Starting a Family Tree by Building on What You Know
Where do I begin? How would I even start to build a family tree? These are questions I hear all the time from people that want to get started but have no idea how to. Our time is precious and there is no reason to waste weeks, months or even years stumbling around trying to get started on a project of this magnitude.
What Are You Sure Of?
The first thing I tell people is to make a short list of what they know for sure. Starting with the most basic information you can start building your tree. You probably know your parents birthdates and places of birth. If you know your grandparent's information, that's even better. If you don't though, there's no need to get frustrated. The information can probably be found.
If there are doubts about any of the info you have gathered, just put an asterisk by it and remember that this is only a guess. There's nothing worse than sticking on a particular path that you were sure was correct only to find out later it was wrong.
Do Not Reinvent The Wheel
Too many of us will search and search for information that has already been gathered. I ask people if anyone in their family has ever done research into their tree before. Almost always I get a no answer. After asking a few more questions they will often change their answer and say something like..."Well I think my cousin did something like this a few years ago but it was only on my mom's side."
Well, there you go. If your cousin or someone did the research for you, then why are you going to spend years searching for the same information she already found? Don't be afraid to ask your relative for the information they gathered. Most of the time you will probably find they are happy to share it with you. Those of us who are into Genealogy, are happy to find someone who is also interested in it. It is not proprietary information. Genealogy is family research that is meant to benefit the entire family.
Distant Relatives As Help
When you think about your second great grandfather, realize that there are probably a lot of people around today related to him. People had a lot of kids back then. They in turn had a lot kids, and so on and so on. The first place to begin is to search for your distant relatives and see what research they have done on your common ancestor. This is an ongoing process. It will never end. I am constantly finding articles, message boards and whole websites dedicated to ancestors of mine that were started by a distant relative.
You can either do a simple search on the internet for your ancestor to find this information or if you decided to join a website like ancestry.com you can find a lot there. There are family trees out there that people post online that could contain your ancestor. Check out these trees carefully and see how their data corresponds with yours. A note of caution though would be to take the information with a grain of salt. Often times, unfortunately I find the trees to contain inaccurate information. Even though the trees were started with the best of intentions there are errors nonetheless.
Perhaps your distant relative was related to your second great uncle instead of your second great grandfather and did not care about the accuracy of your direct ancestor's information. A lot of these trees will take facts from other trees and perpetuate bad information. That is why you must always get a second source to back up what you have found. Do not rely entirely on other people's family trees. I usually find that a lot of people have pieces of the puzzle but not the whole picture. Take it on yourself to be the one who puts it all together in a cohesive package.
If you find information that conflicts with another person's research, don't be afraid to challenge it. We all want the whole truth and nothing but the truth. A researcher would be happy to find out you discovered something they could not.
Clues Right Under Your Nose
A good tip when beginning your research is to talk to as many people in your family as possible. Everybody knows one thing that no one else knows. Ask relatives what they know about your ancestors. You may find out why your grandparents migrated to another part of the country. Whatever information you find out, I guarantee you will not regret. Don't spend forever trying to find something out that your own mother or aunt knows. Gather the stories together and catalog them. Ask your relatives a series of important questions that would not normally come up in regular conversation. Write the questions down and hit them with it in sort of an interview.
Good questions would be ones regarding important milestones in your families past. Such as why they moved and when they made the decision to. Make a list of the ancestors you know of so far and go down the list asking your relatives what they know about each person. Did they actually meet the ancestor or what stories were passed down? I recently found a distant relative living in the same town as myself who actually met and knew my second great grandfather. That information is priceless when you consider an eye witness account of what happened over 80 years ago. No book is going to contain stories of what life was like for them.
Cite Your Sources
I know, you already knew that. It's the first rule of Genealogy. It can't be emphasized enough though. Not just the actual documenting of the sources, but the actual organization of your material is crucial. When you are on a roll it is so tempting to keep going on to the next page and finding out even more without stopping and documenting where you got the information. I've done this myself. I get excited when I find something and keep going until I reach what I was looking for. Then I step back and say "Now, where did I find this information at? What website was that on?" Then the backtracking begins.
Resist the temptation to rush. Stop to write everything down. Organize the information on your computer as well as a hard copy. If you don't, imagine the frustration of losing everything when your hard drive goes out. If you can, get a filing cabinet and start stuffing it full. You will eventually need more than just the one but it's a start. Be sure and find a way to organize that makes sense to you. People will tell you how to organize information but everyone has their own way of remembering where something should be. Being careful of how you begin a project of this magnitude will benefit you for years to come. It will save a lot of time in the long run so you can have more time to do in-depth research on individuals and clear up mysteries of the past.
What Are You Sure Of?
The first thing I tell people is to make a short list of what they know for sure. Starting with the most basic information you can start building your tree. You probably know your parents birthdates and places of birth. If you know your grandparent's information, that's even better. If you don't though, there's no need to get frustrated. The information can probably be found.
If there are doubts about any of the info you have gathered, just put an asterisk by it and remember that this is only a guess. There's nothing worse than sticking on a particular path that you were sure was correct only to find out later it was wrong.
Do Not Reinvent The Wheel
Too many of us will search and search for information that has already been gathered. I ask people if anyone in their family has ever done research into their tree before. Almost always I get a no answer. After asking a few more questions they will often change their answer and say something like..."Well I think my cousin did something like this a few years ago but it was only on my mom's side."
Well, there you go. If your cousin or someone did the research for you, then why are you going to spend years searching for the same information she already found? Don't be afraid to ask your relative for the information they gathered. Most of the time you will probably find they are happy to share it with you. Those of us who are into Genealogy, are happy to find someone who is also interested in it. It is not proprietary information. Genealogy is family research that is meant to benefit the entire family.
Distant Relatives As Help
When you think about your second great grandfather, realize that there are probably a lot of people around today related to him. People had a lot of kids back then. They in turn had a lot kids, and so on and so on. The first place to begin is to search for your distant relatives and see what research they have done on your common ancestor. This is an ongoing process. It will never end. I am constantly finding articles, message boards and whole websites dedicated to ancestors of mine that were started by a distant relative.
You can either do a simple search on the internet for your ancestor to find this information or if you decided to join a website like ancestry.com you can find a lot there. There are family trees out there that people post online that could contain your ancestor. Check out these trees carefully and see how their data corresponds with yours. A note of caution though would be to take the information with a grain of salt. Often times, unfortunately I find the trees to contain inaccurate information. Even though the trees were started with the best of intentions there are errors nonetheless.
Perhaps your distant relative was related to your second great uncle instead of your second great grandfather and did not care about the accuracy of your direct ancestor's information. A lot of these trees will take facts from other trees and perpetuate bad information. That is why you must always get a second source to back up what you have found. Do not rely entirely on other people's family trees. I usually find that a lot of people have pieces of the puzzle but not the whole picture. Take it on yourself to be the one who puts it all together in a cohesive package.
If you find information that conflicts with another person's research, don't be afraid to challenge it. We all want the whole truth and nothing but the truth. A researcher would be happy to find out you discovered something they could not.
Clues Right Under Your Nose
A good tip when beginning your research is to talk to as many people in your family as possible. Everybody knows one thing that no one else knows. Ask relatives what they know about your ancestors. You may find out why your grandparents migrated to another part of the country. Whatever information you find out, I guarantee you will not regret. Don't spend forever trying to find something out that your own mother or aunt knows. Gather the stories together and catalog them. Ask your relatives a series of important questions that would not normally come up in regular conversation. Write the questions down and hit them with it in sort of an interview.
Good questions would be ones regarding important milestones in your families past. Such as why they moved and when they made the decision to. Make a list of the ancestors you know of so far and go down the list asking your relatives what they know about each person. Did they actually meet the ancestor or what stories were passed down? I recently found a distant relative living in the same town as myself who actually met and knew my second great grandfather. That information is priceless when you consider an eye witness account of what happened over 80 years ago. No book is going to contain stories of what life was like for them.
Cite Your Sources
I know, you already knew that. It's the first rule of Genealogy. It can't be emphasized enough though. Not just the actual documenting of the sources, but the actual organization of your material is crucial. When you are on a roll it is so tempting to keep going on to the next page and finding out even more without stopping and documenting where you got the information. I've done this myself. I get excited when I find something and keep going until I reach what I was looking for. Then I step back and say "Now, where did I find this information at? What website was that on?" Then the backtracking begins.
Resist the temptation to rush. Stop to write everything down. Organize the information on your computer as well as a hard copy. If you don't, imagine the frustration of losing everything when your hard drive goes out. If you can, get a filing cabinet and start stuffing it full. You will eventually need more than just the one but it's a start. Be sure and find a way to organize that makes sense to you. People will tell you how to organize information but everyone has their own way of remembering where something should be. Being careful of how you begin a project of this magnitude will benefit you for years to come. It will save a lot of time in the long run so you can have more time to do in-depth research on individuals and clear up mysteries of the past.
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