How can you learn about your Family's Past? Sep 05 '04 (Updated Sep 08 '04)     Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Toys Trend Enterprises BANNER LET CHOICES YOU From $5 LeapFrog Littletouch Leappad Dr. Seuss' From $24 The Bottom Line A rewarding family hobby that you can pass down to your children and grandchildren. I'm hooked on Genealogy! I find Genealogy so interesting because it is like putting together pieces of your own family puzzle. When you learn a fact or some tidbit about your ancestors, it's really exciting. Where does you grandfather come from? Did your family come from the "old country?" Is there folklore in your family about one of your great uncles being a famous gunslinger in the old west or perhaps something about your great-grandparents who emigrated to Ellis Island? Are you interested in genealogy? Maybe you are and you just don't know it yet. I have been interested in the subject of genealogy for about 25 years. My Dad's cousin is the person who got me started. She began sending me names and dates of people, long ago passed away, from our family. While I was mildly interested at the time and thought it might be a fun hobby, it wasn't until about 4 or 5 years ago that I once again began to delve into my family's past, this time much more seriously. I think having the internet at my fingertips really helps. I have great respect for the people who used to do their own genealogy searches without the convenience of the internet. They were the ones who traveled out to courthouses and cemeteries and put it all together. Genealogy is a hot topic. Many, many people are now interested, more than ever in finding out about their roots. There are numerous websites devoted to the topic. The websites have millions of hits on them, showing just how popular a topic this is. More than ever, people want to know where they came from and about their roots. Of course, along the way, you may find many skeletons in the closet or family secrets that you may never have known about. That's a risk you take! Remember to document what you find. You may wish to come back to it later and not remember how you found that particular piece of information, your source. It will also be a help for future generations. There is a lot out there that could be false information which will really throw you off track, so if you can prove your sources, you are one step ahead of the game. Don't necessarily "believe" everything you find printed on the internet. Here are a few guidelines that have really helped me: Family Bible – This traditionally has been the place where a family's birth and death records are kept. Ask your grandparents if they have a family Bible in the house. Chances are, there might be some family records written inside. Identify how much or how little of your family you want to work on. It would probably be a good idea to start with just your immediate family including both sets of your grandparents. Do you want to work on your family alone, or are you interested in your aunts, uncles, cousins, second cousins, as well? Work on one group at a time. I tended to jump all over the place, which ultimately ended up confusing me. Work on just one group at a time, for example, your father's side of the family (your surname) first and when you feel as if you have made some headway on that side, start to work on another part of your family. It is common to hit "brick walls" also in your research. For example, there may have been some county records that no longer exist, having been burned in a fire long ago. The best place to start is with yourself and work backwards. Talk to your relatives, especially the older generation. They remember and know a lot more than you do and each person has their own perspective and experience, even within the same family group. They can tell you a lot more actual facts and stories about their own parents and grandparents, thus filling in lots of gaps. Talk to as many of them as you can. Ask them to explain to you who was who. They also might have some of the old family photos, which you can borrow and make copies of. For example, in my family we have a fairly common surname that I am just starting to do research on and a cousin told me that one of her Collin’s cousins married another Collins (obviously not a relative). This makes for a genealogist's nightmare! Talk about confusing! Plot it all out. There are various ways of doing this and lots of aids on the web also for writing everything down or writing it all out, depending on your preferences. You can write out an actual "tree" or you can use one of the online resources to help you get it all down and save it for the next time you return to it. If you get lucky and find original documents (such as letters or photographs) you can buy archival safe page protectors to guard them against damage. There are many, many resources available to help you on the web these days. These are some I have used: Rootsweb.com - It's the oldest and the largest free genealogy website. I have used this site extensively to post queries. For example: you might post a question saying you are looking for your ancestors, John & Mabel Smith, who you believe lived in Pennsylvania in 1824. Someone else could be researching that same family and contact you with their information. There are also volunteers who will help you do local lookups in their area. You, in turn can also volunteer to do lookups in your area for someone else who is out of your area. I did this assisting a woman who wanted to see a photograph of her real father's headstone, since she had been adopted as a child. It was wonderful to receive her letter of thanks once I had sent her the photo. Ancestry.com - Wonderful website with a ton of information. Drawback: membership is required and there are varying steps as to how much you pay them for access to more information. I used this to look up census information, the actual census pages are extremely helpful in finding out exactly where your ancestors lived, who their neighbors were, etc. Knowing who their neighbors were can be important because many times, the neighbors married each other! This happened in my own family when my great-great grandparents families lived on neighboring farms. Heritage Quest - A website containing different kinds of information is available here for a reasonable membership fee. I'm still learning what this terrific website has to offer, which seems to be more information from books. Latter Day Saints (LDS Church) - The Mormons have always kept comprehensive and extensive records on anyone and everyone, not just Mormons. They have branch libraries at most of their churches, so you can check locally. County Records – A great resource. Go or write to the County in which your ancestors lived. They have lots of records, including probate and wills. Usually they can send you what you ask for a small fee. I went to the County office in Ohio and the people there were so friendly and helpful. I was able to look up probate records and wills on microfiche and make copies of them. It's a wise idea to think about joining the local genealogical society where you are doing your family research too. Church Records – You can find most records of baptisms, weddings, etc. in the local churches your family may have been members of. Cemetery Records – I have walked many a cemetery that I suspected ancestors of being buried in. It's a good idea to bring along a notebook to jot down names and dates, or a small tape recorder if you'd rather talk into a machine than write, and a camera. Sometimes old headstones are hard to read depending on how weathered they are and the time of day (sunlight, dusk, cloudy, etc.). There is a method using the rubbing of chalk on headstones that sometimes help to read them. Newspapers – Obituaries and death notices. These are often a wealth of information about a person, their occupation, cause of death, relatives and religious affiliation, if any. Wills – Wonderful resource to find out who got what and who didn't. Can be found at County Records offices. Land grants – Finding out where your great-great-grandfather bought land, when and for how much. If you are able to, go to the places where your ancestor's lived, the internet is available for use and is right at your fingertips. I had another relative who did all of her genealogy searches by going out each weekend to different libraries and cemeteries to gather her information. She did all of her work before computer resources were in use (the 1960's and 1970's). I give her a lot of credit for all of her footwork! I recently returned from Ohio and was able to see firsthand where many of my ancestors lived and worked. I was also able to see with my own eyes their farms, their land, and their headstones. It was very interesting for me to be able to see, for example, where my paternal great-great grandfather had lived and worked over 120 years ago. I tried to imagine what life was like for his family there. While I was in Ohio, I was also able to find, with the help of another relative, the one room schoolhouse where my maternal great-grandfather had taught school in the 1890's. What a thrill! If you are not able to go, you can visit your local library too. They often have genealogy sections of people who lived in the local area and if you visit the library where your ancestors lived, you can find out so much information about the settlers of the area and what life was like for them. I've tried to cover much of the "how to's" of gathering family information. It is a wonderful hobby, but can be time-consuming. It is also never ending! When you are out looking up information in a library, cemetery or on the internet, it feels like you are solving a mystery. I think it's wonderful to be able to pass down to your children and grandchildren a little of their own family legacy and history. Happy Hunting! Please feel free to email me if you have further questions on this topic. Thank you for reading. (c) gkm

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