find it available, because they (research sites) are always trying to update the records that they have available for further research.
New research isn't always the most important research you can do. Verifying and sourcing your research is actually much more important. You may catch errors that have drastic consequences; and left unchecked may lead you to believe falsely for generations.
I have 8 pedigree charts that I am working on. The first person on each isn't me, instead I have started with each of my great grand parents. My thought is that I know and can easily document from me to each of my great grandparents but after that I have to do different kinds of research. Mainly looking through census or tax records.
I thought I would tell you about our experience using DNA. We used ftDNA, and did this for both of my maternal lines (with male cousins) and my father's maternal line (grandma's brother). The first person to do this was my mom's father and I believe it has helped us find a common ancestor in VA with about 5 other matches. We had the most hope for my mom's mom (male cousin) to find a match. We had no matches at all. We felt like we were related to aliens. The one really good thing though was it eliminated all of the other active researchers of that surname. We knew that we were the only ones looking for our ancestors. It eliminated trees so that we didn't try to find the missing link in the other researchers trees. Then one day we got a match, and it was a great match. We haven't found our common ancestor yet but we have learned so much because of this match and it had revitalized our research. My father's maternal line we were hopeful that it would provide the break though that we were looking for. There were a lot of poor matches and none with the same surname but they were all Ashkenazi Jews. Still it hasn't led to finding the rest of our family...yet. DNA ultimately will provide confirmation of your research, in the mean time it gives me hope that I can find that little bit of information that will push me farther on my quest to know my family.
A concern with publishing genealogy is identity theft. Genealogy is personal and it has information about you and your family usually in one location. I know unfortunately that some of my relatives have published living peoples information instead of marking it private. I know that some companies like Ancestry.com say that they will secure that private information. I think the most courteous thing you could do is respect the wishes and privacy of your family, even if they are distant cousins. When I come across information that is supposed to be private, I feel betrayed and I no longer feel like collaborating with that individual. As a general rule living people should not be published. I like to skip a generation between the living and the dead, for example since my grandfather is still living I would start my publications at my Great Great Grandparents- which gives the living some privacy, in regards to their family. Goodness knows that I don't use my mothers maiden name for security questions if I can help it!
My frustration with Ancestry.com is that it is a membership website. This website started off being dependent on us (it's members)for new information, and still uses it's members research as if it was their own to disseminate. I also get frustrated that they allow so many people to list information with out citations. It has only been in the last 5,or 6 years that they have added the documents and records to search. Documents that are public records that you could go and collect information from yourself with out their site. Granted it does cost money to put these on the internet and perhaps you can rationalize the membership fee as less expensive than travel costs. The problem I have with that is that I am often looking on ancestry through records that are irrelevant to my research, and there isn't a way to tell before you go on the site if the documents are worth the fee. So there is my rant about membership sites.
Collaboration, and sharing. I know that for my family, I want to protect the information that I have researched. I think it is the same for most other researchers. Still Collaboration and sharing are important aspects of genealogy. Your family also belongs to your cousins and in-laws, also to missing branches. It's hard on the internet to sometimes express the importance of some of your work without sounding snippy and defensive. If your having trouble communicating, stop take a moment, re-read the information or post and then reply. Sometimes I have mistaken a persons intent and have even completely misread a sentence that had upset me, till I re-read it more carefully. Try to assume that the person writing isn't trying to hurt you or tear apart your work; rather that they are trying to understand / clarify your information.
I believe I have given all of the general advice I can, so from now on if I add stuff it will be because someone has a question. Maybe I'll add some of my own research on here.
My tip of the day! When you are just beginning genealogy research there is one thing that really is key. Cite your sources! Citing your sources will help you in the end because you will know which materials you have already gathered and used. For help with citations I like to use this site:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.genealogy.com/19_wylie.html
-last used October 2011
When you are just beginning genealogy it would be good to consider how you want to keep track of your family. I use Legacy (a software program) which has a free standard version you can download here: http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/DownloadLegacy.asp . I also have paf which stands for Personal Ancestral File available from the LDS church here: http://www.familysearch.org/eng/paf/ . You might find it easier at first to see it all of your work on a hard paper, here are some free forms you might find helpful as you get started also from the LDS church, http://www.familysearch.org/eng/Search/Rg/frameset_rhelps.asp?Page=./research/type/Form.asp&ActiveTab=Type
ReplyDeleteActually Beginning, what to do. The first thing is to start with what you know. Usually you know when you were born, who your parents were, and that you haven't died yet. Start by filling in your information using either your software program or paper form. Add your spouse, and children, then add your parents and siblings. Work each generation until you can't by yourself. Then you'll be ready for the next step.
ReplyDeleteHi! Once you have filled in all of the information you can think about what documents exist that prove everything you've written. Do you have a copy of your birth certificate? How about one for you spouse and children? Do you have a copy of your marriage license? These are the types of sources that you should gather and cite as a part of your genealogy research. I know that we haven't gotten to any undiscovered relatives yet, but it is important that you remember to include sources of information for yourself and other close family. Next we'll talk about learning new things.
ReplyDeleteLearning new things about your family is pretty easy. Start by talking to parents and grandparents, cousins or aunts and uncles. See if they can fill in some of the holes of your research, then try to find records to go with the information. Talk to your living relatives first before trying to hunt through archives. It will connect you to your family in a special way, you might find stories and pictures that will bring your ancestors to life.
ReplyDeleteI was lucky when I interviewed my Mom, she had done a lot of genealogy research. Unfortunately not all of it had sources cited. This has been my on going project. I am going through my Mom's research and trying to find the records that she already used, or I might find out she was wrong, then I can fix it with what I have found. If you start right away with citing your sources then you will save your children from that responsibility. The really cool thing is sometimes I will find an interesting story, or picture and can then share that with my family.
ReplyDeleteSo now you've gotten some basic's down and you'd like to do some new research. I have some tips! Generally new research works best backwards. Meaning you start with someones death. Then look at their life events like marriage and eventually get to their birth and parents. Also you'll want to look at when your ancestor was living. If they were living after 1900 more likely than not you will find certificates for them (Death, Marriage, and Birth) If they were alive in the 1700-1800's you'll want to look at census records, tax records, and wills and probate records. There are a lot of choices. Feel free to ask questions and I will try to answer them for you.
ReplyDeleteLocation Based Research...This is an idea that while not entirely new has pointed out some interesting researching potential. The idea is that historically people really didn't move around a lot. When they did move, they tended to move to neighborhoods that had similar roots. For instance, in NY you might have a "little Italy" community but that can be further subdivided into Italian regions- one block would be from Sicily another block from Florence, another from Tuscany. How this is helpful. If you are having trouble determining where your ancestors are from you can often look at their neighbors and see if you can tell where they are from because it is likely that they are from the same "motherland."
ReplyDeleteStories are the heart and soul of genealogy. Names and dates are pride. If you want you family history to really mean something try to find out about the lives of the people that you are researching. For instance we have Bercaw's that were coopers who lived on the Ohio river, during the time in history when there was the underground rail road. Were they ever apart of the underground rail road? We don't know and may never know but that is a lot more interesting than just saying the Bercaw's were coopers. Bringing history and stories together can really bring your genealogy alive, which will in turn excite the rest of your family.
ReplyDeletePhoto's are a wonderful addition to your genealogy. Photo's of people, of important places, photo's from history there are a lot of different photo's or portraits or landscaped paintings that could help bring alive your genealogy.
ReplyDeleteIf you start running into "brick walls" or research that is not going anywhere you might try 3 things. 1) Ask for help. Someone else might be able to point you in the right direction. 2)Try researching a sibling or 3)Go in another direction for awhile when you come back to your work you can look at it again with "new eyes."
ReplyDeleteMy tip of the day- If you've looked for records online and they haven't been available, and you haven't had the chance to search using another method. Then try again in a few months you might be surprised to find it available, because they (research sites) are always trying to update the records that they have available for further research.
ReplyDeleteNew research isn't always the most important research you can do. Verifying and sourcing your research is actually much more important. You may catch errors that have drastic consequences; and left unchecked may lead you to believe falsely for generations.
ReplyDeleteI have 8 pedigree charts that I am working on. The first person on each isn't me, instead I have started with each of my great grand parents. My thought is that I know and can easily document from me to each of my great grandparents but after that I have to do different kinds of research. Mainly looking through census or tax records.
ReplyDeleteI thought I would tell you about our experience using DNA. We used ftDNA, and did this for both of my maternal lines (with male cousins) and my father's maternal line (grandma's brother). The first person to do this was my mom's father and I believe it has helped us find a common ancestor in VA with about 5 other matches. We had the most hope for my mom's mom (male cousin) to find a match. We had no matches at all. We felt like we were related to aliens. The one really good thing though was it eliminated all of the other active researchers of that surname. We knew that we were the only ones looking for our ancestors. It eliminated trees so that we didn't try to find the missing link in the other researchers trees. Then one day we got a match, and it was a great match. We haven't found our common ancestor yet but we have learned so much because of this match and it had revitalized our research. My father's maternal line we were hopeful that it would provide the break though that we were looking for. There were a lot of poor matches and none with the same surname but they were all Ashkenazi Jews. Still it hasn't led to finding the rest of our family...yet. DNA ultimately will provide confirmation of your research, in the mean time it gives me hope that I can find that little bit of information that will push me farther on my quest to know my family.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to ftDNA if you are interested: http://www.familytreedna.com/
DeleteA concern with publishing genealogy is identity theft. Genealogy is personal and it has information about you and your family usually in one location. I know unfortunately that some of my relatives have published living peoples information instead of marking it private. I know that some companies like Ancestry.com say that they will secure that private information. I think the most courteous thing you could do is respect the wishes and privacy of your family, even if they are distant cousins. When I come across information that is supposed to be private, I feel betrayed and I no longer feel like collaborating with that individual. As a general rule living people should not be published. I like to skip a generation between the living and the dead, for example since my grandfather is still living I would start my publications at my Great Great Grandparents- which gives the living some privacy, in regards to their family. Goodness knows that I don't use my mothers maiden name for security questions if I can help it!
ReplyDeleteMy frustration with Ancestry.com is that it is a membership website. This website started off being dependent on us (it's members)for new information, and still uses it's members research as if it was their own to disseminate. I also get frustrated that they allow so many people to list information with out citations. It has only been in the last 5,or 6 years that they have added the documents and records to search. Documents that are public records that you could go and collect information from yourself with out their site. Granted it does cost money to put these on the internet and perhaps you can rationalize the membership fee as less expensive than travel costs. The problem I have with that is that I am often looking on ancestry through records that are irrelevant to my research, and there isn't a way to tell before you go on the site if the documents are worth the fee. So there is my rant about membership sites.
ReplyDeleteCollaboration, and sharing. I know that for my family, I want to protect the information that I have researched. I think it is the same for most other researchers. Still Collaboration and sharing are important aspects of genealogy. Your family also belongs to your cousins and in-laws, also to missing branches. It's hard on the internet to sometimes express the importance of some of your work without sounding snippy and defensive. If your having trouble communicating, stop take a moment, re-read the information or post and then reply. Sometimes I have mistaken a persons intent and have even completely misread a sentence that had upset me, till I re-read it more carefully. Try to assume that the person writing isn't trying to hurt you or tear apart your work; rather that they are trying to understand / clarify your information.
ReplyDeleteI believe I have given all of the general advice I can, so from now on if I add stuff it will be because someone has a question. Maybe I'll add some of my own research on here.
ReplyDelete