Researching Your Family History

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Researching your family history is the heart of your family tree. Without it you will have very little information about your family. Research can sound intimidating but it really means just searching for information and documenting where you found it.

Doing research for your family tree can include searching census microfilms, walking through cemeteries, reading centuries-old documents in libraries, or talking with an aunt, grandfather, cousin, or old neighbor of one of your grandparents.

Once you begin working on the family tree you will find yourself searching for more and more information about your ancestors.

More information on "vital statistics" such as births

Property owned, bought, and sold by your ancestors. Were any of your ancestors involved in court cases? Check wills for information about who inherited what, as well as the list of members of the immediate and extended family this ancestor mentioned in that will. Sometimes there are surprises.

Do you have letters, photos, diaries, or possibly even an old family Bible, all with further information about your family. Does your family have family reunions which give you opportunities to further your knowledge by talking to the older members and recording their recollections. You document all the new members since the last reunion. You find out what members have married, died, had children, or divorced. You "catch up".

Learn more about the family history stories, "the personal genealogy information", you may have overlooked

When you do all this genealogy research, you need ways to organize your findings. Names, dates, and places are the skeleton of a family tree. How do you record all this so you can find it later?

Most of you use your computer to do this. You enter the information and the program stores it and allows you to retrieve your data in a variety of ways when you want it.

More about "family tree computer programs"

You need to keep track of what genealogy research you have done and what you still need to do since nearly every piece of information you find leads you to further questions. To do this you may make done and to do lists on paper forms and charts whether ready-made or self-created.

For more on "forms and charts"

Researching your family history also involves documenting your sources. Record everything about where you found a particular piece of information. Learning to source every fact in your family tree is very important for without sources your family tree is merely a tale!

Detail and Accuracy Lead to Great Rewards