My next genealogy "tip" is very important, but is often neglected by family history researchers: CITE YOUR SOURCES. There are many reasons why this is so important.
The first reason is an ethical one. When you use someone else's work, you should give them credit. I have been researching my family for nearly 15 years. I have spent countless hours in libraries, courthouses, archives, and historical societies, not to mention the many hours spent in front of a computer doing digital research. I have painstakingly entered thousands of facts and sources into my genealogy database. I've been pretty successful and have shared my work with many others to help them in their own research. If they use my work and don't give me credit, that's not really fair, is it?
The second reason for citing your sources is so that you can find them again. When I first started my genealogy research, I didn't see the point of this. I was sure I would remember where I got the information. However, I quickly learned that this was not true. As my tree began to grow, there were more and more things to remember. I soon saw the value of documenting my work.
When you are doing family history research, it is inevitable that you will have to re-check some of your facts, often years later. If you haven't noted where you got the information, you may waste hours (or even years) trying to find the information again.
The last reason for citing your sources may be the most important one. Whenever you do any kind of research, it is important to use the most reliable sources. You probably learned this in high school or college when you had to write that dreaded research paper. If you were researching the Civil War, for instance, you would want to consult many sources, then evaluate which sources were the most reliable. The best sources would probably be documents that were written at the time (diaries, letters, etc.) or books written by historians who have consulted those primary sources and have documented their work.
The same is true for genealogy. It is important to use the best sources available and to document those sources, so that other researchers can evaluate the validity of your work.
I'd like to conclude with a word of warning about internet genealogy. I mentioned in my blog on Thursday that the internet has made family history research much easier and faster. However, you should be aware that there is also a lot of misinformation out there. The internet has made it very easy for people to post their family trees online. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these trees are undocumented, so there is no way to evaluate the validity of the information contained in them. My favorite site for online family trees is Rootsweb's World Connect Project: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/
Rootsweb has a search feature which allows you to limit results to those which have sources. I try to stick with trees that have good source documentation. Even then, I check everything myself before adding it to my own tree. Of course, in many cases the sources given are other family trees, but I can usually find a few trees that are well documented.
If you ever get to the point where you have researched your family and want to post your tree online, I have another piece of advice for you. Don't include any living individuals in your tree. With the increase in identity theft, you wouldn't want to post all that personal information online.
Saturday, August 31, 2013
Friday, August 30, 2013
Genealogy Tip No. 1: Start with what You "Know"
I've been doing genealogy research for almost 15 years now. I don't purport to be an expert, but I have been pretty successful in tracking down my elusive ancestors. For the next few blogs, I'd like to share some techniques I've used in my own research that might help others who are just starting out.
One of the first things I learned about genealogy was to start with what you know. Many researchers make the mistake of trying to prove a connection to some famous person. They start with the famous person and try to work their way down to themselves. What they should really do, though, is start with themselves and work their way backwards.
If you're thinking about researching your family history, you should first find out as much as you can about your immediate ancestors: your parents and grandparents. Find out when and where they were born, when and where they were married, maiden names, how many children and siblings they had, etc.
If your parents and grandparents are still alive and lucid, interview them. Besides getting their vital information (birth dates, etc.), ask them about their lives when they were younger. Also ask them if they have any documents (like birth and death certificates) or any old photos. One of my biggest regrets is that I never had the opportunity to do this for my own family. By the time I started my research, my mother and my grandparents and most of my aunts and uncles were already gone.
Once you have interviewed your living relatives (and don't forget about older aunts, uncles, cousins, or close family friends), your next job is to verify the information they have given you. Don't take anything they say, especially names and dates, at face value. As we age, we all start to forget things and get confused about events that occurred many years in the past.
When I first started my genealogy research, I had very little to go on. I only had one living aunt at the time. She gave me a lot of information about her parents and sisters. Hovever, since she was the youngest child, she knew very little about earlier generations.
My best source of information about my earlier ancestors was a genealogical report written by another aunt several years before she died. Although the report gave me a lot of leads to follow up on, it was also full of misinformation and half-truths. For instance, my aunt stated that my grandmother had raised her youngest brother, Gene, because Gene's mother (my great-grandmother) had died when Gene was three.
I knew from other sources that my grandmother's family had belonged to St. Edward's Catholic Church in Baltimore, so one of my first tasks was to search the St. Edward's church records on microfilm for references to my family. I was able to locate a baptismal record for Gene in 1907. If my aunt's story was correct, that would mean that Gene's mother, Bridget Dell, died about 1910. However, the only Bridget Dell that I could find in the death records had died in 1931 and was buried at Wards Chapel Cemetery. I didn't think this could be my Bridget Dell, but I made a note of the information and made a photocopy of the record.
I had never heard of Wards Chapel, so my next task was to find out more about the cemetery. I learned that the cemetery was connected to Wards Chapel Church, a Methodist church on Liberty Road near Liberty Dam. This piqued my interest, because my aunt had also mentioned in her report that my grandmother grew up on a farm, near where Liberty Dam is now located.
If I had taken my aunt's information about her grandmother's death at face value and had ignored the conflicting information, I would have missed out on one of the most important leads I have ever encountered in my years of genealogical reseaarch.
As it turned out, my great-grandmother did in fact die in 1931 and was buried at Wards Chapel, and that cemetery turned out to be a "mother lode" of information on my family. Both of my grandmother's parents are buried there, as well as her father's parents and their mothers, not to mention hundreds of siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I figure that I am probably related to almost half of the people buried there.
Besides leading me to my grandmother's father's family, that one death record was also what ultimately led me to her mother's family as well. It was from Bridget Dell's death certificate that I obtained the first names of Bridget's parents (who my aunt had simply referred to as "Male Hickey" and "Female Fox"). See my blog of June 11, 2010, entitled "The Joy of Discovery" for that story.
In conclusion, if you're serious about learning the story of your family, remember these things: start with yourself; find out everything you can about your immediate family; and check in other sources to verify the information you've been given and to go back farther in your family tree.
One of the first things I learned about genealogy was to start with what you know. Many researchers make the mistake of trying to prove a connection to some famous person. They start with the famous person and try to work their way down to themselves. What they should really do, though, is start with themselves and work their way backwards.
If you're thinking about researching your family history, you should first find out as much as you can about your immediate ancestors: your parents and grandparents. Find out when and where they were born, when and where they were married, maiden names, how many children and siblings they had, etc.
If your parents and grandparents are still alive and lucid, interview them. Besides getting their vital information (birth dates, etc.), ask them about their lives when they were younger. Also ask them if they have any documents (like birth and death certificates) or any old photos. One of my biggest regrets is that I never had the opportunity to do this for my own family. By the time I started my research, my mother and my grandparents and most of my aunts and uncles were already gone.
Once you have interviewed your living relatives (and don't forget about older aunts, uncles, cousins, or close family friends), your next job is to verify the information they have given you. Don't take anything they say, especially names and dates, at face value. As we age, we all start to forget things and get confused about events that occurred many years in the past.
When I first started my genealogy research, I had very little to go on. I only had one living aunt at the time. She gave me a lot of information about her parents and sisters. Hovever, since she was the youngest child, she knew very little about earlier generations.
My best source of information about my earlier ancestors was a genealogical report written by another aunt several years before she died. Although the report gave me a lot of leads to follow up on, it was also full of misinformation and half-truths. For instance, my aunt stated that my grandmother had raised her youngest brother, Gene, because Gene's mother (my great-grandmother) had died when Gene was three.
I knew from other sources that my grandmother's family had belonged to St. Edward's Catholic Church in Baltimore, so one of my first tasks was to search the St. Edward's church records on microfilm for references to my family. I was able to locate a baptismal record for Gene in 1907. If my aunt's story was correct, that would mean that Gene's mother, Bridget Dell, died about 1910. However, the only Bridget Dell that I could find in the death records had died in 1931 and was buried at Wards Chapel Cemetery. I didn't think this could be my Bridget Dell, but I made a note of the information and made a photocopy of the record.
I had never heard of Wards Chapel, so my next task was to find out more about the cemetery. I learned that the cemetery was connected to Wards Chapel Church, a Methodist church on Liberty Road near Liberty Dam. This piqued my interest, because my aunt had also mentioned in her report that my grandmother grew up on a farm, near where Liberty Dam is now located.
If I had taken my aunt's information about her grandmother's death at face value and had ignored the conflicting information, I would have missed out on one of the most important leads I have ever encountered in my years of genealogical reseaarch.
As it turned out, my great-grandmother did in fact die in 1931 and was buried at Wards Chapel, and that cemetery turned out to be a "mother lode" of information on my family. Both of my grandmother's parents are buried there, as well as her father's parents and their mothers, not to mention hundreds of siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I figure that I am probably related to almost half of the people buried there.
Besides leading me to my grandmother's father's family, that one death record was also what ultimately led me to her mother's family as well. It was from Bridget Dell's death certificate that I obtained the first names of Bridget's parents (who my aunt had simply referred to as "Male Hickey" and "Female Fox"). See my blog of June 11, 2010, entitled "The Joy of Discovery" for that story.
In conclusion, if you're serious about learning the story of your family, remember these things: start with yourself; find out everything you can about your immediate family; and check in other sources to verify the information you've been given and to go back farther in your family tree.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Family History Research in the Digital Age
In some ways, family history research today is very different from that done by the "pioneers" in the field years ago. Those early genealogists often traveled long distances to consult records in courthouses, libraries, and archives. They visited cemeteries and spent a lot of time writing letters to possible family connections and to churches and courthouses, etc., that were too far away to visit. They spent years collecting and organizing information about their ancestors. The result of all this time and effort was a family tree to pass on to their descendants. The resulting family tree was often handwritten or typed, a true labor of love to be treasured by succeeding generations.
Today, the "digital highway" has made this whole process much easier and has opened up all kinds of possibilities for the modern genealogist. My latest project has been to research my son-in-law's Louisiana roots. Since I live over 1,000 miles from Louisiana, this would have been a monumental task even 25 years ago. It probably would have taken me a lifetime to research and document his ancestry.
Today, though, with the advent of websites like Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org, I can access, in minutes, records that would have taken earlier researchers months, if not years, to acquire. Besides having digital copies of original records, many of these websites have indexes as well, making it easier than ever to locate those elusive documents.
I can go to Ancestry.com and view census records that were written as much as 200 years ago. I can search GenealogyBank.com to find obituaries and stories about my ancestors in the newspapers and historic documents. These sources all help to bring our ancestors to life, to reveal the stories behind the names.
One of the things I find especially exciting about the digital age is the large amount of primary source material becoming available on the internet. Most of my son-in-law's ancestors originated in France or Canada. Fortunately for me, the French government has been making most of their old documents, particularly church records, available online, so I have been able to locate baptism, marriage, and death records for many of his ancestors in France. Most of these records were created in the early to mid 1700's. I just think it's really cool to be able to view documents that were written over 300 years ago, without ever having to leave my house.
For genealogists like me, who want to place their ancestors into historical context, another exciting development has been the digitization of old books. At websites like Google Books and Archive.org, I can access books that were written at the time my ancestors lived. In this way, I can get a glimpse of what life was like for them.
Another big advance in genealogy has been the advent of message boards and search engines like Google. These tools help to bring together genealogists from distant places who are researching the same family. While the researchers of old were limited to letter writing and queries in genealogical magazines to network with possible relations, I can accomplish the same thing much more quickly. I recently did a search for one of my son-in-law's elusive ancestors, and my efforts were rewarded. I found two new connections: distant cousins who had been researching this particular ancestor for over 30 years. They have given me all kinds of new leads to follow up on.
Family tree software has also made things much easier for the modern genealogist. With programs like Family Tree Maker and RootsMagic, researchers can enter names, dates, and other facts, as well as source information, into a computer database. Once the information is entered, the software does the work of organizing the data. With the click of a button, genealogists can generate any number of charts, trees, and genealogy reports.
When all is said and done, though, family history research has not changed that much since the "early days." I am accessing many of the same records that my predecessors did. I'm just able to do it a lot more quickly and easily. I have a great appreciation and admiration for those early genealogists who paved the way for people like me. Many of the indexes that I use today were created by those same "pioneers," who sat in dusty courthouses or church archives years ago. They painstakingly extracted names and other pertinent information, so that future researchers like me would have an easier time finding what they were looking for.
If you've ever thought about researching your family tree, there has never been a better time. Although some of the websites I've mentioned require a subscription to access their records, there are also many sites that offer their services for free. One of the best free sites is FamilySearch.org. Many public libraries also offer access to the subscription sites to patrons in their library.
I'll warn you, though, that genealogy is addicting. Once you get started it's hard to stop, but it can be a fun and fascinating hobby, especially if you have an interest in history.
Today, the "digital highway" has made this whole process much easier and has opened up all kinds of possibilities for the modern genealogist. My latest project has been to research my son-in-law's Louisiana roots. Since I live over 1,000 miles from Louisiana, this would have been a monumental task even 25 years ago. It probably would have taken me a lifetime to research and document his ancestry.
Today, though, with the advent of websites like Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org, I can access, in minutes, records that would have taken earlier researchers months, if not years, to acquire. Besides having digital copies of original records, many of these websites have indexes as well, making it easier than ever to locate those elusive documents.
I can go to Ancestry.com and view census records that were written as much as 200 years ago. I can search GenealogyBank.com to find obituaries and stories about my ancestors in the newspapers and historic documents. These sources all help to bring our ancestors to life, to reveal the stories behind the names.
One of the things I find especially exciting about the digital age is the large amount of primary source material becoming available on the internet. Most of my son-in-law's ancestors originated in France or Canada. Fortunately for me, the French government has been making most of their old documents, particularly church records, available online, so I have been able to locate baptism, marriage, and death records for many of his ancestors in France. Most of these records were created in the early to mid 1700's. I just think it's really cool to be able to view documents that were written over 300 years ago, without ever having to leave my house.
For genealogists like me, who want to place their ancestors into historical context, another exciting development has been the digitization of old books. At websites like Google Books and Archive.org, I can access books that were written at the time my ancestors lived. In this way, I can get a glimpse of what life was like for them.
Another big advance in genealogy has been the advent of message boards and search engines like Google. These tools help to bring together genealogists from distant places who are researching the same family. While the researchers of old were limited to letter writing and queries in genealogical magazines to network with possible relations, I can accomplish the same thing much more quickly. I recently did a search for one of my son-in-law's elusive ancestors, and my efforts were rewarded. I found two new connections: distant cousins who had been researching this particular ancestor for over 30 years. They have given me all kinds of new leads to follow up on.
Family tree software has also made things much easier for the modern genealogist. With programs like Family Tree Maker and RootsMagic, researchers can enter names, dates, and other facts, as well as source information, into a computer database. Once the information is entered, the software does the work of organizing the data. With the click of a button, genealogists can generate any number of charts, trees, and genealogy reports.
When all is said and done, though, family history research has not changed that much since the "early days." I am accessing many of the same records that my predecessors did. I'm just able to do it a lot more quickly and easily. I have a great appreciation and admiration for those early genealogists who paved the way for people like me. Many of the indexes that I use today were created by those same "pioneers," who sat in dusty courthouses or church archives years ago. They painstakingly extracted names and other pertinent information, so that future researchers like me would have an easier time finding what they were looking for.
If you've ever thought about researching your family tree, there has never been a better time. Although some of the websites I've mentioned require a subscription to access their records, there are also many sites that offer their services for free. One of the best free sites is FamilySearch.org. Many public libraries also offer access to the subscription sites to patrons in their library.
I'll warn you, though, that genealogy is addicting. Once you get started it's hard to stop, but it can be a fun and fascinating hobby, especially if you have an interest in history.
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