History is often fascinating, especially if it’s related to you. Genealogy is a branch linked to history as it traces a person’s lineage. It’s an exciting study that can help you get many insights into your family tree.
Preparation For Research: A Guide With Tips
Before you learn how to find your family tree, you should prepare for research. This requires finding data from all possible available sources.
We have a few tips for you that give you an idea of where to begin your search.
Start With What You Know
Start by gathering information about your family that you already know. Write down the names, birth dates, marriage dates, and death dates (for deceased relatives you know) of yourself, your parents, grandparents, and any other relatives you know.
This helps create a foundation for your family tree.
Keep it simple and organized, jotting down details in a notebook or using a computer spreadsheet.
Don’t worry if you don’t have all the information immediately – just start with what you know. This process not only helps you organize your thoughts but also provides a starting point for further research into your family’s history.
Gather Data
Once you’ve collected the basic information on your immediate family, you should launch deeper research. Interview your older relatives, like grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, to gather more information.
They hold valuable insights, stories, and documents, such as old photos, letters, or family bibles, which can help you piece together your family history.
You’d be surprised to learn how much information people can have, especially in old photos that have signatures and locations.
This data can help you further deepen the research by giving an idea of where some relatives may be buried.
Thus, collect this data for future reference if you’ll be traveling to the cemeteries of these deceased relatives.
Such personal accounts can provide details that official records might often miss.
Additionally, research vital records such as birth, marriage, and death certificates. These are crucial sources of information for building your family tree.
Start by obtaining these records for yourself and your immediate family members.
Then, work backward through the generations and obtain records for older relatives. This systematic approach ensures you gather accurate information about your family lineage.
Organize Available Documents And Facts
Create a spreadsheet or use genealogy software to organize your family tree data. This helps document the information you gather in an easy-to-follow format.
With a spreadsheet, you can list names, dates, and relationships.
Genealogy software offers additional features like charts and reports. Organize the data to make it simple to see relationships and track your progress.
This systematic approach ensures your family tree remains well-structured and easy to navigate as you continue your research.
The best free option is the one that we mentioned, by creating the spreadsheet, as it enables you also to add data by adding new rows.
Use Online Services
As we mentioned, the modern digital world enables easier research. Thus, you can use its full potential.
They give access to valuable tools like these:
- Open genealogy records.
- Family photo sharing.
- Learning resources.
- Obituaries.
- Cemeteries.
- FamilySearch catalog.
- Ancestor search.
- Genealogy search.
- Digital books.
- 1950 U.S. census.
You can use these tools to get more information about your ancestors and connect with other researchers who may have valuable insights. For instance, family photo sharing is a nice tool that collects pictures of people, and you may find a relative who’s also in search of their family members.
The best part is that such websites can help find your family tree for free, as they are non-profits.
Instead of taking a DNA test to learn about your gene pool, you can consider a more fun solution: build a family tree. This article offers a few tips that help start the research and find the necessary data.
Luckily, our digital world helps you find your family tree online, but our guide also includes tips and ideas that require talking to your relatives and browsing personal archives.
Consider Using Census Records
Census records are valuable sources of information for building your family tree. They provide details about individuals and families, including names, ages, occupations, and relationships.
Usually, the government or state-funded organizations collect and organize these records to track population demographics.
They also often provide free public access for everyone to use the information.
Accessing census records can help you trace your ancestors and understand their lives better. which also gives further insights into where to seek information.
You can find valuable clues about where your ancestors lived, their professions, and familial connections.
Visit Acrhives Or Libraries
You can start by visiting your local archives or libraries that store such type of data. However, at this point of your research, you may already have data about the relatives who live(d) in other cities or even countries.
This part gets interesting, and you have two options:
- Travel to a different city/country where your relatives used to live (or still live). Schedule a meeting beforehand at the local library to find the records.
- Use online websites of these libraries and archives. Not everyone has time or is willing to travel too far. Luckily, many archives are now digitalized.
Now that you know where your family members or relatives used to live, you can check out public online libraries of cities where you found their historical traces.
Final Thoughts
Tracing your family legacy is a truly exciting task because you may find unexpected information and even living relatives that you can connect with on social media.
We all have family members who had cousins or other relatives that they used to be close with but then lost any type of connection.
Building a family tree can help you to learn what happened to these relatives and find their children and grandchildren.
Moreover, now you know how to find out your family tree, and online resources make things a lot easier.
