Posts tagged "family history websitehistoryhistory"

Planning your family research

Suppose you are interested in finding information about your great-grandmother. Here are a few tips that will help you create a solid research plan:

1.  Write down as much as you know about the person or persons you want to learn more about. Write down all the details you think might help you distinguish your ancestor from someone else’s like approximate date of birth and birth place, date of marriage and spouse’s name, names of any children, and the approximate date of death.

2. Write down exactly what you hope to learn about the person you’re tracking. Getting sidetracked when researching family history is easy. It can be very exciting to uncover facts you never new about your family and this can cause you to lose sight of your initial goals in tracing your family tree. This is why it’s important to write down your goals in your basic research plan. For example, your goal might be to learn as much as you can about one side of your family or learn more about an old story you’ve heard about your ancestors.

3. Use a genealogical search engine to get a general idea of what’s available. Using a site like Ancestry.com can help you find information about your ancestors. To start, just enter the name where the person you are searching lived to narrow the results. The data that you obtain will give you an indication of the range of resources available.

4. Prioritize the resources you can use. The results that are delivered on these genealogical search engines could turn up different resources like mailing lists, newsgroups, and one-name study sites. It’s best to prioritize the resources you are going to use. An excellent starting point would be to visit a site like Ancestry.com that give you access to civil registration documents that will allow you to verify important dates and events.

5. Once you’ve identified the resources you want to use, schedule time to use them. Tracing your family history is actually a lifelong pursuit. You can’t download every bit of information and documentation that you need all at once. Because researching your family history requires time and effort on your part, I recommend that you schedule time to work on specific parts of your research. Believe it or not, genealogy can be addictive so breaking it down into small tasks allows you to get the most from your research efforts without getting yourself bogged down by information.

There are a wide variety of websites online that make it possible to build your family tree at no cost. Mundia.com is the one I recommend. As you make progress with your research, be sure to keep good notes and share information with your relatives.