Discovering Family History: Basics and Beyond
(including Exploring Internet Resources worksheets)
Table of Contents
Preface
Chapter 1.....Setting Sail: Introduction
Chapter 2.....Checking Your Manifest: The Individual Record
Chapter 3.....Preparing Your Ship: The Family Group Record
Chapter 4.....Mapping Your Course: Chart(s), Forms and Linkages
Chapter 5.....Maintaining Your Cargo: Depth of Detail
Chapter 6.....Expanding Your Scope: Surname List
Chapter 7.....Logging Your Voyage: Notes Organization
Chapter 8.....Standing Your Watch: Source Documentation
Chapter 9.....Keeping Your Journal: Social History
Chapter 10.....Exploring from the Crow's Nest: Sibling
Significance
Chapter 11.....Weathering the Storm: Barriers to Proceeding
Chapter 12.....Sharing Your Wealth: Publication and Dissemination
Chapter 13.....Navigating the Reefs: Final Comments
Adapted from Chapter One, Discovering Family History (forthcoming
from Vision to Action Publishing):
Introduction: Setting Sail
My family history
It starts here...
It has been over twenty years since Alex Haley's book "Roots" came
alive to over 80 million television viewers in the ABC miniseries
[ended Feb 1, 1977]. Our perceptions of the importance of discovering
our heritage, our family tree, if you prefer, have only increased in
subsequent years. With the ever-increasing concerns of the nineties
over family values, relationships, and traditions, it is only natural
that more and more people are making the effort to discover their own
heritage. Are you one of them?
Many more resources are available now than you might imagine.
Resources on the Internet alone are growing by hundreds of sites a
day. The search is a wonderful, refreshing, even exhilarating, yet
often frustrating experience. It is a great change of pace from the
work-a-day life most of us live. Many of the resources you need are
as close as your computer, your public library, and, older members of
your own family. Join me for a few minutes as we begin your
search.
Answers to the simple questions below will get you started:
The search starts with you.
Write your full name:
_________________________________________
Write your birth date________________
Write your place of birth: City, town, or
township:__________________
County ____________________ State____________________
You have parents. Write down their full names, including your
mother's maiden name.
Mother's full given name: ______________________________________
Mother's birth date_________________
Mother's place of birth: City, town, or
township:____________________
County ____________________ State____________________
Father's full given name: _______________________________________
Father's birth date__________________
Father's place of birth: City, town, or
township:__________________
County ____________________ State____________________
Date of their marriage: ____________________
Place of their marriage: City, town, or
township:__________________
County ____________________ State____________________
You have now begun your "surname list" (see Chapter 6, Expanding Your
Scope: Surname List).
It has at least two names on it. A surname is your family name. Mine
is SMITH (you will find that genealogists write surnames in all
capital letters). My mother's maiden name is KINNICK. Those were the
first two names on my surname list. What are yours? If you have a
spouse, that is another surname. See discussion of family records,
below (and in Chapter 3, Preparing Your Ship: Family Group
Record).
Who were your parents' parents? Can you write out their full names,
spelled correctly, with maiden names? This will be easy for most of
you, difficult for some of you, and impossible for others. Those
items you don't know should form the beginning of your list of
"wanted information" to seek. Make a list (See Chapter 7, Logging
Your Voyage: Notes Organization). You might want to start at the
beginning with an ABC classification for your list. That is, there
will be some items that are REALLY important that you find out - like
a grandmother's maiden name. That would go on the A list. Right now,
a date of marriage might not seem too critical so it goes on the C
list. A birth date for your grandfather might go on the B list; you
want to know what it is, but it is not an urgent need (another
approach is presented in Chapter 5, Maintaining Your Cargo: Depth of
Detail). By the way, these dates are the next set of items you want
to collect and record. With each person's full name (and
relationship) you will want to record their birth date and place,
date of death (when deceased), place of death and place of burial.
These details make up the individual record (see Chapter 2, Checking
Your Manifest: Individual Record). You will also want to make
notations of the source of each item, date and place (see Chapter 8,
Standing Your Watch: Source Documentation).
A family record includes marriage date and place, husband and wife,
and a list of their children. The linkage of individual records and
family records is done by means of a chart or pedigree (see Chapter
4, Mapping Your Course: The Chart(s), Forms and Linkages). Everything
you do with your family history, or genealogy, will involve the use
of these three basic records: the pedigree chart, the family group
record, and the individual record (which will include notes and
additional supporting documentation).
Take a deep breath ... and let it out, slowly. We have covered
the basics, the essentials. How you get this information, how far you
go with it, how you record it, what you do with it - these are the
questions that determine your next steps. You can stop when you wish,
you can go as far as you wish (my wife is up to fourteen generations
in one of her lines, in the United States, and just getting
started!).
First, though, some notices and warnings are appropriate at this
point. Remember, you are a unique person. Your family tree, your
genealogy, your heritage, your lineage are unique and special. No
other person's are exactly the same. It is true, of course, that your
brothers and sisters, that is, your siblings, have the same
background (see Chapter 10, Exploring from the Crow's Nest: Sibling
Significance). However, when you marry, and have children, you create
a new and different branching on that family tree. Your perspective
will also differ from that of your siblings because you lived in a
somewhat different historical era (see Chapter 9, Keeping Your
Journal: Social History). Consider being born before or after Pearl
Harbor, the depression, the Vietnam conflict, or Desert Storm. The
world looks different from each different perspective. How you view
your family heritage will differ also.
Next, you will find some people, even people close to you, who wonder
why you are spending your time thinking about these things (see
Chapter 11, Weathering the Storm: Barriers to Proceeding). Some
readers may have even left us after the first or second paragraph of
this introduction. While asking relatives is one of the best sources
of information, recognize you may even meet some resistance here.
How, and why, you ask? There is usually at least one person in each
family, self-appointed, who has been saving clippings and family
records for years. If you are lucky, that person will be pleased you
show interest, and, welcome you to share all they have collected (see
Chapter 12, Sharing Your Wealth: Publication and Dissemination).
Sometimes, however, that person will resent your intrusion into
"their business" and act as a barrier to you obtaining even simple
information. Be prepared. There are always other sources, often
better, for obtaining the same information. Here are some of
them:
Do your own library research, census, county histories, etc.
Participate in local genealogical society activities
Attend family reunions.
Listen to aunts and uncles and cousins.
Ask them to recall holidays, celebrations, events in the past.
Listen carefully to better understand relationships and pick up
details of the past in your family. Ask if you can talk to them more,
later, about some particular event of interest to you. Generally,
they will be flattered and look forward to sharing their memories
with you. At that later time is a good time to ask a few specifics
from your "wanted information" list. They will often have an
obituary, a wedding announcement, even a copy of a will that is
filled with useful and interesting family information. Try to arrange
to get a copy for your own file. When visiting a relative, check
beforehand where the nearest copy center is and what their hours are,
just in case.
Visit your local public (and/or genealogy) library (and/or historical
society). They will usually have a genealogy section and/or a local
history section. Ask for assistance, be patient, and be sure to show
appreciation for the assistance received. Take your "wanted
information" list, so you can focus your search. The library is
usually a rich source of information for you. The same will be true
for other cities and towns where relatives have lived in the past.
Often this will be in another state, usually east or south, as our
national growth took place to the west and often north. You may even
want to plan a vacation or business trip to an area where you can do
some investigation. It does become addictive, for many of us, at
least, so be prepared.
Vital records (births, deaths, marriages, etc.) offices in county
seats, state capitals, and regional and national archives quickly
become another essential set of resources with which you will want to
become familiar. Census records, in books and on microfilm, are also
critical information sources. There are also many books to assist you
in your search for your roots. Numerous computer programs are
available to help you organize your information. The Internet,
specifically the World Wide Web, is a growing source of information
you will want to check (See Exploring Internet Resources Worksheets
in each chapter for more suggestions).
We have just barely scratched the surface. Forms are provided
throughout that you can use to help you get started. Feel free to
photocopy them for your personal use. Start today. Give it a try.
You, of course, are creating your own additional family history every
day of your life. Gather and create your own historical record by
telling the story of you and your family, now, for yourself and for
future generations. With our mobile society, you are in the best
position to record and collect the information on your own
activities. If you are 35 to 55 years old, or older, for instance, do
your children know what you did, and where you lived, in your younger
years? Ask them. You might be surprised at the answers you get. Have
you saved copies of your resumes through the years, for instance? Do
you save copies of annual Christmas letters? Do you keep a diary? You
probably have a family photo album, do you have a family video? Each
of us has a distinctive perspective that is valuable to our family.
Your descendants would like to know about you! Help them along. Start
today. Give it a try.
One more issue to consider. Every day we are finding more evidence of
genetic variables in our life. As you accumulate information about
your family, I strongly encourage you to gather medical and
health-related information about your family. You can start by
keeping a record of "cause of death" from death certificates of your
ancestors. Also, when talking to relatives, ask about serious
illness, including aunts and uncles, etc. Many people are reluctant
to talk of illness, others are anxious to share. Medical history can
assist us all in better understanding who we are and where we go from
here. It is just one factor, of course, but an important one. Find
out what you can. Set your sail.
Begin your voyage of discovery.
Start today. Give it a try.
Page created 17 Mar 1998 by
William L. Smith. Updated
16 May 1999.