Genealogy Pointers

As a kid growing up I never took note of all the old stories that my relatives would tell when we would all get-together for holidays or family reunions. I thought it was boring and wondered why would you want to set around and talk about this! Now as the years have passed, I have my own family and most of my relatives have passed on, I wish I had listened to all those old stories. Those old stories are worth more than people will ever realize, that is why tracing your family tree, called genealogy is so important. I have been tracing family trees for 10 years now and the mystery story never ends.

I know, you are saying why would you ever want or need to know about your ancestors that have been dead for years, you never ever met them, and you don’t need to know about them.

About every person during his or her lifetime will run across something that will refer back to their ancestors whether it is an illness that the doctors say is hereditary or a name that has been handed down. Where did these thing come from, how did they start?

In order to answer these and many more questions everyone needs to know where they came from even if it is just back to your grand parents names. Genealogy has become very important in everyone’s lives in today’s world. The majority of the population is entering their final phase of life and they are realizing that family is very important; even the younger generations are taking note of the importance of family.

For myself learning about my accessorial family has brought me closer in realizing that if you don’t have family you have nothing, your life is empty. In learning to understanding yourself you also understand where you came from, how you got here, why do you have the values, morals and beliefs you have.

In working on your family tree or even someone else’s you see things that are repeated from one generation to another, why is one person able to play the piano by ear and the other can’t. You see thing through the ancestors eyes, how they worked, what they wore, what they ate, how they lived. They appreciated their lives more than people do today; things weren’t taken for granted.

In order to do genealogy you have to try to travel back in time in which your ancestor lived. Yes, this can be a difficult thing to do but it is easier to develop an understanding of the social, political, and the working of there daily lives.

By looking at recorded history, document and journals that have survived plus other resources you can develop a picture of what their average life was like. But looking through stacks of papers, volumes of books is not the only thing involved in genealogy, Just by trying to find proof that a particular person existed by their birth and death dates is not enough. It’s an adventure to discover what we call our lives into reality. It’s reality that is hidden from the living to try to understand the facts that were recorded over an allotted period of time.

A genealogist is basically a time traveler that with each new discovery they become transported to that time period and into the lives of that person. They dig through the ashes to discover the details of the lives that lived at that time, they discover forgotten letters, public records, diaries, photos and many more as they push and prod on.

Genealogy is like a mystery story, you look for clues and search for evidence, the more you dig the more you find. What makes this more interesting is it’s your personal mystery story.

Have I got your curiosity up? Are you wondering, right now, who are your ancestors? Thinking to yourself what you can find, what you might not want to find. That’s right with all the wonderful things you can find on your ancestors you will probably come across something you might not want to know. These are the “skeleton in the closet” that could come out. Just remember that everyone has these and time has past so they won’t hurt you or anyone else.

If you would like to start a family tree it is at first an easy process. Just start with yourself; write down your name and birth date, where you were born and where you have and are living. Then add you immediate family. Take some time and write or record (if you have a tape recorder) any life stories you would like to have remembered. Things you did as a kid, vacations you went on, people you met. These stories are more important that any dates you will record.

What ever you do and I know you will be tempted, don’t go to the Internet, this will only confuse you at this starting point. You have to have a point of beginning before you can travel down the road to get to your destination. Everyone that decides to research his or her family tries to rush, wants all the answers now, doesn’t want to wait. Genealogy is a slow process. Think of it as driving your car at a slower speed to make your gas tank go further.

After you have taken the time to record yourself it is time to move on to your parents. If they are alive discuss with them what you are doing and why. Remember not everyone is interested in genealogy or they have never even thought of it. Explaining why you are working on your family tree and how important it is to you will help other people understand your reasoning’s. This process needs to be used with every family member that you will have contact with. Don’t push for the information; people will only give you what they want you to know.

Now that you have your parent’s information then if your grandparents are alive, visit with them. If they have already passed on then see what your parents can remember about their parents. Don’t forget to ask for any stories of their childhood and before you were old enough to remember things.

This is basically the process you will work on with each live individual. Once you have information from your parents and about your grand parents then check with any siblings that they have. Sometimes you will get the same stories and other times you can get a complete different story. This is where the mystery investigation begins, if you want to call it that!

The next step you need to do is to go to the Internet. Now stop, the Internet is a vast system and can give you the right information if you let it but it can also confuse and take you down the wrong path. Don’t just go to the search engine and start typing to see what you come up with. This can also make you discouraged and you’ll end up giving up.

The first web site you need to check out is cindyslist. This Web site is full of information that you have to spend the time reading and I’m saying read. Don’t just start clicking; you’ll end up in “tim-buck-to” if you let yourself. The next wonderful site is rootsweb.com. You will use this a lot. People have posted their family lines, there are hundreds of message boards that you can read and post your own questions on, and rootsweb will even teach you how to start and what to do. After years of genealogy research I still go back to this site often.

Now there are many Web sites that you will come across that in order to use them you have to pay a subscription fee. My advice is to not do this now. There are many people that will be willing to do the look-ups for you, all you have to do is ask nicely and you will get several offers. As time goes by and you become familiar with the process that you do with each generation you will probably want to subscribe to one of the paying sites. The best one that I use is ancestry.com. Every once in awhile ancestry will offer a free service for an allotted amount of time; take advantage of this so you can see what is all available and make a determination if you would like a membership or not.

In working with genealogy research you have to remember to take it slow. Talk to all living relatives and document their stories and dates. Talk to them about past relatives that they remember. Use the Internet as your friend; it will help you if you let it and so will the millions of other genealogist out there.

Genealogy is something that no one can take away from you and you will be leaving behind a legacy for your grandchildren, their grandchildren and so on. Genealogy is an historical blessing that is shared between generations and passed down to them from their ancestors.