Tracing My Family Tree

Genealogy is an excellent family project.

"I'm tracing my family tree" has become a common statement for many American adults as more and more people learn the fun and enrichment gained from this popular hobby. If you are considering starting a family tree project, be sure you know the basic steps to get started. They can help you focus on your goals and improve your initial research skills.

Tracing My Family Tree: Why Should I?

Genealogy continues to be one of the fast growing hobbies with enthusiasts combining family memories with document search and the knowledge-enlarging search capabilities of the Internet. Research shows that over 45 percent of American adults are interested in genealogy in one form or another. Some are actively searching for detailed information on their ancestors while others are content with learning the origin of their surname or the design of their family crest.

A family tree project can provide a wealth of fun and information. Whether your project is a quick family tree diagram with your kids for school or an ongoing, research-intensive genealogical search, the benefits frequently outweigh the time involved.

A family tree project can provide:

  • A sense of family and self - The knowledge of the origins and lifestyles of those who came before can provide a renewed sense of the family to which you belong. By tracing the history of parents, grandparents and great grandparents, the researcher often discovers a fulfilling sense of self as they discover the histories of those who came before them.
  • A perspective on history - Genealogy can provide a personal view of historical events. Family movements are often parallel with what's going on in history - wives moving in with families as husbands go off to war or families moving across country to find better jobs during tough times.
  • A spotlight on traditions - Genealogy provides a link to family members and their ethnic and cultural traditions and history.
  • A history of family health - By searching family records you can discover potential sources for inherited diseases and body characteristics.
  • The opportunity to be a detective - Genealogy requires the search for information, with formats ranging from court house record books, library microfilm, family photos and documents and web searches. You never know where an entry in a family Bible or an entry in a marriage license might lead.

How to Get Started

It's always a good idea to set a goal and some realistic expectations when starting a family tree project. Are you looking for some basic information about your family surnames that you can share with your family? Or, is it your goal to create highly detailed relationship charts of six, eight or more generations? By establishing your goal up front you will be able to focus your efforts and research on the areas that will provide you with the information you are trying to obtain.Most genealogists will tell you that the best place to start your family tree is with what you know. By capturing your personal information and the information of your immediate family members you will have the basis to start additional research on ancestors from previous generations.

Here are a few basic steps to get started on a family tree project:

  1. Gather your personal information and the information you know about your family. Good sources of information include:
  2. *Family photos
  3. *Family documents such as birth and death certificates as well as marriage licenses
  4. *Old letters and postcards that can show where a person lived or worked and what they were doing at a particular point in time
  5. *Family bibles
  6. *Family scrapbooks of newspaper clippings and photos, showing the key events of the family members
  7. Try to start your research by focusing on a single surname or a family group. With a focused approach, you will be less likely to get confused or overloaded with facts.
  8. Draft a family tree with the information you have discovered so far about yourself and your relatives. Try to record key dates for each family member on your tree such as birth date, marriage date and date of death. This family tree, called a pedigree chart, will help you organize your information and pin point the areas where you need more information.
  9. Interview your relatives, showing them your pedigree chart. Ask for their help in verifying the information and filling in the blanks. Encourage them to tell you stories about their childhood and their lives. Be sure to ask specific questions to provide additional details such as the street address of where they lived or the names of their aunts and uncles. By looking together at old photographs and documents you can ask questions about people in the photograph or information detailed on a document. Making an audio or visual record of your interview is always an excellent idea if your relative agrees. This will let you concentrate fully on the conversation, since you won't have to be taking detailed notes.
  10. Keep copies of everything you find. Knowing the sources of your information is always important and can help to settle any confusion you may find later in your research. And, if you have a copy of the original source document, you can always return to discover new information.
  11. Stay organized. A family tree search can take a long time and involve a lot of information. By staying organized you can not only find the sources of your information but you will also be able to quickly go back to the information for further research.

Resources to Learn More

Often a family tree project goal is to search farther back than the information you and relatives can provide. There are many resources available to help you find more detailed information as well as information on many generations of ancestors. Many are online, allowing you the convenience of onsite research. Other resources are available in printed form in courthouses and libraries. Or, if a trip to the old hometown courthouse is not possible, there are genealogy researchers throughout the world to help you.

The editors and researchers at LoveToKnow Genealogy have written many helpful articles detailing what their experience has shown to be the best in genealogy resources. These resources are designed to help you confidently say "Yes, I'm tracing my family tree."

Here are a few of these excellent articles to get you started on your family tree project:

Tracing your family tree can be an excellent way to learn about your family history and to gain a more personal understanding of history. Getting starting is not difficult and there are many resources to help you.