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How to Start Your Family History
- Using a blank Pedigree Chart, write down what you already know
about your family. Start with yourself and your family. If you do not know the
exact dates and places, estimate them.
- Review what is missing. Family History, or Genealogy, is filling in
the blanks. Circle any missing or incomplete information on your worksheet.
Make up your mind what you want to find first.
- Gather Your Records: Find out what information already exists.
Start with the records in your possession and gather them into one place.
Organize them, and see what family history you already have.
- Talk to your family: Talk to relatives or family friends. Record
any useful information or stories they provide. Ask about copies of birth,
marriage and death certificates, journals, diaries, letters, photos, and other
records that might be available.
- Search other Sources: If you have a computer it is often helpful to
visit family history Web sites on the internet. For example, the FamilySearch™
Web site at www.familysearch.org
provides access to millions of names, dates and other worthwhile information.
FamilySearch™ can also connect you to other useful family history Web sites
and resources. These Web sites often provide additional valuable family
history information.
- Visit a family history center near you to receive free help on how
to use FamilySearch, evaluate the information you find on the Internet, and
get free research assistance. Staff members will gladly help you with your
research questions. For the location of a center near you go to
www.familysearch.org or call
1-800-346-6044 (inside the United States and Canada) and ask for family
history center support.
- Share what you have and decide what you want to do next. After you
have organized your information, make copies of family charts, photographs and
stories. Share them with other family members. This ensures that your family
information is preserved and may help to interest other family members in
their family history. Using what you have gathered, decide what you would like
to do next. Decide which ancestors you would like to know more about and where
you might find additional information about them. You could also leave a
written history of yourself for family members and posterity.
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