There was a time when tracing your family history was difficult and expensive. You had to go to courthouses to look up information and travel to different areas of the country to get access to vital statistics. Most people didn't have the time or the money it took to do that. Everything is different today. All you need is a computer and a place to start. You can even find out where ancient ancestors lived by submitting DNA samples. If you have decided to become your family's historian and are interested in what genealogy records are available to help you, you might want to start with your living relatives.
Those who are lucky to have extended family have a treasure trove of information at their fingertips. Parents, grandparents, and great grandparents are the best place to start when it comes to researching your family history. If you haven't already started, you should really begin to write down the stories they have to tell about their lives. A lot of older relatives have birth, marriage, and death certificates with valuable information.
After you have established some dates, names, and locations for recent ancestors, you might turn to census reports for more information. Every ten years the federal government collects statistical data from every citizen in the United States. It has been doing this for over two hundred years. There is a record of all this information online. You can find out where a family lived, how many people lived under the same roof and how old they were. There is data about annual income and how it was obtained.
Obituaries are a good source of information. Most newspapers have old issues on their websites. Some go back farther than others. You might find some interesting articles about your departed relatives when you do a search of the papers.
Military documents are online and go back to the Revolutionary War. If you don't know much about which side of the various wars your ancestors were on, these could be very eye opening. It is also interesting to see what rank family members held and how long they served. You can find burial information for fallen soldiers, as well as non-military relatives, online. Some have photos of the headstones.
You probably won't be able to get actual copies of documents like birth and death certificates, marriage licenses and wills unless you contact local registrar's offices. For just a few dollars they will send you the data they have. Old wills are especially interesting to read.
It probably won't take you long to realize that spelling was a more a matter of education and pronunciation years ago than it is now. This can make it difficult to determine whether or not you are researching the right person. You should keep in mind that not all legal documents are accurate. People bend the truth all the time, and even the best clerks make mistakes.
Learning more about your past and the generations that came before you can be fascinating. You might find you have relatives with interesting and unusual lives.
Those who are lucky to have extended family have a treasure trove of information at their fingertips. Parents, grandparents, and great grandparents are the best place to start when it comes to researching your family history. If you haven't already started, you should really begin to write down the stories they have to tell about their lives. A lot of older relatives have birth, marriage, and death certificates with valuable information.
After you have established some dates, names, and locations for recent ancestors, you might turn to census reports for more information. Every ten years the federal government collects statistical data from every citizen in the United States. It has been doing this for over two hundred years. There is a record of all this information online. You can find out where a family lived, how many people lived under the same roof and how old they were. There is data about annual income and how it was obtained.
Obituaries are a good source of information. Most newspapers have old issues on their websites. Some go back farther than others. You might find some interesting articles about your departed relatives when you do a search of the papers.
Military documents are online and go back to the Revolutionary War. If you don't know much about which side of the various wars your ancestors were on, these could be very eye opening. It is also interesting to see what rank family members held and how long they served. You can find burial information for fallen soldiers, as well as non-military relatives, online. Some have photos of the headstones.
You probably won't be able to get actual copies of documents like birth and death certificates, marriage licenses and wills unless you contact local registrar's offices. For just a few dollars they will send you the data they have. Old wills are especially interesting to read.
It probably won't take you long to realize that spelling was a more a matter of education and pronunciation years ago than it is now. This can make it difficult to determine whether or not you are researching the right person. You should keep in mind that not all legal documents are accurate. People bend the truth all the time, and even the best clerks make mistakes.
Learning more about your past and the generations that came before you can be fascinating. You might find you have relatives with interesting and unusual lives.
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