The Family Bible

I was going through my notes on genealogy yesterday and came across a reference to a family bible. I know that somewhere in my family one of the branches is the keeper of the family bible. I do know my family is not that branch. Is your branch, the keeper for your family?

The way you can find out is to ask your family. Now you may be wondering why it is important to know who is the keeper of the family bible. This is because in the family bible is where all of the births, marriages and deaths are listed for the family. If you have access to this bible then you will be able to use it to reference valuable material in you hunt for your ancestry.

It used to be when someone was married it would be listed in the family bible and then when that couple had children, their names, birthdate and place of birth would be listed. As families move further away from tradition and further away from each other geographically, it is harder to keep track of the children that have been born into the families, who is still married to whom and even who has died recently.

Part of your job as the family genealogist is to keep track of this information. The family will look to you to find out information on people in the family, i.e. how long ago did Uncle Henry die, or what was the name of Margaret's daughter. This is why it is important to keep clear and concise records. It is also important to do this to help the next generation of genealogy researchers, that way they don't have to redo the research you already did.

Happy Hunting
Patti

GenForum

When I am working on my genealogy research, one of the main sites I use is www.genforum.com. It is sponsored by Genealogy.com and is a place where people can go and look up the surname they are researching and search to see if anyone is looking for the same people they are or to post a message to find out if anyone is looking for the same information or already has the information.

You can look up information through surnames, regions, countries or just general genealogy research questions. Now one of the things to remember is that names can be missed spelled or the spelling changed on names especially in the United States. When the people immigrated to the US the agents who worked the ship manifests and logs weren't always able to spell the people's names so they guessed which caused the person's surname to change. That is why there are so many different spellings for the same last name.

Another thing to remember is that just because you find information that you links to your information does not mean it is factual. It is always important to go and verify the information that you have with the court houses, churches and cemeteries so that you have paperwork to backup your information.

It is also important that if you see information on this site that meshes with your, don't just think about how it will benefit you, think about how the information you have will benefit the other person. What I mean by this is, don't just download their information, send them an email letting them know that you found a possible link so that you can possibly help them also. By doing this you might also be helping yourself because the person might have found more information by then.

I hope the review helped and happy hunting!
Patti

Genealogy and the Web

You now have all of your information updated from interviewing your family members and writing down everything you could remember. You also might want to revisit some of the family members that you talked to first as you might have received different information from other family members and it might help them to remember something else.

So you ask yourself, what do I do next? I have all of this information but what do I do with it? How do I continue it on to find out more information? There are a few different websites that you could go to and start your research. Some of the websites I like are www.familysearch.org, www.ancestry.com, www.genforum.com, and www.rootsweb.com. I would recommend you start with one family, take your family group sheets with your information that family. You can start with the oldest family member in your list, but you also want to look at the children. This is because you might find someone who has different information that you do on the Internet, sometimes they will have listed another marriage and different children or they might have found the information you are already looking for.

If someone does have your line back farther than you do, remember it is always smart to verify any information that someone has. If someone has put information into the computer, it doesn't mean it is accurate. So take there information and visit the courthouses and cemeteries to verify it is correct.

This is an in depth process and the part that can take you years to compile. I would recommend that you take lots of notes and keep everything organized. The next topic I am going to focus on is the different websites that I use and what I use them for. I hope this information has been beneficial for you and happy hunting.

Thanks
Patti

Interactive Genealogy

So you think you have written down everything you can think of, and you probably have for now. But as you start talking to people you will remember little tidbits of things you have overheard as you have grown up. So the next step in the research into your own personal history is interviewing.

Now you need to make a list of all the people you think should be interviewed to find out information, then make another list of people you think shouldn't be interviewed...and interview both. Now before you start interviewing your family members take something into consideration. There might be information in your history that people don't want you to know, so the more people you are able to talk to the more robust your history is going to be.

After you have made your list of people to interview, you need to figure out what you want to ask them. If you go over to talk to your great Aunt Mildred, she will talk your ear off and you will walk away without any information. But if you have specific questions you would like to know, like the names and ages of all of her brother's and sisters (even if you know the answer ask anyways, because she might have different or more information). Continue this until you have interviewed everyone you can think of and when you are talking to your family, remember to ask them if they recommend anyone you could talk to, you never know who might have information on your family.

As I have stated I have been researching since I was 16, and a few years ago I got a funny letter from my Uncle. My cousin had decided to do some family history research and started looking on the Internet. He called my Uncle really excited, he said, "Uncle, I found someone on the Internet who has a lot of information on our family. She has a lot of the information you do."
My Uncle asked the name of the person and when my cousin told him, my Uncle laughed. The person my cousin had found was me and because he hadn't looked closely at the family history he didn't know my married name, so he didn't know it was me.

So remember, think of as many people to interview as possible, decide on your questions, interview, ask for recommendations and then the most important piece of any research...organize your notes. After each interview update the information in your spreadsheets. If the information is varied, you might need to create alternate group sheets for one individual, but it is extremely important to stay organized.

Have a fantastic day and Happy Interviewing!
Patti

Genealogy - The First Step

I will tell you right away, genealogy research is addictive. It gets into your blood and it is hard to stop. You keep thinking that the clue you need is right around the corner, in the next book you read or court document you look at. Keep this in mind before you start your research.

With that said, I believe the first step in genealogy is to write down as much information as you can think of. Write down place names, people, how you think they connect, as many dates as you can remember, and as many places you can remember. Think of any stories you heard growing up from your parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. This is an important first step, if you don't have the basic information it makes it more difficult to find any further information.

Once you have written it all down, then organize it. Put the people together with the places that you think they are from. If it helps draw the family tree out so you can see it. It might also help to break the information down by family. You could start with putting the paternal side in one folder and the maternal side in another folder. This way you can keep track of what information you have where and it won't get mixed together.

You can even invest in a computer program that will help you stay organized. There are some good programs out there, I personally use Family Tree Maker. But there might be a better one out there for you. It just depends on your preferences. If you do input the information into a computer program, print out the family group sheets and review them to make sure the information is correct and fix any errors.

Next we will go over what the next step in this long process is. I hope this was beneficial to you.

Thanks and Happy Hunting
Patti

The Web and Genealogy

Hi, I have been researching my family history for 20 years. I have hit roadblocks and I have make great breakthroughs. One of my favorite accomplishments was when I was able to locate a family history back to the 1500's and it wasn't even a line I was actively researching. I was working on the ladies husband and trying to find some information on his and decided to try and find her information and see if it gave anything new for him, instead I was able to take her family back to Germany and our family didn't even know we were German. I think my most difficult one to research is my father's, the last name is Mynarcik and it is very difficult to find information on them. My grandparents came to the US in the early 1900's and because of the World Wars and communism I haven't been able to find much information. I will keep trying through because that is what makes a person a genealogist. The wanting to persevere even in the light that you might never succeed.
I remember talking to my Uncle about doing research on the Internet. He had started the family history and I am continuing it. He thought that I wouldn't find anything of value by using the Internet, that you needed to go to the courthouses and cemeteries and interview family members. All of this is true, you need to do that, but the resources the Internet offers you now are tremendous. When I started the only thing available to use was RootsWeb and newsgroups, (mind you this was before there was a World Wide Web). But I stuck with it and found some great leads and have been able to link with some fantastic information. Now remember you won't always succeed, you will always have that one line that will drive you crazy. But with perseverance you should be able to find some information and will help pad your history if nothing else.
I plan on using this blog to create a how to on how to use the different websites, which ones work and which ones just want you to spend money. I plan on keeping you up to date on my family information as I hopefully find out more. Until my next post, enjoy hunting!
Patti