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This page is devoted to
"how to get started" with searching out your family roots.
- Begin by compiling your immediate
family's data. You don't need an expensive computer or software to get
started. I did my genealogy research with paper & pencil for 27 years
before purchasing software. There is a lot of great family tree software
on the market. Talk to others before purchasing one.
- "Interview" older family
members. Compile stories of the "old" days and what they
remember. Gather together pictures and family documents (ie birth
certificates, obituaries, newspaper clippings, etc.) Contact other
family members that may have already started searching your family tree.
It could save you many hours of searching for someone they have already
found. Use tape recorders and video recorders during your interviews to
use as a backup as you transcribe your information.
- Once you have organized all the data
available to you through family members, you are ready to start
searching the many other avenues available to you. Check your phone book
for a local LDS (Latter-Day-Saints) Family History Center, a local
Historical Society, or Genealogical Society. Most of these are
computerized for searching. They also offer classes in genealogy.
- If you have a computer available to
you, search out the thousands of websites devoted to genealogy research.
I have found many "cousins" through my research and have
exchanged with them.
- Make color copies of old
photographs. Color copies are a bit more expensive, but it really is
hard to tell the original from the copy. And it's not as expensive as
having a photograph actually done of the old photograph. I found that
most of my family was willing to "share" photographs so that I
could get copies done, but not willing to just let me have the actual
photograph.
- Photograph headstones when you a
visit a cemetery. It not only makes recording the information easier, it
also preserves the headstone.
- Start a "file system" for
your information. I have a folder with each family surname on the tab.
After I have recorded information from other's gedcom files etc., I file
these away for easier accessibility. I also keep a record in each folder
of the individual's name, address, phone number, and email address (if
they have one) for future reference.
Above all, enjoy searching out
those skeletons, dusting off old books, and learning about who you are and
who those people were that came before you. If at sometime during your
search, you feel those ancestors "touching" you, you will know your
work will not be in vain -- genealogy is for future generations to remember
past generations.
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