Discovering your family history is a bit like a detective hunt. You'll be looking for clues, asking questions, and yes, there will be lots of dead bodies. Hopefully, they'll help with your enquiries by leaving obituaries, burial records, inscribed headstones, wills and probate records.
(Clipart from: http://www.oldfashionedclipart.com)
Researching your family history won’t always be easy. It will involve a lot of legwork, resourcefulness, a bit of luck and lot of patience, but you will run your man to ground, your cousins, aunts, uncles and great grandparents too.
The internet had revolutionised family history research and while online resources offer a quick and easy route to information, it can't beat the thrill of seeing and holding the original records generated by and during your ancestors’ lives.
As an online resource that helps you find where these records have been archived, you'll find A2A and Community Spirit are a happy and fulfilling marriage between the virtual and the solid.
While researching you may find an artistic, musical, literary or other talent running through your family. You may discover the stories behind family myths and legends. You will find you'll have fun being a family historian.
1. BEGIN WITH YOURSELF and your immediate family. Write down everything you know about your family, their names, dates of births, marriages and deaths, together with any anecdotes, recollections and reminiscences.
2. ASK YOUR RELATIVES - Do the same things with your relatives, verifying any verbal information you've already got. If they're in agreement, record your family history conversations. Ask questions that will illicit further information and jog their memories, but don't interrogate.
3. FAMILY ARCHIVES - Collect together any family documentation you can find including certificates, records of events, school reports, photographs, newspaper cuttings, heirlooms and memorabilia. If possible, photocopy, photograph, film or scan anything you can't take away. With the help of family members, find the names of people on unidentified photographs. Don't write on the back, use labels.
4. ORGANISE YOUR RESEARCH - As you progress with your researches you'll acquire a large amount of paperwork, notes and records. Having an organised, methodical approach from the beginning will save a lot of time, energy and frustration. It doesn't matter how you do this, so long as you can find things easily and have clear notes on what you've already researched and where you want to go next.
Drawing up a tree will help visualise your research. There are many computer packages available (h-link to Resources) or some genealogical web sites allow you to construct a tree. A simple hand drawn tree showing names, dates, places and relationships can be easier.
Free genealogical charts are available at the following sites:
http://www.familytreemagazine.com/forms
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhistory/record_sheets.shmtl
http://www.ancestry.com/save/charts/ancchart.htm
You can then take a copy of this with you when visiting a research centre.
When visiting a research centre or library, plan your visit. Find out about the centre, the records held, opening hours and if you need to book a film/fiche reader. Some centres ask for identification for a reader's ticket. Know exactly what records you're looking for, and take any relevant paperwork with you. It's often good to spend some time finding your way around a centre and its records before getting down to your research.
Christmas card list: something that grows in proportion to your family tree
5. FURTHER RESEARCH – THE INTERNET - The world wide web has revolutionised family history research and more records are going online by the minute. Subscribing to e-zines and e-mail letters will allow you to keep track of new sites and records. See: (link Links) (link Useful info) A lot of the information is free, but it is not always totally comprehensive. It's wise to verify any information with the original documents. You may find somebody has already researched your family and you will be able to link up with them.
For how to use the main online genealogical resources can be found at : http://www.freewebs.com/online_genealogy/
The International Genealogical Index - one of the most widely used family history web resources
http://www.familysearch.org
6. FURTHER RESEARCH – DOCUMENTARY RECORDS - The main official records you'll use in your research are birth, marriage, death and census records. See:
http://www.gmcro.co.uk/family_history/st_caths.htm
Family history centres and some libraries hold indexes of civil registration documents. Once you have the index reference you will then be able to order a copy of the
certificate from http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificate/index.asp#0
Census records may be found at family history centres/libraries.
Some census records are available online at :
www.1901cenus.nationalarchives.gov.uk (1901 census, fee payable)
http://www.ancestry.com (1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 census, subscription required)
www.familysearch.org/ (1881 census, free)
www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk (1871, 1881, 1891, 1901 Scots census, fee payable)
http://freecen.rootsweb.com/ (on going project to transcribe census, free)
www.1837online.com/Trace2web (1861 census, ongoing project, fee payable)
Parish records are very useful for baptisms, marriages and burials which took place before Civil registration in 1837. Many (but not all) can be found in the International Genealogical Index (IGI)
www.familysearch.org/
Archive web sites may help in tracing where particular records are held.
See www.a2a.org.uk
for access to archives and http://www.catalogue.nationalarchives.gov.uk/search.asp
to search the National Archives
You can then go and see the originals.
There are a whole wealth of other records and resources that will help you discover, not only who your ancestors were, but much about their lives – their schools, workplaces, churches, military records, hospital records, community and social lives. See: (USEFUL INFO AND LINKS )
7. NETWORKING – Joining a family history society near home will put you in touch with like minded people willing to help and advise. There’ll often be speakers at meetings and the society may have its own library and other resources. Joining a society in the area you're researching will put you in touch with people who are familiar with the area and who may be researching the same name.
Posting a message on an internet family history forum will help you get in touch with people who are researching the same name/family and you’ll be able to pool resources. You might also find living relatives. See:
http://genforum.genealogy.com/
and
http://www.genesconnected.co.uk
There are also many internet mailing lists for specific surnames, countries, towns and ethnic groups.
See http://lists.rootsweb.com/ for
further information
There is a surname message board at: http://www.ancestry.com
8. LEARNING – You can develop your interest in family history by reading one of the many books and magazines available, taking a course, or attending a family history fair. See:
http://geneva.weald.org.uk/
9. PRESERVING YOUR FAMILY HISTORY – From writing a book to scanning documents and photographs onto a web site and/or CD-ROM, there are many ways of ensuring your family history research is preserved for future generations. There are many software packages that will enable you to draw up your family tree inserting notes, photographs and other images. You'll find a genealogy software review at:
http://www/familyrecords.gov.uk/guides/software.html
Some web sites also allow you to build up a family tree. See: www.ancestry.com
and http://www.genesconnected.co.uk
To prevent deterioration of original photographs and documents, store in archival quality folders and files. These can be bought at some Record Offices, at most family history fairs, or from specialist suppliers.
See: www.cwsparkinson.co.uk
and www.genealogysupplies for more
information
10. WELL AND TRULY HOOKED - By this stage you'll have discovered an absorbing and fascinating lifelong interest. Without exaggeration, you'll have learnt research and project management skills and gained a knowledge of archival resources and you'll have become a fully fledged family historian. On a more personal level, you'll have made new friends and probably found several lost relatives. Your genealogical detective work? The investigation will be ongoing.
You’ll be able to find more information on beginning family history research on the following sites:
Society of Genealogists at
http://www.sog.org.uk/leaflets/index.html
See also: useful links for archival sites, North West Family History Societies, Family history and other useful sites, registration and census links, forums, resources links, societies and organisations, book list, family history magazines, e-zines and e-mail newsletters, genealogical holidays.
