Family History: Tips When Searching for You Family Genealogy

Have you ever wondered what some of the best ways are to start a genealogy search on your family? Have you started a search and are now at a loss as to what to do next? There are several things you can do to make sure that you get all the information that you need, along with the best information out there on your immediate family and your extended family.

As always the best thing that you can do when starting a genealogy search on your family is to talk to your family. Talk to grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and anyone else that may have info on your family. The best thing I had to work with was a hand written family tree that my Grandmother started years ago. Thinking back to her stories, referring to the family tree she had started, and remembering back to family I had met when I was younger. My Grandmother's family tree, and album also helped and still helps because she also made a section with birthdays and deaths in the family. She also included her most current list of phone numbers and addresses for that time.

Next, try a simple search online. Use several different search sites to find different information on your family name, name meanings, and origins. You will more then likely come across sites such as ancestry.com, and genealogy.com. They are wonderful resources to trace immigration records, census records, social security information, and loads of other useful info when doing your search. Given some of the sites will charge you after a free trail but they are usually most useful as well. It also helps if you can find some sites that already have family trees started by other people. Sometimes you can find names and dates that match something that you already know from your family. This way you can contact the person that started the online family tree and compare notes so to speak.

Keep in mind that you can go to your County Courthouse or any County Courthouse and go to the Clerk of Courts office and find tons of information. This may require some traveling, but is also well worth the effort. There is lots of information that you can view and copy without a cost to you. Something's may cost a small fee, like if you want a copy of a birth certificate or a death certificate. You may also be able to find the location where some of your deceased family is buried in the area. This leads into another search.

If you find death records and burial site records then you can travel to these sites and photograph headstones, markers, and cemetery names to make an extensive list for future use. You can also take thin art paper, and a pencil or some charcoal pens and etch the information onto the paper by taping your art paper to headstones and going across the wording with your pencil or charcoal. If you do this, once you are home you can laminate the paper and add that to your files.

When you get down to making a family tree or a family list start with the information from the earliest dates that you have. Place the name of your family member, their spouse, with any children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and so on. If you have the birth and death dates add those beside their names. Come up with a method that works for you, but keep it workable. By this I mean keep it neat and clean so that you can make changes if needed, and keep it in a specific order so that there is a flow to the information that makes sense. You want your information to be as clear as possible so that in later years someone could look at it and be clear as to the meaning, and they could pick up where you left off if necessary. The last thing you want is to find that some of your information is backwards or wrong and then have to start all over again. Your lists and information can become quite extensive very quickly, so you do not want to have to start over too many times.

If you are able to trace your family back to another country and want information from that area you have a few options. The most expensive but the most beneficial of course would be to personally travel to these locations to do your own research. However, that is not always an option. The next best thing would be to find some extended family in that area and get in contact with them. Ask them about any information that they have, compare notes, and work together in your respective areas to gather more information to help each other. You can also research the area and find out how to get records from certain areas. Get in contact with these people and request the information. If there is a fee next day a money order, check, or do a payment over the phone if they are set-up to take this type of payment. But, please be careful when doing this, be sure that you are dealing with a reputable person, and are not paying for something that you will not receive.

There are now new options to start tracing your family history and background. One of which is tracing your family origins and background with DNA. As you know there have been many technological advances in DNA and other sciences. You can now use this technology to your advantage. You can order a kit from DNA Ancestory Project and provide them with a DNA sample. They then do a work-up of your DNA and give you information about "which part of the world your ancestors originated, what their race was, and where they have scattered throughout the world." You can also find out if any other people with the same last name as you are participating in the DNA Surname Projects. This is my personal next step in the near future.

Good luck in your family search and remember to keep a clean record of your findings.

Some resources for you to check in your search are listed below.

1. DNA Ancestory Project

2. Ancestry.com

3. Genealogy.com

4. Family Search

5. Death and Obituaries Search