2. Start With Yourself
You Are Your First Genealogy Subject
It starts with you (or your son or daughter if you’re working on a great gift). To create a family tree form or your first family tree chart you write down all the names you know on both sides of your parents’ families. Begin with your name and work backward to your parents and then their parents.
As you write each name, write down everything you can think of about this person. Most specifically, focus on:
- Full Name (i.e., first, middle, and last)
- Date of Birth
- Place of birth (i.e., city, state, county, and country)
Find your birth certificate. This is going to serve as evidence for your own record on your family tree. It also contains your parents’ legal names and birth dates. and they are going to be your next subjects.
Note: A good family tree will have an official document that verifies every name, birth date, date of marriage, and year of death. Start with yourself by making a copy of your own birth certificate. Ask your parents for theirs and get copies made. Your ultimate goal is to obtain these official records and have a physical copy on file for every name on your family tree.
Family Interviews
Family members remain one of the best beginning sources of knowledge in your genealogy search. However, like any serious research effort, you should be organized before sitting down with your family.
or many, family interviews are the least expensive and most rewarding tool in any genealogy project. The ten steps below when followed carefully, will make the most of your family interviews.
The Genealogy Interview
Contact your parents, if possible, and solicit their help with names and dates. You’ll likely find names of relatives you’ve never heard of but who were an integral part of your parents’ early childhood experiences.
heck with your parents to see if they’ll let you look through their family legal records (birth certificates, death certificates, military records). Make photocopies and return the originals to a safe place.
You might also consider doing the same with any living aunts or uncles. While you don’t include them directionally on your family tree, they might know something about your grandparents or great grandparents that your own parents did not. When you call your relatives, tell them what you’re doing and what you’ve discovered. In most cases, they’ll be delighted to help with your search and want to add missing names and dates.
Solicit stories from relatives. You’ll find lots of treasured tales this way. This information can be added to a “note” section about each ancestor. These stories transform an ordinary genealogy into a piece of art.
Family members are sometimes reluctant to provide information for whatever reason. Be prepared for this, and remember that the living is more important than the dead. (We’ll address this more in later chapters.)
How to Search a Home for Genealogy Clues
Don’t let the visit to your parent’s home (or the home of other relatives) go without at least asking if you can “poke around”. You might be surprised at what you can find when you know where to look.
- Go through old family photo albums. Look for writing on the backs and below the photos in the albums.
- Look at framed photographs. Sometimes something such as an obituary notice is stored behind a photo in a picture frame.
- Examine journals. Leaf through old books looking for notes written in them or papers placed between the pages. These are often found in old trunks in attics, but can even be found on everyday bookshelves.
- Look behind old mirrors and pull out dresser drawers and look for taped messages.
Next Step… Do Your Research
