Genealogy Research Do's and Don't For 2008

In a world surfing the World Wide Web by the millions, family history research needs to keep up. The old pencil and paper theories are not where you want to keep your research anymore. Notebooks need a new name, how about "thought notes!" Your hard work should be kept in a safe place, where you can update it from anywhere, and take all your work with you wherever you go. Your thoughts as you talk to family should be written down. Even the smallest piece of information, like a state name. can be a huge help when you start going through government records.
Family tree software is available for you to download from many websites. In 1998, I decided to start putting my hard work into a computer program, and a friend gave me her copy of the PAF file from the LDS church. Since it was free, I had no problem accepting her help. It took awhile to put all of my family history into the program because I had several years of research done already. I am telling you this so that you do not make the same mistake in waiting.
By 2005, my genealogy had grown to over 20,000 individuals because of the family tree software helping me stay organized. I was able to do online research right from my family tree maker, and it gave me hits to possible new government records that could be of use.
As my research continued online, I realized that I needed a more interactive research program that would include interacting with others and the ability to create a website for my family. I tried many programs, but I am very happy with the Legacy Family Tree Maker. It was a one time fee of less than $30 and I was able to upload my current gedcom in minutes.
Legacy Family Tree Maker. has so many features that it would take an hour to list them. My favorite is the legacy timeline. It will put all the world events, like wars and earthquakes in the chronology of your family tree. You can even add custom events that are relevant to your family research. The best records tool for me is the county verification system. It will check your files and if you have listed the wrong county, it will show you the errors and correct them. This has been a major plus because I no longer have to go to different state websites just to track when the counties changed their names. If you have been doing genealogy research for very long, you know what I mean!
My reason for giving you this advice is simple. You will regret it if you build up hundreds of names, only to have to do all of the input work later. Do it while it is fresh in your mind, and your genealogy research will remain enjoyable. Then you can take your family tree with you to various family members and collect data that can be added as you find it. Why go through all the work and time of repeating it in several different places.
One more word of caution is to make sure you don't do all of your family tree work on a genealogy website, only to find that you lose your data when you end your subscription. We will discuss the top sites soon.
Once you get all of your information into your software program, you will be ready to learn the where's and ways of good research. It all starts at home!

Remember I told you in my last article that research all starts at home? Well, it does, because it starts with you.
Now that you have your family tree software loaded, and even if you don't, you need to spend some time gathering your additional research. This could be simply sitting down and calling sisters and aunts to get the dates of birth, marriage, and deaths of any of their children. Maybe they remember which town your mom and dad were married in because you don't. Your aunts and uncles are usually the ones to obtain any bibles and records from your grandparents, so contact each one and see who has what.
Make an appointment to go visit them. Now I know you are probably thinking, why, it's family? Yes it is, and you do not want them distracted by their family instead of talking to you! You need to tell them what kind of information you are looking for and what you would like to see if they have it. Take a digital camera and a tape recorder with you if at all possible. This will allow you to photograph any government records they may have, as well as, family heirlooms and photos. Later we will dicuss scanning these items, but not today.
My biggest piece of advice for you right now is to focus on your own family first. Make sure you have gotten all the family history and records that you can before you go searching outside your family.
The reason for this is simple. Once you have a solid foundation of noteable family history and family records, you will be better able to compare the new research you find, and thus verify your lineage.
There will be nothing become more frustrating to you then when you start to see all these family trees floating around cyber space full of wrong information. I once found a tree on rootsweb that had my great aunt married to her father! I emailed the owner to send them my verified documentation and he told me I was wrong. Oh well, I tried.
If you start out verifing your lineage from the beginning, you will gain a very positive reputation in the genealogy world, even as a rookie. We admire the ones that come out of the gates doing it right the first time!
Again, if you want to access my family tree, you can reach it through the link on my webite at Check Out The Peeps!