Giving this genealogy thing a try

[Silearth 6]

After my grandfather passed away, the wife and I assisted my mother in cleaning out his apartment. We took a trunk home; there was family history book inside. Never thought much of it until now.

 

The kids found it last week and started drawing on the blank pages. So I recovered it and started reading through the thing. I found birthdates for all of my generation and my mother's, grandfather's, his parents, and their parents.

 

The whole thing is very exciting, really. I downloaded a tree builder and have been at it for the last few days. The software that I got connects to a website and can search other trees(It can even merge other trees if I decide to pay to upgrade.)

 

Just last night, a google search turned up one of my ancestors in some old census data. I already had that person's data in my tree, but it was cool!

 

So any genealogy experts out there willing to share some tips?

[Genenut 8]

check out your local library. many maintain a library subscription to ancestry or heritage online which can help you further things along.. and the best part is its free. some allow you to log in from your home computer and others you have to use the libraries computers to access it depends on the library system.

 

The mormons at their site familysearch dot org also have some records on line that are farily easy to search.

 

Depending on which branch of your family you are researching I know the DAR will assist you for free after a certain generation to get back to the rev war and hopefully a patriot you can claim. Due to record keeping at that time being not exactly what you might call meticulous there arent many who can claim a patriot who have african american heritage and they would like more.

 

find your local NARA archive. They are open to the public and you can search through original census pages and much much more. Your library may even have a history room with a special curator for it who can walk you through going further.

 

If you really get into this I can suggest a couple of very good medium to advanced software apps to better organize this stuff...

 

my nick genenut is a truncated form of genealogy nut ... I've been researching mine and Todd's families for 15 years now . Found out along the way that our families both came off the mayflower, both have relatives we'd rather not claim and that we are 9th cousins... Our kids now have a list of names they cannot marry members of those families as they are probably cousins and in some cases way too close a relation (certain parts of the coast of maine are verboten for finding a mate) *g*

[Lord of the North 10]

my nick genenut is a truncated form of genealogy nut ... I've been researching mine and Todd's families for 15 years now . Found out along the way that our families both came off the mayflower, both have relatives we'd rather not claim and that we are 9th cousins... Our kids now have a list of names they cannot marry members of those families as they are probably cousins and in some cases way too close a relation (certain parts of the coast of maine are verboten for finding a mate) *g*

 

She may have gotten our family tree back to 846 and Rolo The first Duke of Normandy. She needs only to verify one piece of information (over three generations) with original sources to prove it.

[Silearth 6]

Wow, thanks for the advice. You have traced your tree very far indeed.

 

My information stops at the great-greats, but there is the wonderful story of the plantation owner's son who married a former slave to get back at his father. It would be great to go farther and trace my roots from New Orleans to Africa, Spain, and France.

 

As for software, I am using Heritage.com's Family Tree Builder. The problem is that every time I click on something useful, I am prompted to spend $50.00 to unlock the premium features.

 

I guess I knew that I was either going to have to spend some money or actually start getting my hands dirty. Luckly for me, my grandfather's book seems to have at least birthdates for all of my cousins, aunts, and uncles.

 

After I uncover the secrets of the Williams', Porter's Liston's, Davis', Gueno's, and Broome's then it will be time to move over to my father's side of the tree.

[Knuckles 904]

I actually discovered a HUGE book about my ancestors at a cementary office. My surname is very very common where I live. Had to have been easily 1500 pages thick. I also have ancestors that made the trip on the Mayflower, a couple in the Boston Tea Party, and at least one that was a pirate in the 1800's.

 

Always meant to and try to borrow it, some day I will, I hope, and also try and fill out my family tree.

[gogoblender 3,078]

You guys are so lucky. My family hails from the little tropical island of Sri Lanka. I'm not sure databases there are as good as what is being kept here. I had heard that one of my American cousins was trying to piece pieces of the family puzzle together, and he said it quite difficult because hospital records aren't the hottest and not a lot of peeps in areas of the word like that kept to storing very good documents.

 

 

gogo

[Genenut 8]

Sil - Legacy has a free version of thier software. That should get rid of the annoying pay us more stuff for it. All you need to do is export a gedcom file from what you are using and then import it into legacy so you dont have to retype it all. I find the legacy software easy to use but far more powerful than the family tree crap that broderbrund/ancestry sells (its to genealogy software what aol was to internet users , legacy is more like configuring an isp for direct access instead of using aol) And as to NO records , check the internet for parrish records. The mormons might even have alot of them scanned in thier database.

 

the mormons also have their own free software. its a bit more expert level but is one of the gold standards in the field.

Knuckles - check your library's access to HeritageQuest Online. I can get to mine for free from home using the local libraries account since I'm a card holder. They have ALOT of books scanned, including many small family name driven genealogies along with much larger ones like Thurston (which is one of Todd's line , the book is so large they split it into 2 volumes of about 5-700 pages each). Your library may even have a subscription to the NEGHS (new england genealogy and historical society) online databases which look wonderful ( too expensive for my library but where its local for you yours might have one)

 

Gogo - Tax records can sometimes be very helpful. And obituaries can also help get back a generation or two. I've found obits for known relatives that gave me grandparents info in them that I didnt know otherwise. I started my research while Todd was in Japan so I had only the internet to do my research on back then. The resources out there are growing though all the time. Even if you cant find birth certificates often marriage certificates have birth data on them, even back 200 years ago. And wills are great. One of my lines , a mayflower line about 6 years ago finally figured out the father of the wife of the mayflower passengers due to a will listing the wife as his daughter. Check your local library for a book "genealogy for dummies". It can give you alot of simple tips to follow up when primary (birth death, marriage) records arent availiable and sample letters to send for more info.

 

If you need more specific help pm me I'd be happy to help. The hunt is addicting even when its not your own line (but in Knuckles case it could be since between Todd and I we have about 1/2 the mayflower in our trees one way or another)

[Lord of the North 10]

And Dawn says it's all your fault now. Instead of playing Guild Wars she has been going to the genealogy sites since Friday afternoon. AND IT"S A THREE DAY WEEKEND!

Edited September 5, 2009 by Lord of the North

[Silearth 6]

And Dawn says it's all your fault now. Instead of playing Guild Wars she has been going to the genealogy sites since Friday afternoon. AND IT"S A THREE DAY WEEKEND!

 

 

Lol.

 

I actually found some information on a couple of my ancestors. I already had the information, but to see it on the net was still pretty cool.

 

Someone at ancestry.com has a tree that has my grandparents. They named theirs the Williams Family tree, so I have hope. Of course I have to pay to contact them. I just lifted the restrictions on my account so that my email address is visible; perhaps they will contact me.

 

As for the three day weekend.....I am in Victorville again, installing more appliances.