Happy New Year 2022!
So now it’s a new year and perhaps you are considering working on your family history, but where do you start? If you are new to genealogy here is some information to help you get started. Check out our previous post about common genealogy myths to avoid!
BEGINNING GENEALOGY PART 1
- The first piece of the puzzle is starting with a few basic principles. For each event in your family history, it is important to state – What the event is (birth, marriage, death, etc). Where did it happen (town, city, county, state, country)? When did it happen (full date, if you know it). Most researchers use the format – day, month and year, but use whatever is comfortable for you.
- For each event, have a creditable source, such as death certificate, marriage license, bible record, birth certificate. These are considered primary sources, meaning the record was made at the time of the event. Other family trees are not considered primary sources, although they can lead you in different directions. Do not rely on the information in a family tree until you have verified it yourself by research. The old adage is “undocumented genealogy is mythology,” meaning you must have sources for each event in your tree.
- If you have elderly family members alive in your family (great aunt, grandmother, etc), talk to them now. Once they are gone, their memories and information are gone, too. When you talk to them, ask open ended questions, such as “how did you meet grandpa?,” “how did the family arrive in Illinois?,” etc. Let the person tell their story. Record the visit on your phone. It is wonderful to have the person’s actual voice telling their story.
- Next step is to write down all of your own information, such as full name (maiden name if you are married), full birthdate (where and when), marriage information, spouse’s name and birth information. There are many forms available online (such as from the National Genealogical Society) or in your local genealogy library to use for recording the information. There are also genealogy software programs for recording the information.
- Work your way back to the next generation, your parents, giving their full names (including maiden name), birth information, marriage information, and death information and burial information, if necessary.
- The next generation back is your grandparents on both side of the family. If you don’t know the information, write down what you do know, you can fill in the blanks as you do your research.
- Continue writing down what you do know, aunt’s names, great grandparents’ names, children’s names, even if it is a nickname. You can expand upon it later with research.
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