How to Research Your Family History

Recording the history, current situation and future prospects of your family can be a rewarding pastime.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Blank Blank Cassette Tapes
• Cassette Tape Recorders
• Telephones
• File Cabinets
• Internet Access
• A Travel Services
• Binders
• Fountain Pens
• Notebooks
• Pens
• Computers
• Camcorders
• Genealogy Software
• Videocassettes

Interviewing Relatives

1. Make a list of family members you'd like to interview. Consider relatives you can interview by phone and e-mail if you cannot see them in person.
2. Contact your relatives, explaining to them that you're researching the family's history, and ask whether they're willing to be interviewed.
3. Lay out the parameters of subjects you plan to cover. Find out if there are areas your relatives don't wish to discuss.
4. Set a date for the interview.
5. Interview your relatives, first recording each person's name, nickname, maiden name, and dates and places of birth and marriage.
6. Ask your relative about his or her childhood experiences, education, job, immigration history and family life. Note his or her personality and physical traits.
7. Tailor questions to each person as you talk with him or her. Be flexible about possible digressions, which can turn up unexpected and valuable information, but don't stray too much off track.
8. Take accurate notes or tape-record the conversation. Ask your relative if he or she is comfortable about being videotaped.

Consulting Documents

9. Consult documents to supplement your interviews, including birth, marriage and graduation announcements, family Bibles, deeds, letters, journals or diaries, baby books, old photographs (especially the backs), family trees, wills and naturalization papers.
10. Go to the library (local, university or genealogical) to locate possible obituaries, newspaper clippings, biographies and other information about your family members.

Documenting, Organizing and Storing Your Information

11. Make pedigrees and family group sheets that contain basic information about a husband and wife and their children.
12. Record the following for information that you find: the date of your find, publication information, medium of information (microfilm, interview) and information location (name and address of library, church).
13. Try to find at least three different sources of documentation for each piece of critical information.
14. Make sure information for each surname is recorded on a separate sheet of paper - don't confuse families and relatives.
15. Take all notes on standard paper, rather than napkins or scraps that are easy to lose. Loose-leaf sheets fit easily into binders for easy organization.
16. Use binders, filing cabinets or family-tree computer programs to organize and store your information.

Tips & Warnings

• Interview relatives you feel most comfortable with first, while you adjust to your role as an interviewer. Save the most important interviews for last, after you've honed your interviewing skills.
• Family history can be a stressful topic. Be polite and considerate of your relatives' feelings and remember that they might not be as interested in recalling old memories as you are.
• Ask specific questions to jog your relatives' memories. Bringing photographs may help.
• After the interview, ask your subject if he or she can recommend other relatives to interview. Also ask for photographs or other mementos that you can have or photograph. Check the backs of photos for names and dates.
• Record your interview with a small cassette recorder to capture details you might miss while listening.
• Take careful notes, as audio and video recorders can sometimes malfunction.
• Librarians can be a great help in suggesting additional sources of information about your family.
• Do an Internet search for family members you have difficulty locating. Check genealogy Web sites and newsgroups for more information. Try culture-specific groups, if they apply.