The Ancestral Detective - Basic How-to Tips To Researching The Family Tree
November 20th, 2008

Researching your family tree can be one of the most rewarding things you will ever do. It can help you to gain a sense of place. It can help give you a background that you can understand and identify with. It is, however, an arduous, and at times, overwhelming process that will take years. When you get ready to start your genealogy research, consider the following four areas: the family home, your own information about important family events, interviews with family members, and research that has already been completed by others.

The first thing to consider when you start your research is the family home. This may be your home or that of another relative. While you don't necessarily have to be examining the home itself (though you could be if it is been in the family for years), you should be looking at heirlooms, gifts, and papers that have been handed down from generation to generation. These things can give you little bits of information about your relatives from the past and their lives. They can also help to give you some context in which to start your research.

When you begin this search, it is important not to overlook anything, as items can have dates or manufacturer's stamps that can help you identify places and dates. These relics can also help you understand your relatives in the context of time in terms of their tastes and social status within their time period. Clothing like wedding dresses and military uniforms can help demonstrate your relatives' sizes. Furniture is a good indicator of social status. Jewelry is likely to be engraved and, therefore, provide some dating clues. Books and letters can provide some clue as to the educational status of your family members. Toys and other kinds of collectibles can provide some level of understanding as to the popular past times of the period you are researching.

Once you've located the heirlooms that are valuable to your research, be sure to store them properly. Light, temperature changes in any extreme, insects, moisture, dust, and mold are all real problems with object storage. Be sure to choose a storage location and container that is free from these problems. Before you do any sort of cleaning or displaying, be sure that you know how to best care for the type of object you are dealing with. Sometimes simply handling an object can destroy it. Do a bit of research on how best to deal with your particular object or consult a conservator. Once you've determined how to handle the object, clean it carefully, and choose the best method of display for it. Be sure to let relatives know, whether in person or on paper, a little about the object. After all, the secret treasure shouldn't go to the grave with you as it did with your ancestors.

Once you've found your family heirlooms, work on researching your own memories. Start by making a simple family tree with birth dates, death dates, and any other information you can come up with. Start with you and your children and work back as far as you possibly can. This list, no matter how incomplete, will help you decide where you have gaps in your information and where you need to start your research. Once you've made your list, consult a few other relatives to determine where you are correct or to fill in the missing pieces.

This brings us to our next step: interviewing family members. You should not only interview them to discover the basic information, you should also interview them to assemble some sense of oral history: a story of their lives from their perspectives. Remember that open ended questions get the best responses, and try to be respectful at all times.

One thing you should consider as you begin the path to family research is looking at what others have done before you. If you already know someone in your family who is working on a family tree, contact them to share notes. You might also try looking at places like the World Family Tree to see what has been submitted about your family lines.

Discovering your ancestral roots can be a challenging process, but it is usually well worth the information in the end

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