Never Forgets

“History remembers only the celebrated, genealogy remembers them all.” (Laurence Overmire)

Have you ever wondered about the ancestral deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) that makes up the unique person you are? Here are some useful hints in helping discover the person you really are:

1.  Begin your family tree: The memories of relatives hold the key to starting your family history research. Ask specific individuals, and gather details surrounding their lives. Things like family scrapbooks, memorabilia boxes, vital records, and Bibles often yield important clues for family history research.

Contact family members to ask if they have records that may assist in your genealogy quest. Don't ask just about facts and dates (get the stories of their growing up and of the ancestors they remember). Try to phrase questions with why, how, and what.

“Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future.” (Gail Buckley)

2.  Start your online family tree: Keeping your research organized is important as you continue to find new details related to your family. Use your initial research for your first searches and then analyze your results to achieve a personal success strategy. 

The US Federal census is a solid starting place for examining your family tree. Start with the 1940 US census to trace parents and grandparents, record their names, ages, birthplaces, immigration details, occupations, and residences as your build out your family tree.

“In all of us there is a hunger (marrow-deep) to know our heritage; to know who we are, and where we came from.” (Alex Haley)

3.  Create a family story: When building your family tree, identify a potential story about family that you are interested to begin exploring.   Join a network of family historians both experienced (and new) on social networking resources to make new connections, and gain insight on how to expand your family. Select one or two families that interest you, rather than trying to focus on your entire family tree at once.

Learn how to make connections by following family members on their journey to America through the US census, passenger lists, and naturalization papers. Some family members might have old genealogical information from other relatives who have also worked on the family history that can help jumpstart your search.

“Every man is a quotation from all his ancestors.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

4.  Find a Family History Society: Connect with other family historians through a local genealogical society. Attending local classes about family tree research is an important step to finding answers for beginners and advanced genealogists alike. Visit the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) Society Hall to find a family history society in your area. 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has more than 4,000 Family Search Centers where anyone can access the world's largest collection of genealogical information. More than 2 million rolls of microfilmed records from all over the world are available. Look for clues to more answers to the puzzles of your past.

“Read the genealogy of Jesus, and you have to see how the four women in that genealogy God used their sins for His glory.” [i](Rick Warren)

5.  Search in a variety of places for information: Record what you know so you can decide what you don't know yet. Try to answer the mystery first (then work backward in time). The Internet is a terrific place to find leads and share information, but don't expect to find your whole family tree online.

You may find websites your family created by distant relatives researching the same family tree. You may want to travel to places like ancestral courthouses, churches, and cemeteries. This is a rewarding way to walk in the footsteps of your ancestors and bring your heritage to life. Below are some free websites to aid in discovering your family tree:

“Words have a genealogy and it's easier to trace the evolution of a single word than the evolution of a language.” (Daniel Dennett)

ü African Heritage Project: Records on former slaves, freed persons and their descendants

ü Billion Graves: Headstone records

ü Castle Garden: Pre Ellis Island immigration records

ü Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System: Civil War records from the National Park Service

ü Dead Fred: Genealogy photo archive

ü FreeBMD: Registration of births, marriages, and deaths for England and Wales

ü GenDisasters: For researching disasters and other events your ancestors might have been involved in

ü GENUKI: Reference library of genealogical resources for the United Kingdom and Ireland

ü German Genealogy Server: German ancestry research

ü Hispanic Genealogy: Wonderful list of resources for researching Hispanic ancestry

ü Italian Genealogical Group: Italian American genealogy resources and databases

ü JewishGen: Jewish ancestry research

ü Library and Archives Canada: Official archives of Canada

ü LitvakSIG: Lithuanian-Jewish genealogy databases

ü NativeWeb Genealogy: A list of Native American genealogy databases

ü Patriot and Grave Index: Revolutionary war graves registry and patriot index from the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution

ü Preserve the Pensions: War of 1812 pension records access

ü Seventh-day Adventist Obituary Database: Hundreds of thousands of obituary entries

ü Släktdata: Genealogy records for Sweden (in Swedish)

ü WieWasWie: For researching ancestors from the Netherlands (in Dutch)[ii]

“People who lose children have their hearts warped into weird shapes. Some try to deny it has happened. Some pretend it hasn't. Losing friends or parents is not the same. To lose a child is beyond comprehension. It defies biology.

It contradicts the natural order of history and genealogy. It derails common sense. It violates time. It creates a huge, black, bottomless hole that swallows all hope.” (Michael Robotham)

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[i]These four women are Tamar (Genesis 38), Rahab (Joshua 2:9-11, 6:1-27), Ruth the book of Ruth), and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11).

 

[ii] Sources used:

·       “4 Unlikely Grandmothers in Jesus’ Family Tree” by Tayler Beede 

 

·       “10 Steps to Start Your Family Tree” (www.familytreemagazine.com)

 

·       “10 Tips to Start Your Family History Journey” (www.findmypast.com)

·       “50 Free Genealogy Sites to Search Today” (familyhistorydaily.com)

·        “What is DNA?” (ghr.nlm.nih.gov)