5 Steps to Searching Your Family History

When talking about family history I tend to use terms such as - family history, family tree, genealogy and ancestor interchangeably. Please do not let this confuse you as you read.

Begin with yourself. Yes, begin with yourself. You are the end product of your family history. Get down on paper or a computer everything important about You. Birthday, marriage, siblings, parents, military, places you have lived and anything important you have done or been a part of.

Do you have newspaper articles that were written about something you have done or accomplished? How about a video or audio piece done by the local TV or radio stations? Those are important as well, be sure to include them.

Now to begin your quest for your family history beyond yourself. Begin by interviewing your parents. When and where were they born? Where did they go to school? Ask the same type of questions of your parents that you asked yourself.

Next move on to your grandparents, if they are still living. If they are not then your parents, aunts and uncles hopefully will be able to fill in some of the information. Family reunions are a great place to get information about your family history.

Unfortunately for me when I finally decide to begin my search both sets of grandparents had passed. A treasure trove of information had been lost to me. If you are even thinking about your family's history and your grandparents are still living, get with them, talk with them about their parents, their siblings, aunts and uncles. You both will enjoy the time spent together and the information you gather will be priceless.

If you have a video camera, get your interviews on video. Get current pictures of yourself with your relative. If you can, get any of the old photographs they may have. Pictures can be scanned to a computer disc or DVD for safe keeping and easy reference. This will also allow your relative to keep their valuable images.

Now you have gotten some information about your family history. What are you going to do with it? The easiest thing is to get a computer program which will help you organize the information and assist you in your search. I began with Family Tree Maker to help me organize my information.

In the beginning, it is not necessary to purchase a new copy of software to track your family. Used copies can be purchased at reduced rates and will serve the purpose for beginning your searches. You might be surprised at how much information about your family comes already in the program. Personally I found birth dates, places of birth, weddings and more in the first software package I bought used for $10.

Once you have your software loaded on your computer begin entering the information you have collected. If you are eventually going to share this on the internet, create two versions. The first version with complete information keep for you and your family. The second version, any person still living instead of entering their information just enter something like 'Living Male/Female'. It is the second version you can share on the internet.

Now you have exhausted your first hand information sources. Things will begin to get a little more difficult from here on out. But, this is where it really begins to get fun. Now is the time to become your family's version of Sherlock Holmes. It is now time for some leg work.

There are numerous places to find information on persons no longer living. You just need to know where to look. Start with the family Bible. Things like birthdays, marriages and such were recorded in family Bibles and then passed down to the next generation.

You can check at your county court house or where ever public records are kept in your city or county. Birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses and such are all public records and maintained (usually) by the county. A lot of information can be gleaned from these records. Do not forget to check court records and records of property deeds there as well.

Your local library will most likely maintain old copies of the local newspapers on microfiche. If there is a historical society in your town they may also have information about your ancestors. Be sure to get hard copies of any information you find.

You might also check with your church or churches in towns and cities where your ancestors lived. Records like christenings, weddings and funerals will be in the church records. While visiting a church, especially older churches, there maybe a cemetery nearby. If there is an ancestor buried there get a photograph of the head stone. The head stones of past relatives can possibly provide valuable dates and possibly additional relations.

Has anyone in the family previously done a family tree? If so, see if you can get a copy and copies of the supporting documents? This will help make your searches much easier.

All of us in the United States came from somewhere else. My personal genealogy runs through most of the countries of Western Europe. To track your history back to the old country start with ports of entry like Ellis Island in New York. Here again, the more information you have on an ancestor the better and easier they will be to find.

If you have tracked your ancestors back to the old country a trip abroad could be in the works. With language differences this could be a bit of a challenge. Be prepared before making such an investment. You may find were your family came from but not the specific person(s) you are searching for.

Of course, a lot of this information may be on the internet. But where is the fun in that?

Surfing the net for information about your ancestors will be difficult at best. To help you there are websites which specialize in assisting you and your search for your ancestors. These sites may in the beginning provide you the service free for a limited time. After the trial period there will be a fee to be paid either monthly or annually. Probably the most well known of these sites is Ancestry.com.

Sites like Ancestry.com make it easier to do research on and for your ancestors. You enter as much information as you know about a certain member of your ancestry. Ancestry.com will search their records and provide a list of possible candidates in a number of categories. Be careful when doing your search this way; just because someone looks good does not necessarily mean they are your ancestor. Always double check and compare known information.

Ancestry.com may also be able to provide hints about possible relations or additional information about someone already on your tree. When checking these hints be sure to look closely to ensure information matches up.

Also, with sites like Ancestry.com, you may be able to interact with other people (cousins, maybe) who are also researching members of your tree. They may be able to provide critical information for you to be able to move to the next generation on your tree.

Here is a list of the top 8 genealogical sites on the web as reviewed by No1Reviews.com:

1. Ancestry.com
2. Genealogy.com
3. GenesReunited.co.uk
4. WorldVitalRecords.com
5. The OriginsNetwork.com
6. KindredKonnections.com
7. OneGreatFamily.com
8. FamilySearch.org

See what other sites are on No1Reviews.com. Click on the link to see the reviews of these sites and to check out their A-Z of Genealogy Sites.

One of the really exciting things I found once I began searching my family history was how the people I met began to come alive. For example, my 4th great grandfather, who passed in 1834, is buried about 30 miles from where I live. I read a story about him during my research about were he is buried. It stated he was buried in the cemetery of the church he helped found over looking the valley he loved. I have been to see his headstone (image). I also stood by the church (which is still there) and gazed out over the valley. It was a very powerful moment for me.

If you decide to do your own family history it is my hope you also will have moments like I have had when meeting your ancestors who ever they are.

So there you have it. 5 steps to begin your search for your family history. Just remember, once the search for your family history has begun it can easily become an obsession. Be careful. Always check your findings. Verify the source your information comes from. It can be very exciting to find you have a famous ancestor and very embarrassing to find out later you were mistaken.

If you have a common name like Smith or Jones or you are of African-American decent, doing your genealogy can be very difficult. It becomes more important to get documents verifying each generation's connection to the next. But do not let that stop you. When done right you will end up with a very special document you can share with your family and future generations.