Getting started with your Genealogy

Getting the Ball Rolling: Step 1 of 3

Researching genealogy is the ultimate quest to know where we come from. It is more physically tangible than DNA testing in that you are essentially getting to know your ancestors. The people who came before us, paved the way for us to succeed and without them we would not be here today.

Family research is fascinating. You really never know what details that you will find out. You may find out interesting facts and histories about your family that no one in your family actually knows. For example, you might find out a new ethnic heritage that you have and never knew. You may even find that one of your friends is actually your cousin. Regardless of what you find, the process can be educational and in general good knowledge.

People research genealogy for different reasons. Some people need to know urgent things like medical histories of those that came before us. Others want to know cities or towns that they great-great-greats came from. And yes, there are even some people who know very little about where they come from who they are biologically.

In my eyes, genealogy is not a way to separate from one another by ethnic group or family lineage. It is a study of history. Our history is who we are, without knowing where we come from, how can we know where we are going? Understanding that history can give us a new-found respect for the sacrifices that people made to get us to where we are. If you are living in an immigrant nation such as those in the Americas, Australia, New Zealand, or even parts of Africa then the chances are that you have some family that immigrated from somewhere else.

As you wish to begin this process, listed below here are 3 suggestions to help you get started with your search.

Start with what you know. Write down everything! Think back as far as you can, and remember things that your parents or grandparents said whether casually or formally in a story. Jot down names, dates, and specific stories that you can remember. Don’t worry about how vague the memory is at this point all you are going to do is come up with a list of leads.
1. Question types to ask yourself: What is my last name? What is my mom’s maiden name? What is my grandparents maiden name? What region and cities did my grandparents live in? What family members do I have available to talk to? What was I told that ‘I was’ when growing up?
2. After you have gone through these questions, you can look to the next point to continue the process.
Brainstorm more and come up with some targets. Continue the thinking process. Once you have finished with the questions, the next step is looking towards beginning your process and preparing to do research on the matter.
1. In this process, make a list of all living and non-living family members that are immediately related to you. Focus particularly on the ones that you know less about. Out of the living ones, target specific members that you would expect to be knowledgeable and willing to discuss family history with you.
Get organized. Without proper documentation and record keeping you cannot expect to get very far in this process. Even if you remember most of the things that you are told, there is a good chance that at least some of the little details will fall through the cracks. These details add up greatly, and sometimes make the difference between knowing and not knowing.
1. I suggest dedicating a binder or notebook to the cause. It is best to keep written documents because you never know with your computer. One virus and you could lose everything. If you do use computers be sure to have at least one backup copy of the work that you have done.

Good skills to have as a genealogist

Becoming the family genealogist or historian can be exciting, especially when no one else has done the work before. Even if they have, you can often find an older family member who is ready and more than willing to pass the baton of knowledge. Irrespective of which position you find yourself in, I have found that these characteristics below are good attributes to have when researching family history.

Patience – First and foremost, if you do not have patience, then you are going to struggle. Research can take months before reaching a breakthrough. The reward definitely comes in the end. It comes quicker for some then for others, but will take most people at least a few months to make any real progress. Even for me, it took almost 6-8 months before I found some real informative information. Before that I was just flipping through papers.
A love for history – Family history and genealogy is not just relevant to our family. Our world history is comprised of our societies and all people of history have contributed to that. Therefore, uncovering family records can be like unearthing a period in history. You will learn about things that went on during those days, or even difficulties and hardships.
Persistence – You need to be persistent with your quest. You are going to have to call on leads, try new avenues and methods, and continue even when you come up short. The truth is, you never know when you are just 1-click away or 1 file away from the document that you need.
Will power – I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but no one is going to do the work for you. In fact, the documents might be lost if you did not find them. You have to be able to self-motivate and get energized about the work itself.

Language basics – Depending on where your family immigrated from, it can help significantly to know at least the basics of the language from that area. After all, what good is looking through documents if you cannot read them? Focus on things like numbers, dates, and vocabulary for words like wedding, marriage, death, birth, mother, father, sister, brother, et cetera. You do not have to be fluent. You just need to know when you find something.

Whenever you have gotten to this point, then you are ready to move on to step 2 of 3 and actually begin doing some research. Click here for Step 2

Photos from Wikimedia Commons