How to Trace Family History Via National Archives
There has been renewed interest lately in tracing family history. Chalk it up to a certain popular cable show, genealogy sites advertising their websites, and baby boomers beginning to asking "where do I come from?" In the past a family history may have been important for reasons of inheritance and birthright. Now, researching family history can be a treasure hunt of a different kind; a priceless connection to your family's past and national history.
The term "family history" includes not just a person's pedigree or genealogy, but place histories, origins of family surnames and oral histories passed down from generation to generation. It can include a family's connection to historic events, places or countries and reveal social class or economic status. Contrary to what some popular genealogy websites would have you believe, tracing family history does not require a membership subscription; however, it does require you to become a detective, assembling family information to help you access National Archives.
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Things You'll Need
- Notebook or computer access
- Family records: bibles, scrapbooks, diaries, photographs, news clippings, etc.
Instructions
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Getting Started
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Decide where and in what format to assemble the results of your detective work: electronic or hard copy. Start one page or file for each person you research. Always record what you learn, and the source of your information, so you can find it again.
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To begin, focus on a specific person, portion of the family tree, a place or time frame. It can be daunting to take in all kinds of information at once, so this method will help keep you organized.
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Start with yourself and work backward, one generation at a time. Talk with parents, grandparents, great aunts and uncles. They may not have documents, but their memories provide important genealogy questions: "When did great grandma arrive from the home country?" "Where did grandpa serve in the war?" "When did great, great grandparents make a homestead in Minnesota territory?"
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Begin your records search. The National Archives of many countries, including the public records of the United States, are available online. These are free public records, available to all. The most complete US government resource is http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/about-research.html.
Depending on what you learn from family memories, you may be looking for federal census reports, wills and probate records. Or, you may be searching military records, birth and death records, marriage licenses, property sale or tax records and voter registration.
The most commonly accessed US National Archive records are as follows:
Federal Population Censuses (1790-1930)
Military service and pension records (ca. 1776-1990)
Immigration records (1820-1957)
Naturalization records
Land records
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Tips & Warnings
Another good source of information is the largest free genealogical resource, which even includes cemetery records and obituary notices: http://www.publicrecordcenter.com/genealogysearch.htm
References
Resources
- Photo Credit bman_search image by Andrey Kiselev from Fotolia.com
