Start Genealogy
Where to Begin
Family Tree
When starting your Genealogy investigation a good place to start is to draw a rough Family Tree from what you already know. Starting with yourself write the names all the people that you know of in your immediate family using lines to indicate the relationship between people as shown in this Family Tree example, and also include dates of birth and deaths. Once you have recorded all the people that you know of then if possible speak to any other people in your family such as parents, grandparents or uncles that may help you further your tree diagram. If you don't have any older relatives alive to speak to then don’t worry go to Step-by-Step Guide. Maintaining a family tree is a good visual guide to viewing the progress with your Genealogy research. The gaps in the tree will help to prompt you on the questions that require asking, or sources to investigate.
Which Direction to Take First
You will need to decide which line of family to investigate first. Well most people begin with their father’s line because this is where your surname came from. You may want to pursue an uncommon surname because this may be easier. There is of course no rule to where you should start, just follow the route that you prefer. To achieve a complete Family Tree you may want to study your parents, your grandparents; your grandparent’s parents and so on as far as possible. The level of detail you choose to record from your ancestors is down to your own preference, although making notes of your ancestor’s occupations, where they lived as well as birth, marriage and death dates prove very interesting. The more information found and recorded the better because you will begin to imagine of how your ancestor lived.
Visiting relatives
If you are visiting a member of the family with the intention to interview them then it is advisable to prepare a list of questions, as shown in Interview Relatives. Take a note pad to record your answers or use a Dictaphone if available. Be sure to ask your relative if you could take a copy of any birth, marriage or death certificates from any older members of the family. Also check if they have any heirlooms such as old letters, postcards, diaries or photos. Such items may hold valuable Genealogy information that may help you piece parts of your study together. If you can, take a digital camera or even a laptop with a scanner to scan or photograph items. It is worth enquiring as to whether anyone in the family has already conducted a Family History study and published their work. Initially you could ask around if any relative in the family is investigating the family tree. An uncle or couisin could have made significant progress studying the ancestors that you have descended from, and therefore such information would jumpstart your project. Any Genealogy work carried out by someone else should be checked where possible to warrant that it is accurate.
Strategy to use
It is wise to keep a methodical account of your information and its source because you may need to check details later; some evidence presented may not appear useful at first but could prove to be very important later on in your study. Perhaps you could organise your ancestor findings in one file and all your sources in another. There are some very good software programs available to help you Record Genealogy Data, ‘Family Tree Maker’ being one. Most programs enable you to quickly add or search for ancestors and print books or family tree diagrams. The success of your Genealogy research may depend greatly on how well your ancestors were recorded. Professionals such as lawyers or doctors, army or naval officers or land owners would be easy to find because they would have been well documented. Labourers would be more difficult to find, however some documents have recorded even the poorest in society. Parish registers dating back from the 16th century contain accounts of baptisms, marriages and burials of people from all classes.