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Genealogy...Creating an Awesome Family Tree

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How to create a Family Tree

Creating a Family Tree is fun and easy.

We have gone back to the 1600's with our Family Tree and learned so much great information about our ancestors.

Starting your own family tree is easier then you think. Here are some tips and ideas to get you started.

Step 1 - Find a program to enter your data in. See my list of software picks below.
Step 2 - Interview your family and write down the dates and stories about things like births, deaths, marriages, occupations, military service and anecdotes.
Step 3 - Search the census records for more information. You can get this information on Ancestory they even have a free 2-week trial membership.
Step 4 - Search the message boards for long lost relatives. Someone may have even done a Family Tree on your family that you did not know about. Rootsweb has a great free message board.
Step 5 - Look for old photos. Use Family Old Photos to look up photos by name. I love this site and have found a few surprises here.
Step 6 - Use US Gen Web to look up free information by state. They have great stuff like maps, county vital records and burial records.
Step 7 - Go to the library. Some communites even have a genealogy deparment. You can look up information on there databases and view photos, newspapers and documents from that area.
Step 8 - Have fun. Learning about your Family Tree is a lot of fun and educational. Researching a Family Tree is a great hobby that you can pass down to future generations.

Use SquidWho To Create Family Pages

SquidWho is perfect for creating pages for you family tree. You can link each page together creating an online family history. Here are some that I created.

Genealogy Links

Cyndi's List: 1996-2007: Your genealogy starting point online for more than a decade!
Genealogy.com: Genealogy.com
OurStory.com - Capture your stories, save them permanently.: OurStory goes beyond blogging to permanently capture life's stories in words and photos. Publish or share the stories privately with family and friends.
Genealogy, Family Trees and Family History Records online - Ancestry.com: Ancestry.com is the largest family history site online with over 4 billion names in worldwide historical records, family tree services and genealogy learning materials.
Family Old Photos: Welcome to Familyoldphotos.com, a free genealogy old photograph archive of old pictures of people and places. Search our collection or browse through the surname index or the newly added photos section, below. You'll find over 20,000 old photographs, representing over 36,500 surnames and thousands of families.. maybe even yours. Add your family's photographs - known or unknown and make connections with relatives and long lost cousins.
RootsWeb.com Home Page: RootsWeb - the Internet's oldest and largest FREE genealogical community. An award winning genealogical resource with searchable databases, free Web space, mailing lists, message boards, and more.
FamilySearch.org - Family History and Genealogy Records: Search for family ancestors. Billions of free family tree, family history, ancestry, genealogy and census records.
Free Genealogy and Family History Online - The USGenWeb Project: Free genealogy and family history online made possible by the USGenWeb Project volunteers. Search free genealogy websites for your ancestors.
Family Trees - Genealogy & Family History: Build and share your family tree on Tribalpages.com. Use our family tree maker to track your family genealogy and share with others via a custom URL.

Genealogy Books

Genealogy Handbook: The Complete Guide to Tracing Your Family Tree

by: Ellen Galford

Amazon Price: $4.99 (as of 02/17/2012)
List Price: $16.95

Legacy : A Step-By-Step Guide to Writing Personal History

by: Linda Spence

Amazon Price: $4.28 (as of 02/17/2012)
List Price: $14.95

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Genealogy, 2nd Edition

by: Christine Rose, Kay Germain Ingalls

Amazon Price: $10.75 (as of 02/17/2012)
List Price: $18.95

Genealogy Software

Family Tree Maker Version 16 Collector's Edition

Amazon Price: (as of 02/17/2012)
List Price: $99.95

Family Tree Maker 2008 Platinum [OLD VERSION]

Amazon Price: $94.98 (as of 02/17/2012)
List Price: $99.99

Family Atlas Genealogy Mapping Software

Amazon Price: $27.00 (as of 02/17/2012)
List Price: $29.95

Family Tree Software Poll

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pkmcr Sep 12, 2010 @ 10:34 am | delete

Very straightforward and well organised advice for anyone getting involved in one of my great passions which is of course Genealogy! Blessed by a passing Squid Angel :-)

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Apr 6, 2009 @ 5:33 pm | delete

Great lens! The tip on using SquidWho to create a kind of online family tree was especially interesting.

Stephanie at the Research Your Family Tree lens-stop by and see us!

Reply

mrscookie Apr 3, 2009 @ 1:33 pm | delete

My own family history has taken up hours upon hours of research and I've loved every minute. It is amazing what you can find out and most people will tell you that they are incredibily proud of their ancestors no matter who they were.

Take a look at my family history lens for advice on genealogy websites and how to avoid making mistakes.

http://www.squidoo.com/family-history-uk

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Robin_Forlonge_Patterson Mar 12, 2009 @ 10:13 pm | delete

Good lens. But I disagree with the position of Step 1 - your relatives may be dead if you look for a program first. Move that step down!!

Under "Genealogy Software", you should list some free programs as well as the commercial ones. PAF and the Standard Edition of Legacy are totally free.

Another place to record research, publicly and collaboratively, and maybe to find a relative among the 28,000 articles, is the Genealogy Wikia. I've written a high-ranked introductory lens about that member of the Wikia group of communities.

Happy hunting!

Reply

jooloo Oct 22, 2008 @ 3:56 am | delete

Nice lens. I'm glad to see Legacy up there with Family Tree. It's hard to condense all this into a lens, isn't it. jooloo
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