Genealogy: The How-To Guide to Building Your Family Tree
"Families are like fudge... mostly sweet with a few nuts." - Unknown
Piecing together your genealogy can be confusing and taxing, but too interesting to avoid. Here are some steps and tools to help you figure out your entire family tree from the first roots to the newest branches!
#01
Develop a plan to guide you in which lines to follow. There are generally three different types of plans. See which one works best for you.
-Family Tree: Shows male-line ancestors (father, grandfather, great-grandfather, etc.) and the wives, brothers, and sisters of these ancestors
-Extended Family Tree: Shows all the collateral branches of a family, ie. all the descendants (with their spouses) of the earliest known male ancestor
-Ancestry Chart: Attempts to trace as many possible direct ancestors, through both male and female lines
#02
It’s a good idea to start by doing a little good old fashioned reading. Visit your local library and pick up a couple books about the study of genealogy.
-The Source: A Guidebook Of American Genealogy (Third Edition), by Loretto Dennis Szucs
-The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Genealogy, 2nd Edition (Complete Idiot’s Guide to), by CG, CGL, FASG, Christine Rose
-Online Roots: How to Discover Your Family’s History and Heritage With the Power of the Internet, by Pamela Boyer
#04
Not that into books? There are a few magazines devoted to genealogy, which might be easier to browse and quickly find information.
-Family Tree Magazine
-Everton’s Genealogical Helper
-Ancestry
#05
Don’t bother stocking up on notebooks and pens for this project. There is lots of computer software that makes tracking your family’s history a breeze.
-Reunion 9, Genealogy and Family Tree Software for Macintosh
-RootsMagic Family Tree Genealogy Software
-Family Tree Maker Deluxe 2005 (Windows 98/Me/XP)
#06
Although most of your information will come from hard copy (books, on paper or vellum, microfilm, and microfiche) and be found in libraries record offices, and archives, the internet can be a resource.
-Try Cyndislist.com (a list of genealogy sites on the Internet, plus a list of genealogy software)
#07
Work backwards! Start with known information about already identified ancestors, and search for their ancestors.
#08
Find information on living relatives with people searches, which can easily give you current addresses and phone numbers.
#09
Find ancestors’ spouses by doing a marriage search.
#10
Another useful tool in tracking lineage is searching birth records. These can not only tell you when and where an ancestor was born, but it can also give you the names of his or her parents and the dates and locations of their births as well. It’s an easy way to find out about multiple relatives with one search.
#11
Conversely, to find out when, where, and if a relative is deceased, performing a death search can give you all that information, as well.
#12
If you don’t want to go it alone on this hefty project, you might want to think about joining a society. Find out about your local genealogical or family history society. You can use others’ findings as a valuable resource.
#13