More on Getting Started with Genealogy
Once you’ve talked to older relatives and gone through old pictures, it’s time to look around your home for other genealogical treasures. One example is an old bible. Back in the old days, the family bible doubled as a record book. Births, deaths, and marriages were carefully written down within its pages. Other things to look for are old scrapbooks and even old books-you never know what might be tucked between their pages! I found the obits of several family members tucked inside a book belonging to my grandmother.
Inside my mother’s hope chest were a treasure trove of old photos, some newspaper clippings, and even part of my grandfather’s citizenship certificate-complete with his picture.
Speaking of citizenship-if you have grandparents or other relatives who became naturalized, you can get copies of their certificates from the Department of US Citizenship and Immigration Services. You can contact them at this address:
USCIS.FOIA@dhs.gov .
You can also get copies of green cards, if you have relatives who did not become citizens. I have my grandmother’s. She came to the US from Canada back in 1929. Green cards have lots of interesting information. Aside from the name and birth date of the holder, they also tell you where they entered the US. In my grandmother’s case, she came into the states by way of Maine. It also tells you what category they qualified for entrance into the US under. My grandmother came in under category 4-C, which means she was a relative of a US citizen.
In future columns I’ll continue discussing how to get started researching your family history, what to do with all the info you collect, and I’ll also share my favorite online and offline resources for researchers. Stay tuned!
family history, genealogy, getting started in genealogy, researching your family
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