Genealogy

[Kimberly27]

Who has researched their ancestors? Any tips? I am scanning photos of my moms, grandmas and grandfathers and don't know half the people in the photos. My grandfather's photos are from his time in WW2...very cool photos. I just don't know where to go with the little information I have to me. Since my mom passed and grandparents are gone I don't really have anyone to ask. My mom's only brother had a stroke several years ago and can't help. He is just a big kid now.

[SeattleSheri]

I would recommend looking into Ancestry.com. I did a DNA test several years ago and have thousands of DNA matches (you can still build a family tree without submitting DNA, but it gives you access to a lot more data when you match with people). Matching with DNA relatives allows you to tap into their family trees. It's particularly helpful if you can find a few people who you share DNA with who are really into ancestry/geneology have really robust family trees, since you can view all of their research and import it into your own tree (sometimes a paid subscription is necessary to access certain artifacts - but you can non-renew when you're not using it). I used this methodology to go back 10+ generations through several arms of my family history. It's easy to spend hours and hours on research.

[AmieN1]

Like Sheri said- It's an easy hole to fall into! I also used the free version of ancestry and with some of the family tree info from my grandma- dad's mom- I was able to go WAY WAY back. It's really interesting, but definitely a time suck! lol

[HavaDrPepper]

I also agree with using Ancestry. When you build your tree, start with yourself, then your parents, followed by your grandparents. Getting started you should always start with what you know.

Once you enter the information, little "leaves" will pop up that are hints. They can be helpful but don't accept them because they show up. I get many hints that are not even for the person. They may be for someone else with a similar name and age but not the place that I know the person to be in. (For instance, I got a hint for someone in California and my family has always been in Ohio).

Some of the hints may be for documents. Be sure to look at them as there may be more clues there. Some hints could be photos other people have uploaded to Ancestry. These could be helpful. Some hints are from other family trees. Be careful with accepting these. I find that a lot of these are people that just accept every hint they get for a person. I have an uncle that did this... he had some wild connections on his tree since he didn't look at the dates of the people he was accepting hints for. My cousin and I don't take his research as gospel, we do our own and have the proof what he has is not correct.

When I started, I was lucky that my grandmother had done a lot of research in the 1950's. She corresponded with people and gathered information that way. I first started with a software on my computer and that is still my main database. I do have a tree on Ancestry but I use it for hints. I will research the hints it gives me before adding to either database. Original documents are fun to find. I've spent many hours over the years in libraries that have genealogical collections going through books of family histories and compilations of official records (probate birth and death, cemetery inscriptions etc) all before this information became available on the internet.

Another website that has really helped me in the last couple of years is Newspapers.com (owned by Ancestry). They have digitized versions of many newspapers that you can search. I actually broke down the "brick wall" of my great-grandmother and her family thru searching those newspapers. All newspapers are not on there though. None of the newspapers for my county are but thankfully, the newspapers for several counties that border mine are and that is how I broke down that brick wall.

Another website (again owned by Ancestry) that could be helpful is FindAGrave.com. Volunteers all over the country are contributing to this so again, be careful as to the information on there. Gravesite memorials are set up for individuals and if their parents are deceased, they can be linked to them. Spouses are also linked. When the children of a couple are linked to them, the links show as siblings for the children. I have been working on getting links for family members recently. I found an incorrect parent linked for an ancestor so I submitted a correction and it got fixed. The father's name was John and the individual was linked to the wrong John. That family had a lot of "Johns" in the family so it was an easy mistake. With your mother and grandparents being deceased, I would look for their graves and if they are on the website (which is still a work in progress), someone may have already linked information to them. Many people put copies of the obituaries on the memorial or even type a small bio for the person. And, photos are there as well, both of the gravestone and the people.

I am also involved in my local county genealogical society. Back in the 1990's when I first started, I joined and learned a lot from the members. I took a break for over 20 years and have gotten back into researching so I joined the society again. Many of the members from my early days are no longer around so it is a new group of people. And, I've got some distant cousins that are there as well. We meet 9 months a year and have a speaker every month except one which is the month we take a field trip to a repository for the day to do research. When new people come to a meeting, we welcome them and answer any questions they might have on getting started.

Like Amie said, it is really interesting but a time suck! And, I love it!

[Kimberly27]

Thank you ladies for the info! I have used FindaGrave and Family Search.org so far since they are free but may look into ancestry

[Cheryl Ashcraft]

My Mama was super into genealogy, so I have a lot of information and photos. There were a lot of things she didn't finish, so I think I'll be carrying the torch on, First, though, I'm the repository for all my maternal grandmother's photographs as well as my mother's, and my mother's scrapbooks. I have to get those in order as well as update my own printed photos.

Going through what my Mama had, I have an album from Japan that my mom's paternal great-aunt sent to her mother-in-law (my mom's grandmother) while she and her husband and children were stationed there. It is in amazingly great shape, and I'm interested in going through the photos in depth.

Good luck on your quest!

[nerdycool]

It's an addicting hole to fall down, that's for sure. Start simple... your parents. Add their parents and any siblings your parents had. Then add your grandparents' parents and so on. Just make sure to verify each and every source before adding. My early trees are rife with inaccuracies because I just linked someone else's error-riddled trees with mine without checking their sources. Now I know better.

There are 3 main sites I recommend... I use all 3 regularly, as they each have things the others don't.

Ancestry
pros - LOTS of resources, especially US-based. Main site used in US, so a lot of people on the DNA side. Their tree function is easier to use than other places, and where you should build your main tree, IMO.
cons - $$$$$$, and can't upload other company's DNA test results.

Family Search
pros - free, has a lot of the same info as Ancestry
cons - not especially user-friendly, & the family tree isn't just yours, but a world-wide community tree. That means that someone else can come along and change info on your entries. This can sometimes be good, but it can also sometimes be bad.

My Heritage
pros - what Ancestry is to Americans, My Heritage is for Europeans... tons of European-based resources, though they do have a lot of North American resources, too. Can upload DNA results from other companies into theirs.
cons - $$$$$$. Not super search-friendly. Their tree function is also a little clunky.

An important source that's readily available to you, and is free, are the US Censuses. You can glean so much information off of them, though I need to note that ages, dates, and name spellings aren't always accurate, but such things weren't as important then as they are now. They're on Family Search. The most recent one is from 1950, so depending on when your parents were born, they might be in there.

If you decide to do a DNA test, I recommend Ancestry to start. Once you have the results, you can then upload them to My Heritage to see if there are any hits. It's a two-for-one deal. But Ancestry doesn't allow another company's tests to be uploaded, so that's why I suggest Ancestry's test over another... more for the money.

[LJSDesigns]

I've been researching my family tree for over 20 years now. I started with Ancestry, which served me well.

nerdycool is right about checking sources. I have found that erroneous information abounds on the web. The best resources I have found are historical societies and dusty old courthouse records.

Tax records are especially good because we have paid taxes forever. That is how I found a good number of my ancestors.

[HavaDrPepper]

Originally Posted by LJSDesigns

I've been researching my family tree for over 20 years now. I started with Ancestry, which served me well.

nerdycool is right about checking sources. I have found that erroneous information abounds on the web. The best resources I have found are historical societies and dusty old courthouse records.

Tax records are especially good because we have paid taxes forever. That is how I found a good number of my ancestors.

I started before Ancestry and one of the first things I learned was to check those old courthouse records. I spent many hours at the library in the genealogy section (my county library has an awesome section built by the county genealogy society) looking through microfilm of old newspapers, census records and probate records. I am thankful that technology has advanced so that quite a few of these records are online but in all reality it is just a small fraction of the resources available.

[Kimberly27]

Thanks! A lot of awesome advice! I appreciate it

[Beth Swann]

I have worked on genealogy a lot. I wanted to share that there are familysearch centers all over the globe in case you need extra help in person to find more information. The consultants in those centers are trained to keep the site users as up to date as possible on all the ways you can research and find what you are looking for.

[lizziej]

Good luck, Kimberly! My dad and my FIL worked on genealogy for several decades. However, my FIL passed away last year, and my dad has Alzheimer's. My dad worked on direct lineage; my FIL worked on everyone - cousins, etc. It got really confusing to look at it. I know both my dad and FIL used Ancestry.

My brother recently told us that he is continuing the family tree.

[HavaDrPepper]

Originally Posted by lizziej

My brother recently told us that he is continuing the family tree.

I'm glad to hear someone will continue on with the family tree.

A couple years ago, my cousin's daughter asked me for information. Her son was in 8th grade and had the project that many 8th graders have to find out about their ancestors. The family also did the Ancestry DNA tests and that got the 8th grader interested so he created a tree on Ancestry. I sent her a bunch of information that my grandmother had obtained back in the 1950's and was documented and told her to caution her son about just accepting all the hints Ancestry has (I've seen incorrect hints about some of the information my grandmother documented). Then I told her that I know where my info on that side of the family will go when I'm gone since I don't have kids to take over it.

Then 2 summers ago an aunt on the other side of the family was moving into assisted living. When I asked what the kids were going to do with the genealogy information she had, the one daughter asked if I wanted it. I told her I would take the information her mom had on her dad's family (which is my dad's family). I brought a bunch of stuff home then went through it and took what was not that family back the next day. They didn't know what they were going to do with her mom's side of the family. None of the 4 kids were interested in it. I did find some info in her research that I didn't have so I was glad I asked.