Tracing Family History

Have you ever moved to a small town where your family used to live? If you have, you may have had someone ask you "Who do you belong to?" or "Who's your daddy?" What they really want to know is what your family background is. Some people can easily rattle off a brief family history to anyone interested in listening; others would be hard-pressed to tell about more than their immediate family or possibly their grandparents.

There are many reasons for learning about your ancestors. In fact, if you ask anyone who has traced the family history why they've done so, you'll receive a variety of answers. Some do it because they want to see if there's anyone famous in their background. Others choose to search for their ancestors to understand more about why they have red hair or where the unusual birthmark came from. Still others will say they're tracing their family history because a loved one got them interested in family stories.

You may also hear other reasons as well. When choosing to delve into your family's background there's much to learn. Some people think tracing their family's history is easy but it can be difficult. If you've decided to delve into your family's background to learn the history, how do you know where to start?

The simplest place to start is with you and your immediate family. Find a copy of a pedigree chart online. They can be downloaded, if you have Adobe Acrobat Reader, from websites such as Misbach.org, Ancestry.com, FamilyTreeMagazine.com, and CanadianGenealogy.net. Of course, most websites relating to genealogy will offer some type of charts or forms you can download and use.

The first person on the sheet is the person completing the research. This would be you and is listed as number one on the form. Fill in your vital information such as your birth date and your birth place (city, county, and state). If you're married, be sure to fill out the information with your maiden name if you're a woman but include your married name, as well.

From this point, go on to your parents. They will be numbered 2 and 3 on the form. Fill in the chart with their vital statistics, using your mother's maiden name. Remember to fill in as much as possible for each person. If your parents are divorced and there are children with your step-parent, you'll want to make a note on the form and fill their information out on a separate form.

Next fill in their parent's information, numbers 4 and 5 for your paternal grandparents, and 6 and 7 for maternal grandparents. You may need to fill in dates of death along with the location (city, county, and state) for those relatives who have passed on.

Continue filling in as much information as you can for your own immediate family. Then move on to the next generation, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. as far back as your family has information or can remember. This will let you know where to start searching further.

Even beginning with your immediate family and gathering data on them, you'd be surprised at what you can learn if you take the time to do so.

Take part of a day and spend it with each parent. Ask them to tell you stories about their childhood. What did they remember about their parents, grandparents, and other family members? Were there specific traditions they had as children?

Write down as much of it as you can, or you can use a tape recorder to ensure you don't forget important details. As you're tracing your family history, you may find out things you've never known before. You may learn that your grandparents were first generation Americans where you may have thought the family had been living the country longer. You may also find your family comes from a different country than you were always led to believe.

Do your parents having brothers and sisters living nearby? Interview them to see how their memories differ from those of your parents. Depending upon if they're older or younger, aunts and uncles may have different experiences and be able to remember people who were still living when they were younger but who have passed away prior to your parent being born.

Perhaps your aunts, uncles, or other family don't live nearby. This would be a great opportunity to reach out to them either via telephone, letter, or email. You may even decide it's time to bring the family back together by planning a reunion at a centralized location so as many people can attend as possible.

If you still have living grandparents, spend time with them asking them similar questions you asked your parents. Take plenty of notes or keep a recorder going to capture the nuances of the stories, as well as have something to pass down to your own children. The more personal information and remembrances you can capture, the more you'll have to share in the future.

You may be unsure of the types of questions to ask during an interview with loved ones especially if you don't get to see them very often or you've never met them before. You can use pre-planned questions or take your cue from spending time with the relative and merely talking. It's amazing how people will begin to open up and talk about things they may not have spoken about in years when they're with family. They feel they can share family secrets because you're family, too.

If your family gets together for holidays or an annual reunion, make sure you take along a tape recorder, video recorder, or pen and paper. Take the opportunity to talk to as many people as you can. The more information you can gather, and from as many different sources as possible, the more complete family history you will be able to compile.

If possible, let anyone planning to attend know what you'd like to do. Send a letter or email so they won't feel like they've been caught off guard. If you already have a list of questions you'd like to ask, you can send those along with the letter. Then, if someone isn't able to get to the gathering, they may still be willing to provide the information you seek.

Here are some questions you may want to include in your interviews:

* What is your full name? Do you know why your parents chose this name for you? Was it a family name? Did you have a nickname or were you ever called anything else?
* When and where were you born?
* Had your parents always lived in the location you first called home?
* Were there other family members in the area? Who were they?
* What was your home like? Do you remember how many rooms it had? Was it a modern house or was it missing conveniences such as plumbing or electricity?
* What can you remember about the house? Were there items there which you vividly remember? If so, why do they stand out?
* Describe your family members. What were their personalities like?
* Did you play games as a family when you were growing up?
* Did your family have chores for everyone? What were they?
* Where did you go to school as a child? Did you attend only one school or did your family move around?
* Did you have family pets? If so, what kind of pets did you have and what were their names?
* Was your family religious while you were growing up? What church did you attend?
* Were you or any of your family ever mentioned in a newspaper?
* What world events impacted you most when you were growing up? Did they personally affect your family?
* How did your family celebrate holidays (birthdays, Christmas, etc.)? Were there particular traditions you followed? Where did they come from?
* Who was the oldest relative you remember as a child? What do you remember about them, if anything? Why do you remember them?
* What do you know about your family surname?
* Does your family follow a naming tradition such as giving the firstborn son the name of his paternal grandfather?
* What stories have come down to you about your parents? Grandparents? More distant ancestors?
* Are there any stories about famous or infamous relatives in your family?
* What recipes have been passed down to you from family members?
* Are there any physical characteristics that run in your family?
* Do you remember any special heirlooms, photos, bibles or other memorabilia that have been passed down in your family? If so, who has them now?
* How did you meet your spouse? How long had you dated prior to being proposed to? Where and when did it happen?
* Where and when did you get married?
* What do you remember most from your wedding day?
* How would you describe your spouse? What do (did) you admire most about them?
* What do you believe is the key to a successful marriage?
* How did you find out you were going to be a parent for the first time?
* Why did you choose your children's names?
* What was your proudest moment as a parent?

You may have other questions you'd like to ask, but those above will give you a good starting place. Try to think of questions which will illicit serious thought and honest, heartfelt memories.

When you think about the questions you want to ask consider the person you're speaking to. Some people, especially those who are older, may not feel comfortable talking about some subjects. Try to be sensitive to how they initially respond. If they don't answer right away, they may not want to talk about that topic. Move on to something else.

Make sure you have plenty of paper, pens, pencils, and batteries, audio or video tapes so you won't run out in the midst of questions. Have the extras easily accessible so you won't have a break in the interview if the pen runs out or your batteries die.

Find a way to date the interview whether you're taking notes, audio taping, or videotaping. This way you'll know when the interview was done. And you'll also want to indicate who it is you're speaking with and if possible, how they are related to you. Pay close attention to documenting the interview so you'll have everything you need when it's time to put it into another form.

Show an interest in what you're being told. Interact with the person you're interviewing rather than simply asking questions. Ask 'leading' questions which will give you more than a yes or no. You want to learn as much as you can about your family.

Take along with you family photographs you may have. This would be a great opportunity to find out who all the people in the photograph are. There may be some people you don't know but older family members may remember them. Be sure to take notes while they're talking about the photos; they may share important information they may not remember during their interview.

Let your interviewee do more than simply answer your questions. When they're answering one question, they may remember something that's related and run down a rabbit trail. Enjoy the trip down memory lane and when they're finished, bring them back to your questions.

Keep the interview as short as possible unless the person being interviewed is clearly enjoying the process. Ask the more important questions first so they will be answered before your time runs out. Offer to let your relative have a copy of the transcript so they can verify information and have something for their own records. Don't forget to thank them for their time and sharing their memories.

There are many things you can do with the information you've gathered during your various interviews with family members. You can create a website to share what you've learned. You can also can create a short book and have it published to either give away or sell to family members. Type up portions of what you've learned and share it a little at a time in a family newsletter.

If you have a lot of audio or video footage, why not edit the information and create an audio or video montage? Future generations will be thankful to have more than passed down memories or old photographs. They'll be able to hear and see their family that has passed on in their own words and their own voice. It will be a precious gift you're sharing with those who follow after you.

Another way you can share what you've learned is to incorporate it into a family cookbook. Ask family members to send heirloom recipes. When you've received enough of them, you can put together a family cookbook and intersperse family stories within the recipes.

Think of other ways you can share this vital information. It's too important for you to hoard it all for yourself and your immediate family. Put that information out there and then you'll see how much your efforts are appreciated.

You may be content to trace your family history only as far back as your grandparents or great-grandparents. But what do you do if you would like to go further back? How do you find those elusive family members from further down the roots of the family tree? The following are some ways to find people who you may not have names for or the information you do have is incomplete.

Decide if which line of your family you're going to concentrate on first. By concentrating on only one line you'll have fewer names to search through. Suppose your last name is Holman. Your mother's name was Smith. Which line do you think will be easier to find relatives in? A narrower focus can make tracing your family history something that isn't so overwhelming.

Try to encourage your children or teenagers to help you in your search. Not only will they be finding out about their own family, studying genealogy can also make history come alive to them. They can also learn about geography if your family immigrated to the country in which you currently live.

While searching for long-lost family members, you will probably find old journals, diaries, or family Bibles. Take your time reading through these tomes. Pay attention to the cities, states, or countries your family has lived in. Did anyone in your family ever fight in a war? If so, which one?

What other major historical happenings were members of your family a part of? Sad events such as slavery and removing Native Americans from their home land are a part of many people's family history. However, even if your family members played a part in this history, there's no reason to look poorly upon them. Be proud of who you are and where your family has come from.

Be sure to take good notes when you're reading through family books and papers. If possible, make photocopies of any pages or certificates you need for documentation. Birth certificates, marriage certificates, baptism certificates, divorce decrees, and deeds will prove invaluable.

Family Bibles can often be a treasure trove of family information. These Bibles were often passed down from family to family. Important dates such as births, marriages, and deaths were often written in them and were added to with each family who owned the Bible. If you've had a problem finding the name or vital information about someone in your family, try to find a family Bible and you may find who you're looking for.

When you've exhausted every avenue in your own family and have hit a roadblock in tracing your family history, try searching online. There are a myriad of websites which are devoted to genealogy. Some searches will be free, and there are many websites offering free searches, but you may also find some websites requiring a membership fee.

Search for family members who immigrated to the United States by visiting the Ellis Island website at http://www.ellisisland.org/. This website allows free searches and will provide a list of people who were passengers on ships coming into the United States. If the search doesn't come up with a match, they will offer possible variations on the spelling of the name which may take you into an entirely different direction.

The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah also has a website, http://www.familysearch.org. This is also a free service. Besides having a free search engine to find your family, they also offer help in finding your ancestor, as well as teaching about the best way to conduct a genealogical search.

The National Archives and Records Administration (www.archives.gov) is a good place to search for family members who have served in the military.

Ancestry.com is one of many paid membership sites which are available. Before beginning a membership, you may want to take them up on their offer to try the membership for free. This will allow you to know if the information you find is worth paying for. Try a new Ancestry.com Membership!

Many genealogists say you should never have to pay for information about your own family.

While it would be great if you could find what and who you're looking for without having to spend money, that isn't going to be the case. Even if you can find the names and vital statistics for your relatives, you'll want to have documented proof to claim them. This means you'll want to purchase copies of certificates or deeds from city, county, or state organizations.