Family history research can seem daunting--after all, Grandma had a grandma, and she had a grandma, and so on, and so on. The good news is that family history doesn't have to just be an endless quest for names and dates; family history comes alive with piecing together life stories, and the telling of the stories can occur bit by bit.
Of course, it is hard to write about an anonymous person, so names and dates do figure into the story. The best way to get started with family history research is to write down what you already know. What is your name, birth date and place, etc.? Who are your parents? Siblings? Grandparents?
A fantastic, free resource to help you gather information is http://www.familysearch.org. You will need to register at the site, but once you do, you will be able to search the collection of records.
Not only that, but as you research your family names, you will be able to create beautiful charts of your family tree. Here's a screen shot of an example of a fan chart from my tree:
Zooming in, we find:
Hannah Pierpont is my g-g-g-g-g-grandmother. She married Abel Brockett, and their children are listed at the bottom of the screen shot. Her parents were Joseph Pierpont and Hannah Russell. Her grandparents were James Pierpont, Mary Hooker, Noadiah Russell, and Mary Hamblin.
You can make a fan chart using yourself as the person in the middle, with your spouse and children listed under you, and your parents, grandparents, g-grandparents, and g-g-grandparents above. It's a nice visual representation of your family tree.
How do you do your family history? Have you used familysearch.org?
Thanks for technological advances which make family history work easier. (And thanks for my sister--happy birthday!)
You might find my posts on these blog hops:
Sew Darn Crafty Party, Find a Friend Friday, Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop, Show Your Stuff, The Wildly Original Link Party, Wow Us Wednesdays, Down Home Blog Hop, Tuesday Archive Link Up, Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River, Grandparents Say It Saturday
The Creative Home Acre Hop, Best Blog Post Ever, Grand Social,
Crafty Garden Mama,
Let's Get Social Sundays
Freedom Fridays
Tuesdays with a Twist
Pattern Party
All My Bloggy Friends
A Peek into My Paradise
Of course, it is hard to write about an anonymous person, so names and dates do figure into the story. The best way to get started with family history research is to write down what you already know. What is your name, birth date and place, etc.? Who are your parents? Siblings? Grandparents?
A fantastic, free resource to help you gather information is http://www.familysearch.org. You will need to register at the site, but once you do, you will be able to search the collection of records.
Not only that, but as you research your family names, you will be able to create beautiful charts of your family tree. Here's a screen shot of an example of a fan chart from my tree:
Zooming in, we find:
Hannah Pierpont is my g-g-g-g-g-grandmother. She married Abel Brockett, and their children are listed at the bottom of the screen shot. Her parents were Joseph Pierpont and Hannah Russell. Her grandparents were James Pierpont, Mary Hooker, Noadiah Russell, and Mary Hamblin.
You can make a fan chart using yourself as the person in the middle, with your spouse and children listed under you, and your parents, grandparents, g-grandparents, and g-g-grandparents above. It's a nice visual representation of your family tree.
How do you do your family history? Have you used familysearch.org?
Thanks for technological advances which make family history work easier. (And thanks for my sister--happy birthday!)You might find my posts on these blog hops:
Sew Darn Crafty Party, Find a Friend Friday, Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop, Show Your Stuff, The Wildly Original Link Party, Wow Us Wednesdays, Down Home Blog Hop, Tuesday Archive Link Up, Linky Tuesday at Freemotion by the River, Grandparents Say It Saturday
The Creative Home Acre Hop, Best Blog Post Ever, Grand Social,
Crafty Garden Mama,
Let's Get Social Sundays
Freedom Fridays
Tuesdays with a Twist
Pattern Party
All My Bloggy Friends
A Peek into My Paradise
Thanks for the site. I wrote it down and added it to my list of Genealogy research tools that I hand out to families who come in the office doing research on their family members :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the site -- I've never been there. My daughter has always been the one to research the family history and I will certainly share this link with her. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteKristi, it's me who is thankful - I'm so excited that you are my 1000th GFC follower - wow! Thank you very much! Cheers
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link. I hadn't heard of that one and Happy Birthday to your sister!
ReplyDeleteOh and so addicting doing genealogy isn't it? I still look even after I've done mine just to pick up a "few more" tidbits of info.
ReplyDeleteKristi, I just have to tell you -- I sent the link to my daughter and then immediately clicked it and was lost for hours!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, yes--I forgot to put in a little disclaimer that family history work is extremely addictive! I hope you had fun, and were able to learn something new about your family.
DeleteI agree...geneology is addictive! But fascinating! I did ours the old fashion way...letters and checks to gather certificates and documentation. Of course, that was 20 some years ago. Nowadays..I concentrate on the stories that came along with old letters and pass-along-tales from the old folks still around. My maternal grparents met on a blind date at a Halloween party...I've got the picture! Who knew they celebrated Halloween back then!? LOL Fun stuff!
ReplyDeleteJoan gramcrackercrumbs
Oh, thank you for this! My husband is a big genealogy buff but Ancestry.com just isn't in our budget. This will be much appreciated by him! Thanks for sharing in the GRAND Social!
ReplyDelete