Getting Started on Your Family Tree
Genealogy - tracing yourself back to better people
It's not as difficult as you think. I'm going to help you on your way - in an entirely selfish manner as you will then find photos for me and people for our tree...
What do you want to achieve?
A Family Tree to me means finding relatives, preferably lots of living ones as well as dead ones. Genealogy to my mind conjures up searching and searching in the wee small hours until you find the elusive connection ten centuries ago. William the Conqueror or bust.... I just want to find photos of my great aunts and uncles and find a few more cousins to bug about the photos.
Everyone has different goals when they start out and that's not a problem. Each to his own. The great thing about the study of family history now is that, thanks to the internet and fancy schmancy software, family members can merge what they know. Those searching for information about Aunt Flo will be thrilled to find there were other Florences in the 1700s and the ones who found the early Florences will enjoy meeting the live one.
You might find you start small and end up with an all consuming hobby and you might get bored with it and give up. Either way your work is never wasted.
Everyone has different goals when they start out and that's not a problem. Each to his own. The great thing about the study of family history now is that, thanks to the internet and fancy schmancy software, family members can merge what they know. Those searching for information about Aunt Flo will be thrilled to find there were other Florences in the 1700s and the ones who found the early Florences will enjoy meeting the live one.
You might find you start small and end up with an all consuming hobby and you might get bored with it and give up. Either way your work is never wasted.
Start with what you know
There are hundreds, probably thousands, of genealogy sites. We'll review them later although we tend to point folk towards My Heritage for ease of use and fun stuff and Ancestry.co.uk/com for research as that has the most comprehensive resources. This can be an expensive hobby and you need to make sure you're not paying too many pointless subscriptions here and there
They all have one thing in common - they advise you to start with what you know. Talk to your living relatives. You will kick yourself later when they've gone and you didn't get the information. Photos are invaulable when talking to family. They really do make memories come flooding back. That doesn't always work to your advantage. Many a time I've worked on a fancy scrapbooking page (AFTER talking to the family about the people in it) only to have them say "no, that wasn't Richard, it was Ann and it was the year after ..." I do digital scrapbooking now so only have to change it and reprint it but it's still frustrating!
They all have one thing in common - they advise you to start with what you know. Talk to your living relatives. You will kick yourself later when they've gone and you didn't get the information. Photos are invaulable when talking to family. They really do make memories come flooding back. That doesn't always work to your advantage. Many a time I've worked on a fancy scrapbooking page (AFTER talking to the family about the people in it) only to have them say "no, that wasn't Richard, it was Ann and it was the year after ..." I do digital scrapbooking now so only have to change it and reprint it but it's still frustrating!
Fine The Box and the Bible
Your Dad - or your Grandad - will have The Box. It's probably in, or on top of, his wardrobe. My Dad's box was in his wardrobe for about 50 years but before he died he tidied it into a filing cabinet. That caused my Mum and I a few moments of complete panic.
Get hold of The Box. It will have birth, baptism, marriage and death certificates in it. If you're really lucky it will have school reports and important letters. Incidentally, if you take the box from its rightful place in the wardrobe please let other members of the family know you have it, especially if any of them are working on the family tree. Can't find The Box? That's because someone has taken it and not told anyone they've taken it!
Scan everything and put The Box back.
Next you need to get hold of The Family Bible. This is more tricky as it will be older than The Box and may contain information the family don't want anyone to know, which kind of begs the question why did they write it in The Family Bible then? Watch out for two Family Bibles, one for public consumption and one with The Truth in it. Never mess with a family historian who's had training in forensic accounting and worked in the Inland Revenue and is therefore used to the concept of two sets of books!
Get hold of The Box. It will have birth, baptism, marriage and death certificates in it. If you're really lucky it will have school reports and important letters. Incidentally, if you take the box from its rightful place in the wardrobe please let other members of the family know you have it, especially if any of them are working on the family tree. Can't find The Box? That's because someone has taken it and not told anyone they've taken it!
Scan everything and put The Box back.
Next you need to get hold of The Family Bible. This is more tricky as it will be older than The Box and may contain information the family don't want anyone to know, which kind of begs the question why did they write it in The Family Bible then? Watch out for two Family Bibles, one for public consumption and one with The Truth in it. Never mess with a family historian who's had training in forensic accounting and worked in the Inland Revenue and is therefore used to the concept of two sets of books!
Be careful with what you know
Joking aside, you need to be aware that you might get information while relatives are alive that you can't use until after they've gone. For example, illegitimacy was quite different even 50 years ago from what it is today. Suicide was not up for discussion either. Whole families clammed up and lied in a natural attempt to protect vulnerable members of the family. They really don't want their grandchildren putting the secrets on the internet for all to see. It sickens me to see members of genealogy forums treating this as a huge joke with no respect for the older generation.
You might find you end up with an official family tree and a slightly different one that lives in your own and a few cousins' heads. I have one of those. That is a subject of another article, if it doesn't get me kicked out of every genealogy forum!
You might find you end up with an official family tree and a slightly different one that lives in your own and a few cousins' heads. I have one of those. That is a subject of another article, if it doesn't get me kicked out of every genealogy forum!