What is Genealogy? Genealogy is the study of the descents of families and persons from an ancestor or ancestors. Please take these as basic guidelines not hard fast rules.
1.Make a goal. You need a specific goal so you can develop a plan. You have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, and so on. You need a specific goal or question, or you could end up floundering.
2.Work BackwardTake your already identified ancestors and use their information to go further back in time. You will already have information to use.
3.Gather any information that is already easily available to you. One of the best resources is your relatives. They might have names and dates. In addition, gather any documentation like marriage certificates, death certificates, photos, etc. They will have data that will help you in your search.
4.Keep track of your sources by documenting everything, you will know where to look if you need to either verify your research or pick up where you left off.
5.Don’t rely only on online sourcesThe internet did not exist until 1992. Before the internet, everything was done in print.
6.The work is never done.There are always more family lines to pursue and answers to find. However, you will still know more than you did when you started.
This information was compiled from the sources below. For more details, click on the links:
- The US Gen Web Project
- RootsWeb
- Gale Family Library
- Family Search
- National Archives and Records Administration
- Ancestral Chart
- Family Group Sheet
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