Beginner Tips for those just starting out. As I was in the process of setting up my web page, My Family History – Genealogy I was able to pull together some thoughts as to what I would say on the “tips” page for beginner genealogists or those that have been at it for a while like myself can relate to what I am saying here. I have now being at this genealogy “kick” or hobby for about 38 years now according to my recollection. I recall my interest was first tweaked with Alex Hailey’s televised miniseries “Roots”, although I think even before I watched this TV show I had an interest in genealogy and my family’s history. I remember growing up and listening to my grandparents telling stories of when they were my age. Although I do think this is a basic human need to know and understand where we came from so maybe we can understand as to where we are going. When I started four decades ago, we did not have anything like the internet. I did not have instant access to census records, vital stats indexes, immigration records, military records or voter lists. Everything had to be done manually by hand, looking through reels and reels of microfilm for one bit of information. Then to establish one date I had to write to the archives or vital stats office for that particular country, county or state I was doing my search in. This would take weeks and weeks just to get one certificate and if it was wrong then you had to do the process all over again. This was very time consuming and a costly procedure. The only resources I had at my disposal was the public library and the Church of Latter Day Saints research centers. They had microfiche indexes with alphabetical name cross references for Great Britain parish records and vital statistics births/marriages/deaths/ but you had to establish where your ancestors were from or otherwise it was a shot in the dark.
So I am getting ahead of myself here. The first step of the Genealogical research has not changed. That is before you get to the point of looking into vital statistics, parish records, census returns etc., you need to do some information gathering. Whether this is writing down oral stories from your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and cousins, finding out if they have any old documentation like birth/marriage/death certificates or letters and old photos etc. You can search your family tree online to see if some other relative has started a research as this can save you a lot of time and money. Myself I found other family members online that had already done their own research. Ask each relative about specific family members, gather information about what they tell you about where they lived, what occupation and job(s) they had where they were born/married and died. Any other important clues like if they went by a nick name etc. is all important. Maybe there is an old scrap book, photo album or bible that is laying around somewhere as these can hold valuable information.
A video recorder comes in handy when talking to granddad. I did this with my father a few years ago and had him reminisce old family stories. He has been gone now for a couple of years but I still can reflect with him on video. When I started all those years ago I did not have the conveniences of video equipment but had an old cassette tape recorder. This I used when I interviewed my elderly great aunt in 1979. I got a couple of hours of her reminiscing of tales of her youth. I then put it into a transcript and used it to compile the Davis family story in my Aunts own words. She has being dead now for 35 years but she is still alive in her words for us today that we can read and enjoy what she had to say. Oral traditions and family stories are not always 100% accurate but it is a start and in my experience that what family stories I read or heard seem to be confirmed when I started to look into the vital records.
After you have done this you can start to put together a family tree by first starting with yourself and working backwards in time. There are a number of good family tree software programs out there and a number of web sites that have family tree builders in them. I will get into some of these web sites later.
This will be ongoing information resource that I will be adding to weekly. I am also going to do a write up on restoring old photographs as I have had some experience myself with this over the year. I had the long tedious task of scanning my mother’s photo album and cataloging the pictures. On my parents 60th wedding anniversary I was able to put together a DVD for them.
Any question or suggestion please write to me here or post to my Facebook page and I will get back to you.
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