Top 5 Tips for finding out about your family history

1. Desire. Yes that might sound funny but without a desire to learn about your family history when you hit a road block in your research you will be quick to give up. With desire you can work thru these road blocks and feel a sense of pride.

2. Gather all the useful information you can from close relatives. When I began my search I started with my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins and branched out. I did use several online resources too. In a future email I will recommend some of my favorites for research. I do want you to keep in mind that not all information published on the internet is correct; you do need to verify it. But when you start expanding on your family tree it will be like opening a treasure box and finding hidden gems.

3. This one touches on tip 2. As you expand your research you will likely find some online who are searching for the same person. Communicate with these ones, yes Team up. When looking for these hidden treasures the more involved the better and quicker the find. Granted family genealogy research does involve study and is time consuming; but I use time I could be wasting watching TV to do my research. I started with 80 in my tree and now have over a 1,000 and have discovered much about my family’s history. Most of all it has been FUN.

4. There are many online databases you can use for FREE. We all love free. So in a few days be sure to check your email from me as I will be sharing some of the top FREE sites you can use in your research.

5. When beginning your online search, look for absurd records. What do I mean? You cannot trace your family history if the information you get is not clear. When looking at record indexes you need to study the descriptions listed on the records. For census records time and place are very important. These records are available many times in scanned originals so you can not only see the clearly written content on the internet, but view the original handwritten documents.

BONUS TIP

HAVE FUN, Yes enjoy your research, you never know who you may be related to, or what impact your family had on history.

Enjoy your research

Sandy

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