Tracing Your Ancestors Through the Census Records.
Once you’ve found your ancestors in the 1930 census, you’ll want to trace them back through the other census years as well. Learn the differences between each census, from 1790 to 1920, so you know what to expect and can make your search even more successful.
If you want to read more about this, here is the link for Ancestry.com. http://email.ancestry.com/cgi-bin13/DM/y/h4GV0QRIUB0G310vJz0GY
I have done this with my relatives and it helps not only to trace a specific person, but also to find out who there children and parents are. Sometimes by looking at their neighbors you will be able to find more family members.
I hope this helps
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Genealogy Website
Hi everyone,
It has been a little while since I have posted anything on here, but wanted to give everyone an update. My personal website www.wintersfamily.net/genealogy/ is back up to be used to access my family history. My husband has been working hard to get it back up with some new modifications.
If you want to add your personal family history website to our list let me know and I will add it in. There is also some new information in the website. Look it over and let me know what you think.
Look forward to hearing from you soon.
It has been a little while since I have posted anything on here, but wanted to give everyone an update. My personal website www.wintersfamily.net/genealogy/ is back up to be used to access my family history. My husband has been working hard to get it back up with some new modifications.
If you want to add your personal family history website to our list let me know and I will add it in. There is also some new information in the website. Look it over and let me know what you think.
Look forward to hearing from you soon.
Friday, August 3, 2007
How To Throughly Research Your Family's History
There are certain steps you need to take when researching your family history. It will help you if you make lists of different things you need to do, so that you can keep everything straight. You will need to interview family members, review family, church and courthouse records, network with other people and keep detailed notes of the information you find.
The first step is interviewing family members. You don’t want to limit this just to the older people in your family, but to everyone you can think of. The reason for this is that you might have someone that is your age or younger who have talked to their parents or grandparents and received stories that other people in the family didn’t have access or knowledge of. Make a list of the people you can interview, remember that it works best to go visit the people in your family to interview them. If you are sitting in front of them talking you are more likely to find out more information that if you do it over the phone or through email, because they are interacting with you and it will help them remember more information. Make a list of the questions you want to ask before you go visit them and it might help if you take a tape recorder so that you can play back the information and make sure you didn’t miss anything. You will want to talk to the person before you go visit them, to make sure they want to talk to you and that they have time. It will also help you to find out if they have pictures of people that you can make a copy of because then you have a pictorial history of your family, even if the relative is still alive and there are quite a few pictures of this individual, that might not always be the case.
After you have interviewed all of the family members you can think of, the next step is to take the information you have gathered and organize it. This is when it is helpful to have a genealogy software program but if you don’t, you can use family group sheets to keep everything straight. Next make a list of the people you need more information on and go to the courthouse and review the information they have on births, deaths and marriages. Some of the information might be found in the church records and some might be found in old family bibles. The family bibles can be found out about when you interview your family members. They will either have the bible themselves or know you is the keeper of the family bible. Researching the courthouse and church records is not a quick task. It could take you years to research all of the information you have received, but perseverance is crucial when you are researching your family history. Some courthouses won’t have any records because of different reasons, whether there was a fire or flood or information was just lost. The same is true with churches, not all of the churches that existed 100 years ago are still in existence today and their records have been lost. Thankfully, much information has become accessible online and it will make your research easier, but you will still hit roadblocks.
The next step for researching your family history is through networking. Many people do not know what this means. This is when you access different newsgroups, forums and websites for information on your family. You can post information on all of these venues to find out if someone else has information you are looking for, but it is important to remember that the information you receive from them is not always accurate. That is why it is important to take the information you receive from other people and verify it through other avenues, i.e. courthouse records, church records, marriage certificates and birth and death certificates. If you follow these steps it will help you make sure your information is as accurate as you can make it.
The most important part of family history research is to keep detailed notes of what you have done, where you have found the information and who you have received information from. This will help you keep the information as accurate as possible without worrying about looking for the wrong individual in your family history. A word of warning, you will receive quite a bit of information and if you don’t keep it organized you could very easily become lost and discouraged. You will also hit bumps in the road where you feel like you aren’t making any progress, but work through these times or set it aside for a little while and eventually you will find the information you are looking for. Researching your family history is a rewarding and fun endeavor that you can pass on to future generations. You will meet family you never knew you had and find interesting twist and turns along the way. So have fun and enjoy the journey into your own personal history.
The first step is interviewing family members. You don’t want to limit this just to the older people in your family, but to everyone you can think of. The reason for this is that you might have someone that is your age or younger who have talked to their parents or grandparents and received stories that other people in the family didn’t have access or knowledge of. Make a list of the people you can interview, remember that it works best to go visit the people in your family to interview them. If you are sitting in front of them talking you are more likely to find out more information that if you do it over the phone or through email, because they are interacting with you and it will help them remember more information. Make a list of the questions you want to ask before you go visit them and it might help if you take a tape recorder so that you can play back the information and make sure you didn’t miss anything. You will want to talk to the person before you go visit them, to make sure they want to talk to you and that they have time. It will also help you to find out if they have pictures of people that you can make a copy of because then you have a pictorial history of your family, even if the relative is still alive and there are quite a few pictures of this individual, that might not always be the case.
After you have interviewed all of the family members you can think of, the next step is to take the information you have gathered and organize it. This is when it is helpful to have a genealogy software program but if you don’t, you can use family group sheets to keep everything straight. Next make a list of the people you need more information on and go to the courthouse and review the information they have on births, deaths and marriages. Some of the information might be found in the church records and some might be found in old family bibles. The family bibles can be found out about when you interview your family members. They will either have the bible themselves or know you is the keeper of the family bible. Researching the courthouse and church records is not a quick task. It could take you years to research all of the information you have received, but perseverance is crucial when you are researching your family history. Some courthouses won’t have any records because of different reasons, whether there was a fire or flood or information was just lost. The same is true with churches, not all of the churches that existed 100 years ago are still in existence today and their records have been lost. Thankfully, much information has become accessible online and it will make your research easier, but you will still hit roadblocks.
The next step for researching your family history is through networking. Many people do not know what this means. This is when you access different newsgroups, forums and websites for information on your family. You can post information on all of these venues to find out if someone else has information you are looking for, but it is important to remember that the information you receive from them is not always accurate. That is why it is important to take the information you receive from other people and verify it through other avenues, i.e. courthouse records, church records, marriage certificates and birth and death certificates. If you follow these steps it will help you make sure your information is as accurate as you can make it.
The most important part of family history research is to keep detailed notes of what you have done, where you have found the information and who you have received information from. This will help you keep the information as accurate as possible without worrying about looking for the wrong individual in your family history. A word of warning, you will receive quite a bit of information and if you don’t keep it organized you could very easily become lost and discouraged. You will also hit bumps in the road where you feel like you aren’t making any progress, but work through these times or set it aside for a little while and eventually you will find the information you are looking for. Researching your family history is a rewarding and fun endeavor that you can pass on to future generations. You will meet family you never knew you had and find interesting twist and turns along the way. So have fun and enjoy the journey into your own personal history.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Genealogy Sources - when to use them
I was using one of my favorite forums for genealogy and ran across someone I have spoken to in the past. It had been a couple of years since I had contacted her, so I decided I would check and see if she had any new information. I sent her message through the forums and the reply I received was that she was amazed that I would contact her considering I took all of the information she had and placed it on the Internet and didn't site her as her as the source. As I used her information for verification purposes I didn't see the need to site her as the source. My question to other genealogists is if you are receiving information from someone and are publishing it on a website, without receiving monetary rewards do you need to site the source of the information?
It is an interesting question as there is so much information available on the Internet for anyone to access. Many people make it possible to download gedcoms to be able to connect with fellow researchers. But I put the question out there to all my fellow genealogists. Should we site sources when publishing information on the Internet even if the information was received from a person but used for verification purposes.
Happy Hunting
It is an interesting question as there is so much information available on the Internet for anyone to access. Many people make it possible to download gedcoms to be able to connect with fellow researchers. But I put the question out there to all my fellow genealogists. Should we site sources when publishing information on the Internet even if the information was received from a person but used for verification purposes.
Happy Hunting
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Ancestry Site
Ancestry uploaded a bunch of military information onto their site recently. Here is the letter I received from them. I hope it is helpful to all of my fellow genealogist out there. It also explains why they had slow downs and apologize for it affecting anyone.
Dear Friend,
Today’s massive launch of military records and historical newsreels was a big hit in the press. So much so that Ancestry.com experienced record traffic — and some of our valued members experienced slow-downs and other issues on the site.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We’re working nonstop to get Ancestry.com up and running in top form. Please check back with us soon to access the exciting new Military Collection and the rest of our collections.
Thank you for your patience,
Andrew Wait
General Manager, Ancestry.com
It is also free through D-Day, here is the information I received:
At the front lines of our nation’s history, America’s patriots valiantly fought for life and liberty. They dedicated their lives to the cause of freedom, unshakable in their resolve to secure and sustain our unalienable rights. Through the centuries, millions of Americans would take up arms in defense of their country. Ancestry.com honors all of them with the release of the U.S. Military Collection - free between May 24th and June 6th (D-Day).
I hope the new information on ancestry helps you like it has helped me. As always enjoy your research into the dark and unknown corridors of your family history research.
Dear Friend,
Today’s massive launch of military records and historical newsreels was a big hit in the press. So much so that Ancestry.com experienced record traffic — and some of our valued members experienced slow-downs and other issues on the site.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We’re working nonstop to get Ancestry.com up and running in top form. Please check back with us soon to access the exciting new Military Collection and the rest of our collections.
Thank you for your patience,
Andrew Wait
General Manager, Ancestry.com
It is also free through D-Day, here is the information I received:
At the front lines of our nation’s history, America’s patriots valiantly fought for life and liberty. They dedicated their lives to the cause of freedom, unshakable in their resolve to secure and sustain our unalienable rights. Through the centuries, millions of Americans would take up arms in defense of their country. Ancestry.com honors all of them with the release of the U.S. Military Collection - free between May 24th and June 6th (D-Day).
I hope the new information on ancestry helps you like it has helped me. As always enjoy your research into the dark and unknown corridors of your family history research.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
It's All in a Name...
Are you proud of your heritage? Do you feel you need to live a life with honor because you are a…? You want your family name to mean something. It is special to you so you want it to be special to others like Ford, Edison, Einstein, and Mozart. What many people don’t know is that when they came to the United States their name was changed, whether it was because the custom agent couldn’t spell the name or your ancestor wanted to Americanize their name, but in some way or other your family name could have been changed.
So what does this mean to you as you research your family history? So far for my family, I have run across three names that have been changed and one of them was a first name. Finding information is rarely easy and when we have ancestors that immigrate to other countries it makes it more difficult. So just because a surname is spelled different than the one you are researching, don’t close the door. You just might find the missing ancestor you were looking for and he is under a different rock than you thought.
As people change their names today, it will be confusing for future generations to find their ancestors also. It used to be families normally stayed near one another so if you found two people with the same last name in a town they were normally related. But now with so many people in the world and families so far spread out it will be extremely difficult for future genealogist to find their history. At one point my parents, who have eight children, had 3 daughters and 2 sons living in other states.
So just remember when you are looking for that elusive ancestor, try to phonetically change the spelling and see if you find the person you are looking for. You just might get lucky and open up a whole new world.
So what does this mean to you as you research your family history? So far for my family, I have run across three names that have been changed and one of them was a first name. Finding information is rarely easy and when we have ancestors that immigrate to other countries it makes it more difficult. So just because a surname is spelled different than the one you are researching, don’t close the door. You just might find the missing ancestor you were looking for and he is under a different rock than you thought.
As people change their names today, it will be confusing for future generations to find their ancestors also. It used to be families normally stayed near one another so if you found two people with the same last name in a town they were normally related. But now with so many people in the world and families so far spread out it will be extremely difficult for future genealogist to find their history. At one point my parents, who have eight children, had 3 daughters and 2 sons living in other states.
So just remember when you are looking for that elusive ancestor, try to phonetically change the spelling and see if you find the person you are looking for. You just might get lucky and open up a whole new world.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
The Most Significant People in Your Life
When you are considering what people are significant in your life, you inevitably think of the people who have impacted your life the most, whether good or bad or both depending on the person. When you look over the list of people that you have classified in this category it is a good idea to review why they are significant. There are two reasons for this, one is because you can let the person know how they have impacted your life and either able to exercise some demons and repair a relationship or you will make someone's day by letting them know.
People crave the approval of others. They want to be liked and thought well of, but not everyone is able to do this. It is important to let the people know who are important in your life why they are important. Open communication in any relationship is what will help it not only survive but flourish. If that person impacted you to a point that they made a significant change in your life it could help them in their other relationships which could improve their overall well-being.
The most significant person in my life is two different people, my father and my husband. My father is the type of man who is quiet and solid. He is always there for anyone who needs him. He is an accomplished craftsman who gets more enjoyment out of helping people than anything else. He has taught me so much that I couldn't list it all in this article. Suffice it to say that he has always been my role model and I hope I manage to be half the person that he is. The husband and I have been married for 18 years and have held fast through different trials and errors. He is my rock, if I have a problem or concern I know that he will listen to me and either let me work it out myself or help me with the dilemma. He isn't a romantic man, he doesn't come home with flowers or candy, but he is the most generous and loving man I have ever known. He knows when I need him, whether to talk to or to handle a situation for me and will always be the first one to defend any action I have taken. He is always there to offer his support and encouragement in everything I do. He might not understand my desire to write or create crafts but he is the first one to critique it and give me positive feedback.
Always remember the significant people in your life are the ones that help make you who you are. It doesn't matter whether they had a negative impact on your life or a positive one because they helped you grown into the person you are today.
People crave the approval of others. They want to be liked and thought well of, but not everyone is able to do this. It is important to let the people know who are important in your life why they are important. Open communication in any relationship is what will help it not only survive but flourish. If that person impacted you to a point that they made a significant change in your life it could help them in their other relationships which could improve their overall well-being.
The most significant person in my life is two different people, my father and my husband. My father is the type of man who is quiet and solid. He is always there for anyone who needs him. He is an accomplished craftsman who gets more enjoyment out of helping people than anything else. He has taught me so much that I couldn't list it all in this article. Suffice it to say that he has always been my role model and I hope I manage to be half the person that he is. The husband and I have been married for 18 years and have held fast through different trials and errors. He is my rock, if I have a problem or concern I know that he will listen to me and either let me work it out myself or help me with the dilemma. He isn't a romantic man, he doesn't come home with flowers or candy, but he is the most generous and loving man I have ever known. He knows when I need him, whether to talk to or to handle a situation for me and will always be the first one to defend any action I have taken. He is always there to offer his support and encouragement in everything I do. He might not understand my desire to write or create crafts but he is the first one to critique it and give me positive feedback.
Always remember the significant people in your life are the ones that help make you who you are. It doesn't matter whether they had a negative impact on your life or a positive one because they helped you grown into the person you are today.
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