Part 1
Before You Get Started
- Get organized; assemble tools and supplies
- Define your goals - What are you hoping to accomplish?
- Extensive database of names
- Connect with living relatives
- "Genealogy" vs. "Family History"
- Start with the present and work backwards
- Work on one family at a time
- Make accuracy a priority
- Search for the facts
- Discover the truth
- Make no assumptions
- Document Sources
Tools
- Low tech: paper, pre-printed forms, notebooks, dividers, labels, hole punch, file folders, file boxes, etc.
- High tech: genealogy software, flash drive
- Higher tech: online tree, cloud storage
- Use whatever makes you the most comfortable (probably a combination of all of the above)
- My recommendation: a spiral notebook with dividers and pockets, a flash drive, and archival bags for storing photos, documents, etc.
Pedigree/Lineage Chart (a road map to your ancestry)
- Decide who will be #1
- Upper line is paternal; lower line is maternal
- Surnames written in capital letters
- Use birth (maiden) names
- Write complete dates (day, month, hear - 06 February 1878)
- Include county name (Benbrook, Tarrant, Texas)
- In information is not known, leave it blank
Family Group Sheet (additional detail for each family unit)
- Make a separate family group sheet for each marriage
- Record children in birth order or note if they are not in birth order
- Add notes on the back concerning religion, education, military service, occupation, etc.
- Always cite source of information
- If a discrepancy occurs, list both with sources cited
- Use pencil rather than ink (a working document)
Genealogy Software
- Roots Magic ($29.95)
- PC and Mac
- Essentials free download
- App for android and iOS
- RootsMagic to go
- link here
- Legacy ($34.95)
- Not fully Mac compatible
- Standard free download
- link here
- Family Historian ($46.50)
- PC only
- Free 30-day trial
- link here
- Family Tree Maker ($79.95)
- PC and Mac
- link here
- Ancestral Quest ($29.95 - $38.95)
- PC and Mac
- Basics free download
- link here
- Reunion ($99.00)
- Mac only
- Free "demo" mode
- ReunionTouch for iOS on the Apple App Store ($9.99)
- link here
- MacFamilyTree ($59.99)
- Mac only
- MobileFamilyTree for iOS on the Apple App Store ($8.99)
- link here
For genealogy software reviews and comparisons click here.
Where Do I Start?
- Start with you - fill out forms with what you know (in pencil)
- Ask your parents
- Talk to other living relatives
- Interview your oldest living relative
- Do it as soon as possible
- Seriously, do it
- I'm not kidding
- Use a voice recorder app (ask permission to record)
- Take good notes
- Look for other sources of information
Primary Sources
- Records created at the time the event occurred - most accurate source of information
- Examples: birth, marriage, death certificates; original immigration and naturalization papers; court, land, wills, and financial records; directories and member lists; military records
Secondary Sources
- Information recorded after the event occurred
- Examples: compiled indexes, lists, or summaries of original sources; books written about original events; family legends and stories
Mixed Sources
- Primary source also containing secondary source information
- Examples: headstones and obituaries; autobiographies or life stories; census records; letters and correspondence
NOT Sources
- Other people's (undocumented) family trees, public and private
- Genealogies compiled in books lacking source citations
- Guesses and assumptions
Saving and Organizing Media & Documentation
- Online - attach to personal family tree
- Embed with personal genealogy software
- Organize on a flash drive (computer file, or cloud storage)
Resources
Part 2
Online Research
- Multiple subscription options
- 20 billion+ searchable records
- Personal family tree
- DNA
- Free access at library and FHC
- Free
- 2 billion+ searchable records
- Most browsable records
- Worldwide family tree
- Books
- Research Wiki
- Learning center (videos)
- Subscription (14-day free trial)
- Mostly UK
- Personal family tree
- Free access at FHC
- Some free features
- Annual subscription
- 9 billion+ searchable records
- Personal family tree and photos
- DNA
- Free Family Tree Builder software
- Free access at FHC
Primary Sources Online
- Records created at the time the event occurred (more accurate)
- Examples
- birth, marriage, and death certificates
- census records
- original immigration and naturalization papers
- court, land, wills, and financial records
- directories and member lists
- military records
Secondary Sources Online
- Information recorded after the event occurred
- Examples
- compiled indexes, lists, or summaries of original sources
- books written about original events
- obituaries and tombstones
- family legends and stories
NOT Sources
- Other people's (undocumented) family trees, public and private
- Genealogies compiled in books lacking source citations
- Guesses and assumptions
Online Basics
- Searchable "indexed" records
- Information transcribed from scanned or photographed historical documents
- Cheap contract labor (ancestry.com)
- Volunteer crowdsourcing (familysearch.org)
- Human error - check multiple websites if possible
- Optical character recognition (OCR) for typewritten material
- Browsable records
- Digitally photographed original documents and microfilm
- Scroll through page by page
- Most are in the process or in cue of being indexed
- Not everything is online
- Look for multiple sources for verification
- Spelling doesn't count (Soundex)
- Information from different sources won't necessarily match up exactly - look for familial relationships
- Allow for human error
- Ask "Does this make sense?"
Resources
- How-to videos for research worldwide click here
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