How to Get Started Tracing Your Family Tree

The world of genealogy is exciting, and sometimes frustrating.  When beginning to trace your family tree, there are some easy things you can do to get organized and help you start on your wonderful journey into your family's past.  

GETTING ORGANIZED

Organization is one of the main keys for successfully tracing your family's history. It could save you hours of work running around the house looking for that littpe piece of paper you scribbled your Aunt Posey's wedding date on.  

 Use Family Group Sheets

Family group sheets make it simple  to record all your information on such as occupations, household members, marriages, and children. Keep your family group sheets organized, by purchasing a three-ring binder for every surname you plan on researching. Start with the basics; your last name (maiden name), your spouse’s last name, your Mother’s maiden name, and your Father’s mother’s maiden name. That should give you a total of 4 binders to start with. You can always make another binder if you have to.

Many genealogy sites offer free family group sheets on the Internet or you can make your own. Select the one that you feel is the easiest to use. Make lots of copies and put some blank ones in each binder. Personally I love using binders because I can just grab the family binder that I need at that particular moment.

Plastic Sheet Protectors

When assembling your binders you may want to invest in some three-ring plastic protectors. I put everything in them from my Family Group Sheets, copies of birth certificates, death certificates, etc. The plastic keeps the sheets and documents protected. Personally I recommend the acid free ones to protect precious documents. 

Along with the binders you may want to invest in a software program for your computer. Plus, if you find something you need online, most family history programs automatically adds that information into your family tree! How cool is that!

If you purchase family tree software you want one that  is equipped to read GEDCOM files. GEDCOM is short for Genealogical Data Communication. It’s a system that lets family tree information to be shared among a ton of different databases and programs.

I use both binders and computer software for my family history information. By having a hard copy of all the information, I can re-enter it into my computer if it crashes, and I haven't lost all my information.

On one of the family group sheets enter your name, your spouses name, your marriage, etc. Also add the names of your children, if any, and their birthdates, marriages, etc. If you’re children are already grown, make a family sheet for each of them, and add in their spouses, children, etc.

Next do a family group sheet for your Mother or Father, or your spouse’s parents. Fill out as many family group sheets as you can until you have exhausted all the information you know of.

Make copies of any birth certificates for you, your spouse, and/or children and put those in the binders.

You might want to create separate binders just to hold documents for each branch of your family tree, and use dividers with tabs so you can find everything. Geneaologists tend to  accumulate a startling amount of paperwork  so use whatever method is easiest for you.

Talk to Your Family

The older members of your family can be a wealth of information that can assist you in your research. Don’t forget to ask them for photographs, birth and death certificates, obituaries, news articles, and all those family stories! Ask them about family bibles, letters, etc. and get permission to make copies of them, or, in some cases, the family member will give you the originals!

You might want to tape record or video tape oral histories of the older people in your family and burn it onto a CD or DVD so it stays intact. The stories, images, and voice of family members can become some of your most cherished possessions.

Have family members go through any old pictures and tell you who the people in them are. Put labels on the back of the pictures with the names of the people written on them, then organize the photos into family albums and get them out of the shoeboxes!

There are thousands of places to locate records. The Birth and Death Office at the county courthouse, Land Records, Marriage Records, Cemeteries, Probate Records, Census Records, etc.

There are many records are available on the Internet and they can be a lifesaver. Unless the document is a scanned image of the original you will want to obtain a hardcopy from the appropriate source. 

In most cases you can just write a simple letter and enclose a check and self-addressed stamped envelope to obtain records, but in some cases governmental offices have their own forms that you can request to obtain the information you want.

Document Your Sources

Keep good notes on where you obtained all the information you have so if someone else needed to go find it, they would be able to. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Just as a note, a death certificate will contain a birth date for the deceased, this information in most cases came from a relative, so make sure you get a copy of the birth certificate to confirm this date is accurate.

You can research all sides of your family tree using the same method.

Record all the information you get from your relatives onto a Family Group Sheet and your software program!

Document your sources.

Organize old family photos and try to identify everyone in them!

Census records are your new best friends!

Military records can contain a wealth of information that you desperately need!

You’re not alone. You can join an online group, forum, etc. or there may be a local genealogy society or group in your area that can help you and lend support.

Just have fun!