There are a lot of
genealogy Do’s and Don’ts lists out there. But I’m going to give you my
personal list of them when your going to start a family tree.
Do’s
1. Start with what you know: start with yourself and your family and work on the tree that you have the most to go on first.
2. Talk to all older living relatives: Take notes, video tape or record the conversation. Have questions ready before you go. There are alot of great books out there that can give you ideas for questions. I actually made up notebooks with questions and mailed them to relatives to fill out.
3. Do your research before you visit a court house, cemetery, library or any facility. Know the hours, charges and time allowed to research. Have all the information you want to search ready so you’re not wasting time shuffling through your papers. See what technology is allowed there too. Can you take pictures or scan items while your there?
4. Look through family photos: Ask your relatives if you can talk with them and go through photographs, they tell a great story. If you find significant photos that can help you, ask if you can have a copy made or scan them.
5. Documents: Start with death certificates. They are the most recent document made of a person, but remember it’s information is only as good as the family member filling out the paper work. Then look for Marriage and birth certificates.
6. If several family members lived in a certain county or township, research the history. You can find a lot of valuable information from local books that are published for anniversaries or celebrations for the areas. Check the church records too.
7. If you find a family member was in the military, DO order their military records. You can find some on-line but if you order their records you can really get a lot of information. You can even get lucky to get personal letters. There is usually personal descriptions too.
8. If there is one type of document you choose to concentrate on, make it census papers. They tell a huge story! Names, address, occupations, immigration, etc. Then you can move forward with the information obtained.
9. When you have a good start, and then start to enter the information into a computer program. Stay organized. Organize your folders first on your computer as well. File by names and categories within those names.
Do’s
1. Start with what you know: start with yourself and your family and work on the tree that you have the most to go on first.
2. Talk to all older living relatives: Take notes, video tape or record the conversation. Have questions ready before you go. There are alot of great books out there that can give you ideas for questions. I actually made up notebooks with questions and mailed them to relatives to fill out.
3. Do your research before you visit a court house, cemetery, library or any facility. Know the hours, charges and time allowed to research. Have all the information you want to search ready so you’re not wasting time shuffling through your papers. See what technology is allowed there too. Can you take pictures or scan items while your there?
4. Look through family photos: Ask your relatives if you can talk with them and go through photographs, they tell a great story. If you find significant photos that can help you, ask if you can have a copy made or scan them.
5. Documents: Start with death certificates. They are the most recent document made of a person, but remember it’s information is only as good as the family member filling out the paper work. Then look for Marriage and birth certificates.
6. If several family members lived in a certain county or township, research the history. You can find a lot of valuable information from local books that are published for anniversaries or celebrations for the areas. Check the church records too.
7. If you find a family member was in the military, DO order their military records. You can find some on-line but if you order their records you can really get a lot of information. You can even get lucky to get personal letters. There is usually personal descriptions too.
8. If there is one type of document you choose to concentrate on, make it census papers. They tell a huge story! Names, address, occupations, immigration, etc. Then you can move forward with the information obtained.
9. When you have a good start, and then start to enter the information into a computer program. Stay organized. Organize your folders first on your computer as well. File by names and categories within those names.
10. If you start to keep your information on a computer…..back it up!
Don’ts
1. Don’t just copy it; source it! Give credit, when credit is due! When I first started I didn't do this and it got me messed up when i wanted to correct items or give them more information.
2. Don’t buy a subscription to a website off the start: there are a lot of free sites to get you going for a long time.
3. Don’t put off talking to relatives because time is ticking away and you may wish you had asked that person a question, and they could be the only ones with the answer! Some members may not want to just sit and talk, but start the conversation about a particular subject, maybe family vacations. That can give you a trail to other relatives.
4. Don’t go to a cemetery unprepared. Know what type of cemetery it is. Make sure it’s in a safe location. If it is in the woods, make sure its not hunting season! Make sure you have a digital camera or enough film; you may decide to photograph the entire cemetery.
5. Don’t waste a lot of time looking for birth certificates. If you hit a brick wall there may be a reason. The person might have been born in a time period where they didn’t need to fill out a birth certificate. If they lived far away from the county seat, they might not have wanted to travel that far to do this.
6. Don’t just collect information, write it down, and stick it in a book. Be organized from the start because when you want to find something later, you will be able to find it easily. Organized by last name is the key!
7. Don’t change your information because someone else tells you its wrong. Look at your source on where you found it, maybe you have a document to back it up and the other person is wrong instead. Share information and figure out the correct path.
8. Don’t pass up a hunch. If you find information but don’t have something to back it up, just make note of it, because later on, you may find what you need. Hunches are the starting point to most conclusions!
9. Don’t just collect names and dates! This might appeal to some who are just interested in the number of names they can collect, but real genealogy is finding the stories, pictures and documents to support the names and dates.
10. Don’t pass up help. Yes it is fun to find stuff yourself, but you can’t do it alone.
Don’ts
1. Don’t just copy it; source it! Give credit, when credit is due! When I first started I didn't do this and it got me messed up when i wanted to correct items or give them more information.
2. Don’t buy a subscription to a website off the start: there are a lot of free sites to get you going for a long time.
3. Don’t put off talking to relatives because time is ticking away and you may wish you had asked that person a question, and they could be the only ones with the answer! Some members may not want to just sit and talk, but start the conversation about a particular subject, maybe family vacations. That can give you a trail to other relatives.
4. Don’t go to a cemetery unprepared. Know what type of cemetery it is. Make sure it’s in a safe location. If it is in the woods, make sure its not hunting season! Make sure you have a digital camera or enough film; you may decide to photograph the entire cemetery.
5. Don’t waste a lot of time looking for birth certificates. If you hit a brick wall there may be a reason. The person might have been born in a time period where they didn’t need to fill out a birth certificate. If they lived far away from the county seat, they might not have wanted to travel that far to do this.
6. Don’t just collect information, write it down, and stick it in a book. Be organized from the start because when you want to find something later, you will be able to find it easily. Organized by last name is the key!
7. Don’t change your information because someone else tells you its wrong. Look at your source on where you found it, maybe you have a document to back it up and the other person is wrong instead. Share information and figure out the correct path.
8. Don’t pass up a hunch. If you find information but don’t have something to back it up, just make note of it, because later on, you may find what you need. Hunches are the starting point to most conclusions!
9. Don’t just collect names and dates! This might appeal to some who are just interested in the number of names they can collect, but real genealogy is finding the stories, pictures and documents to support the names and dates.
10. Don’t pass up help. Yes it is fun to find stuff yourself, but you can’t do it alone.
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