OK, OK, we promise this article is all in good fun. After all, we genealogists are usually fairly easy-going folks, and goodness knows we’re patient — after all, we’ve waited ten whole years for the 1950 census! But, alas, sometimes even the best of us let things get under our skin (even if we know we shouldn’t).
Why is it that we, as family historians, often do a poor job of preserving our own personal histories for the generations to come?
Public or private? This is one of the first decisions Ancestry.com asks you to make when you create your family tree. Indicating your preferred sharing status is as simple as checking a box, but it’s not a trivial decision.
If you’re just starting to build your family tree, or if you’ve simply put it aside due to frustration or defeat, listen up. You’re not alone in your family history challenges, and perhaps having a better understanding up front of what to expect down the road will help you overcome them.
For a fledgling family historian, receiving a collection like this might seem like the perfect ready-made foundation from which to build new branches. Even the experienced genealogist would consider it a windfall. However, inheriting someone else’s genealogy research can be both a gift and a curse if not handled properly.
Nearly every one of us has ancestors who lived, worked and died in a country not our own. And, for this reason, we sometimes need to leave our comfort zone behind and head into unfamiliar territory with our family history research.
A family history research log is a document that tells you what you’ve researched, what you’ve found, what you didn’t find, and what research you still need to tackle. Here’s how to find one and put it to use.
Unlike most projects, you’re never truly “done” with genealogy. Tracing your family’s history can easily become a lifelong pursuit. Locating relevant records, uncovering family stories and overcoming brick walls can take years, or even decades. Therefore, you may wonder what you can possibly accomplish in a mere ten minutes. In reality, though, this short amount of time can be more than enough to make real improvements to your family tree.
Depending on the condition of the document, its date and the handwriting therein, original records can be beyond frustrating to read. These tips will help you make use of them in your family history research.
As original as a child’s first name might seem, it often offers clues into a family’s near and, sometimes, very distant past. Given names link generations of family through repetition and can be a powerful tool to push our research to greater depths. To shed an even brighter light on this research opportunity we must understand the influences behind naming traditions.