Many of us are familiar with the British Royal Family's genealogy or Jesus' supposed bloodline, but many of us do not know who are our ancestors you're your own genealogy, or studying or tracing one's line of descent, should be even more important to you than knowing those of other families'. Apart from being able to find out who your other blood relatives are, wouldn't you want to find out if you too, came from such a line of pedigree and royalty?
If your family's genealogy has not been documented as of yet or is an unfinished project, starting with it now can be a daunting task. Here are some easy tips on getting started with your genealogy.
Start with the Internet. The Internet is a vast storehouse of knowledge, but finding the information you want can be tricky when you don't know where to look. There are specific genealogy sites which are easily accessible and user-friendly. These sites provide various documents that are vital to knowing our past. Documents such as marriage records, birth certificates and the like are a great way to start your journey into your family's past. Examples of these sites are rootsweb.com, ancestry.com and myheritage.com.
You have to already know a little bit of your history though in order to have a fruitful and accurate search. This is true especially If your family has a common name like Smith or Jones. It would also be useful to know where your other relatives lived or migrated to, so that you can zero in on those places.
The Internet lets you gain entry to the records of faraway States or cities. For instance, if you have neither the time nor the patience to take a boat to Ellis Island, but would like to check if your ancestors were one of those who first settled into the island, you can check out the records online. Just remember that these records are transcribed from logs written by hand, thus the possibility of wrong or differently-spelled names is very high.
The local court house has marriage certificates, birth certificates, court orders and the like. These records are important to tracing your bloodline as well.
The state department will also be another great place to look for other documents that you may not find online or in the records of the court. The pieces of evidence you will find here may likely complete the puzzle of your family's past.
Also check out cemeteries and funeral homes. Creepy as it may seem, these places have records of death as well as information on the names of the spouses, children, parents and siblings of the deceased.
Not only is tracing your genealogy a fulfilling project but it will be a great help to your other family members too. It is a journey worth embarking on and it will really be worth the effort.
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Tags: Family