How to Begin Researching Your Family History
By
Karen Utter
Jennings
Are you interested in finding out more about yourself and
your ancestors? Do you wonder about the medical history of your family members?
Do you have old family photographs that you can’t identify? Why not start your
genealogy journey?
As with all journeys, there is much to discover and
learn. The rewards are never
ending. During my journey, I have found photographs
and many other interesting documents and family stories of the main family lines
that I am researching. These newfound items of days gone by and bits and pieces
of information were added to what I already knew about them.
So, how do you begin your genealogy journey? How do you find relatives, amazing facts,
pictures, records, and mementos? Begin
by focusing on only one surname. This is
important so you do not get overwhelmed. You may stop at any time with that
surname and begin to research another one, but until you get a bit of
experience, it may overwhelm you if you try to search for multiple lines at the
same time.
Here are the first steps to begin researching your family
history:
1. Decide on one surname to focus your research.
2. Gather pencil/pen and paper or if you prefer to type, go
to the keyboard.
3. Start with yourself and record your information: when and
where you were born and your parent’s names.
Next, if you are married, write your marriage information and your
spouse’s information. Be as complete as
you can. If you have children, continue
writing each of your children’s information.
If the children are married with children, write that information down
as well and continue until you finish each person in your line. When you
finish, set this information aside.
4. Next, begin to record the information about your parents,
but remember to focus on the surname you chose. Record everything you know
about them. When you finish, set this
information aside.
5. Continue to record the information about your parents’
parents, and so on. Do this until you
cannot go any further because you do not have information on that set of
grandparents.
6. After you have worked to produce information, you need to
organize it. Place your work in a folder
or if you worked on the keyboard save your work on the computer.
Genealogists use family group sheets to organize their
information. A family group sheet is an
8 ½ by 11 inch paper that is used to record each family unit and the vital
statistics. The sheets organize your
information as a series of family groups.
Family group sheets are user-friendly.
Begin filling out the family group sheet starting at the
top. There are spaces to write in who is
preparing the sheet, the date, the relationship to preparer, the family unit
number and the ancestral chart number.
Family group sheets are easy to use and self-explanatory in most cases.
Next, fill in the husband’s vital statistics: the day, month
along with the year he was born, the city, county, and state/country where he
was born. Included are fields for his
occupation, religion, if he was christened, when he was married, died and
buried, the cemetery, if he had a will and the cause of his death. Beneath his information is where you fill in
his father’s and mother’s names.
Below the husband’s information will be the wife and her
vital statistics and fields for her other information. Be sure to include the wife’s maiden name if
known. Also, write down the wife’s
mother’s maiden name in the appropriate space.
After you have finished the wife’s information, you will
start filling in their children’s vitals.
There is space for twelve children. If there are more than twelve
children, use another family group sheet.
Family Group Sheets, as well as other genealogy records can
be accessed at these websites for free: http://www.RootsWeb.com,
http://www.familyeducation.com, or
http://FamilyTreeMagazine.com.
As you search for your family roots, I hope you enjoy the journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment