Family History : Getting Started

Getting started recording your family history is really easy.  You begin with your own details – when and where you were born, what schools you attended, the career you have followed, the places you have lived etc. – and then record details about your parents and their siblings, then  back to their parents and so on.

I used to keep a special notebook for recording any information I knew or found out, before entering it onto my Family Sheets (which I will talk about next week).

Once you have recorded everything you know, then you will be ready to go searching for more information.  Ask relations (especially the older ones) – perhaps there are wills or birth certificates or land ownership documents or even a family Bible that you can look at. 

Always be sensitive and respectful when asking people for information as some don’t want to talk about it and others may be concerned about their privacy.

Visit cemeteries and see what is written on headstones.  Look online at census records, electoral rolls, indexes of births deaths and marriages, cemetery records, and so on.  A lot of internet sites now ask for payment but there are still some free ones around. 

Joining a community genealogy group can sometimes open up different avenues for searching.  I got a lot of my early information through searching microfiches at our local library.

Always remember that there will be mistakes.  Not all records are correct, not everyone’s memory is perfect.  Discovering what really happened in the past is a bit like a treasure hunt, and sometimes we can only make assumptions and not know for sure.

WARNING!  Once you begin tracing back your family history it can become very addictive – and a lot of fun J

Margaret.

PART ONE of this series can be read here