Resources for Genealogists

I realize that if you have been doing genealogy for a long time, you have your favorites saved in your web browser. However, I am still a novice and look for things that have the word free attached. It helps me find what I want information wise, or it just gives me hints to where I need to go. I know spending some money helps the process out a lot, but I would hold off shelling out your money in the beginning.

I won’t sugar coat it. I used Ancestry.com’s free trial to get good information about my family. I used a local public records online search from my county. It gave me a few names and a ball park year on marriage licenses. So free access to public records was a plus!

FamilySerarch.org was a  great help, but I did have to sign up for an account. This is where I was able to track some census information that proved to be invaluable to my research. They even have some pictures that are reminiscent of what you would find in someone's old photo album.

You should know that there are many other sites that you can use as resources. They will either help you solve a mystery or bring your family together.

Genealogy starts with you

Thinking of what to share in this installment has not been easy. I was trying to remember how I started my family tree, but it is kind of fuzzy after almost a year. So I looked up a couple of things and got some inspiration. Genealogy starts with you, and in turn, gives you facts to research.

You are the starting point of your family tree. There are things that you know about yourself that will give you clues of where to being your family research. So with that in mind, it is time to interview yourself. Start with these basic questions:

• Name
• Age and Birthdate
• Married? How long?
• When and where did you get married?
• Parents
• Where did you live when your were a child?
• Did you ever move as a child?
• What did your parents do as a career?
• What is your occupation?
• Why did you pick your profession?
• Family reunions? Who attended?

These questions should also be asked of family members that are still living. They can give you insight about grandparents and great grandparents. It will also give you interesting stories to include in your family tree.

A side note, if you find that most of your family has passed on or you don’t communicate with your family, like me, this is a good opportunity to open the doors of communication. While you and I are researching the past, we can begin to build up the family relationships with the ones that are still in the world.

Indexing and Family pictures

The purpose today is two fold. I wanted to share a picture of what might be my great great great grandmother, but I still have to research her. My cousin was good enough to scan and send it to me. Much love to her. So here she is…

Yes, she another person I have never met and yet, I want to know a little more about. It is sometimes about finding the needle in the hay stack. Well, she is the needle this weekend.

The next is about indexing. You might be wondering what that is exactly. Well, let me say that it is fairly easy to do. The source of indexing can be found on FamilySearch.org.

What indexing does is provide information that is available for research in a public data base. Its not hard to do, and you run a little demo to see how easy it is. I signed up for an account because I had been doing some heavy research and noticed the indexing heading. When I saw how easy it was, I decided to volunteer sometime here.

Who knows, you might be helping someone discover their family too. I think that would be an awesome gift to the world.  

 

How far back should you take your tree?

Well, I have been thinking about this a lot today. I am not sure what I should do. I have both grandparents on both sides. I have leads into great and great great grand parents, but I have holes information wise in current generations.

I don’t know I want to do. I have this crazy drive to keep looking further back. Especially, when my cousin tells me she found a picture with McCravy on it. I am itching to learn what her story is. I want to know if my hard work is off or if I need to keep looking.

Another day in the life as they say.

Remembering stories from childhood…

There have been many stories I overheard the one or two summers I spent at her house. I would read books while my mom and grandmother sat around talking about growing up. I was always amazed how close they were to each other.

I know now why they shared stories about great grandmothers and brothers and sisters. It is so the next generation can feel that sense of family. It gave me a sense that I belonged to something worth remembering. I guess that is why I will leave it at that for now.genealogy is not just something that is a hobby.

It is thanks to all the stories I heard that I remembered enough details to fill in search boxes as I looked for my family tree. I got a lot done, but there are holes that need to be filled in.

Where I began…

There were many starts and stops to this journey. To be honest, it took me a while to put the emotional stuff aside. I had come to the conclusion it was fact finding journey. I am not saying it was therapy, but it was a change in the way of thinking.

I downloaded a free family tree software program called Gaia Family Tree. As I sat down to figure the software out, I began to put information in like parents and siblings. I then moved on to what I remembered about nieces and nephews. I even tried to put in wives and husbands. Ugh, it was a test in patience. I realized that I knew more than I thought I did. Dates were a stretch, but cities of birth was doable.

When it came to the grandparents, I reached a stopping point because I had no idea. They were people that had be gone from the world for decades, and I never heard stories about them. Or had I?

Stay tuned the story continues.