How to Do Genealogy
Searching your family tree is very exciting. You will find information about your ancestors and find family members related to you in some way that you never knew about when you started. Learn how to do genealogy and see how far back you can go when finding your ancestors. It is possible to find family members as far back as the 1500s and 1600s. A word of caution is that genealogy research is addicting and you will not want to stop.
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Instructions
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Start your search with living relatives. Parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins will be able to answer your questions. Such questions to ask each person is where and when they were born, location that they grew up, parents' names, where their parents married and when, if their parents died, where they were buried and when they died. Other questions to ask are the names of their aunts and uncles, grandparents, where and when these family members were born and when they died.
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Enter all of the information that you have collected from living family members into a family tree software. Family Tree Maker is a great software to use as it allows you to enter personal information and medical histories, notes and additional spouses.
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Look for free information on the Internet about deceased relatives to see if any information appears. Obituaries are the best source of further information. They list other relatives you might not know about. Enter any information you find into the software.
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Join Ancestry.com for a month, quarterly or yearly membership. This site has a wealth of information including census reports, obituaries, newspapers, service records, immigration records, marriage records and land records. One word of caution, make sure you have the right person before entering any information into the software. Double-check your information by cross-referencing the information for birth dates, kids' names and in some cases other family member names.
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Search for more information on new names you have found at Ancestry.com. If you have some information missing, you might find some more information on the Internet. Cross-reference all information to make sure you have the right person and information.
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Search specific state and city records. For instance, if a deceased relative lived in Carroll, Illinois, search for cemeteries in that area. Search for old records that might contain some information. If your relatives immigrated to a country, research the immigration records at the http://www.familysearch.org. This site is free to use.
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Tips & Warnings
Continue your search and leave no stone unturned when researching genealogy. Google is your friend for finding other people researching the same names and families as you.
Check and double-check your facts before confirming that your information does, in fact, go with your family history.
