How to Get Started Doing Your Family History

Step by step instructions on how to start doing your family genealogy research.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Work Backwards!
   
   1. Start with yourself..your spouse, your children, your siblings, your parents. Move backwards filling in as much info as you know.
   a. List dates and locations for births, baptism, marriages, deaths etc
   b. Leave blank what you don’t know
   c. Any dates you are not sure about.. list a guess with “c.”
   
   2. Fill info in on either Family Group Sheets (Parents and Children) or “Tree” so that you can see what you know..and what you need to find out.
   a. Computer program generated- If you are using a program, they will generate these forms
   b. Pre-Printed forms - You can get forms from Family History Center. You can probably find blanks online as well.
   c. Hand written- The old fashioned way.

2. Start your Search.
   
   1. Take your information and see where you have “blanks”
   a. Note what you Do know about that family
   • locations
   • dates - of events and time frames for locations
   • religion
   2. Decide what sources will help the most based on what you know
   a. Census data
   b. Vital Records
   c. Legal documents - wills, bonds, land records
   d. Printed Histories and Genealogies
   e. Personal artifacts: obits, clippings, invitations, old photos

3. Know your Sources
   
   1. Making “connections” between generations is a priority.
   a. Any document or source that shows multi generations AND the relationship is the best source for proving family "connections".
   • Marriage, Birth and Baptisms.. When parents are listed.
   • Death Certificates.. When parents are listed
   • Census.. When children are living with parents.. And sometimes other relatives.
   • Wills.. When spouse and children are listed as beneficiaries.
   • Ship Manifests.. May list “nearest living relative” and who they are going to live with.
   
   2. “Good” sources vs. “Submitted by Individual”
   a. You want to only use “Primary” sources when entering final data in your tree. (All sources listed above in 1 a. for example)
   b. Secondary sources.. Research done by another person can be a good "Starting point” but must be verified.
   c. Many sources in the IGI (International Genealogical Index) are member submitted and not verified.
   d. If you contact a fellow researcher, ask for hard copies of the Primary Source... or at the very least ask EXACTLY what the primary source was.
   e. Ancestry.com : Has both “Primary” and “Secondary” sources.
   • Ancestral Tree and One World Tree are Secondary -member submitted
   
   3. “Family Lore” has it’s place.
   a. Every family has stories passed down about the family history and or genealogy.
   b. Family stories cannot be counted on as “FACT”, but can be a great place to start proving or disproving information.
   c. Until Family Lore is proven, it can be included as “notes” in your research but should be labeled as “Family lore”.
   d. DO Family Interviews! Before it’s too late! Ask older relatives to tell you any facts that they know and just as important, any stories they know. You can glean a lot of information from the stories.. And adding “anecdotes” to your history will make it more interesting.
   
   4. Family Artifacts : hopefully there are pack rats in your family.
   a. Old Photographs: See if they are identified. If not, see if a family member can help you identify people, places and dates. Adding family photos to your history will make it

4. Gather Information
   
   1. As you go through a Primary Source (Parish Register film, Census films etc) Copy all pertinent data for your surnames.
   a. Look for any spelling variations. Do not limit your research to spellings that you are familiar with. One of my families is recorded under 5 different spellings in various records.
   b. Note which data definitely pertains to your family, which is “possible” connection. You may find definite connections later when you have accumulated more information.
   c. If possible make photocopies or print out hard copy of any Primary Source.
   d. Don’t rely on “Indexes”.. the name may have been mis-recorded by either the person doing the Index, or recorded wrong originally for example by census taker. It is more time consuming, but it often pays off to do page by page research of census and vital records.
   2. Sending away for Documents
   a. If you cannot find a source online, or the film is not available from a family history center you may have to send for it from the repository where it is held. This will vary for country and even between states. Some order forms are online and there is a usually a minimum charge.
   
   b. “Google” your specific country, county, town plus “Vital Records” or BMD to see where the documents are housed. For instance: In Connecticut the records are stored in individual towns while other states are housed in County Offices.
   
   3. Keep records of Your Sources for backing up your data and for any future research you may need to do.
   a. List Film Information: Title, dates encompassed, Film number, page where data found.
   b. Take photocopies of Cover Page for Books or record any info there such as Title, Author, date published.

5. Putting it together
   
   1. Computer Programs: There are a variety of very similar Genealogy programs that can use to organize your data. These can be downloaded for free or for a small "shareware" price.
   a. Personal Ancestral File (PAF)
   b. Brother’s Keeper (BK6)
   c. Family Tree Maker (FTM)
   2. Use pre-printed forms to hand enter data.
   a. Get at LDS Family History Center
   b. Download from Internet

6. Sharing
   
   1. Printed “Reports” generated by computer programs
   a. Family Group Sheets
   b. Family Tree
   c. Register Style Reports
   
   2. GEDcom Files generated by computer programs. These universal files can be opened by any genealogy program.
   a. Send GEDcoms of your files to other family members or researchers
   b. Upload data from GEDcoms that other other people send you.
   
   3. Websites
   a. Upload data to Online Genealogy sites which allow you to set up a
   webpage
   b. Save “Register Style Report” as a HTML file and upload to your own webspace
   4. Books
   a. Start with Register Style Report and edit in a word processor.
   b. Add photos
   c. Print and bring to copy center to have it copied and bound. Bindings can range from fairly inexpensive plastic to more expensive leather. All look very professional. You can get a very nice softcover book for as little as $12 per book.

[moknows]

on 7/29/2009 WOW! Great article! Very thorough!

[cygnetbrown]

on 7/29/2009 I've been meaning to start doing my family History. Thanks for the detailed information about how to get started doing this! Well written article. Fantastic article for your first on eHow! Welcome!

[rcryder]

on 7/29/2009 This is a great article. My father started doing this and ended up with thousands of documents of our family. Found out I was related to Mark Twain... very cool. 5* and highly recommended