Back To The Basics
Since the kids are back in school, let's take a minute or two to go back to the basics of Family Research. How do you start researching your ancestors?
First, you start with what you know! Make a simple line drawing of your family structure as you know it, starting with yourself, adding your parents, and then your grandparents. Or use this handy dandy chart from FamilySearch.org which you should be able to download and print by clicking on it:
Next, ask if someone older knows what you don't know, like who your grandparents and great-grandparents were and where did they live? Don't feel bad if you don't know their names, according to an Ancestry survey some years back, MOST Americans could not name all four grandparents. Get birthday information too! Even if it is just a year estimate.
With just these few basics, you can start your Family Research for FREE at FamilySearch.org with only an email address to open an account. They don't spam you! They will let you search for an ancestor on their entry page before even asking for your email address.
When you get logged in, get started! Click on either "Search" or "Family Tree" and enter what you know, cross your fingers and hit enter! Look at you! You are researching your family tree! Here is a screen shot of the FamilySearch screen for Search "Records." This is absolutely copyrighted by them and let's not make them mad by doing something bad with it, ok?
You can build a tree at FamilySearch which the whole world will see for free, or add on to a family tree there that your family fits in, or you can join one of the paid subscription sites and start posting there, keeping your family private. And when I say "whole world," I mean whole world. They have records from all over the world that you can search for free.
If you want to get started on a subscription site with DNA testing you can make use of, I recommend going with the Big Three, Ancestry, MyHeritage, or FindMyPast. They have the biggest databases for your money. I have a couple of blog articles about which ones might be best for you, I will add links below.
But if you are like several of my clients and you are not interested in making your own discoveries, contact me! I'll ask you for what you know, and what you WANT to know, begin your initial tree, and gladly take over the treasure search for you.
Fall days are coming, we will soon be done with these steamy Dog Days of Summer. I can help you with a Free Review, at No Obligation. Send me an email! I love Family History so much, I'd like to get you hooked too!
Regards,
Leslie Ryan
No compensation is received for any links or referrals herein.
No copyright infringement is intended.
