LESSON 1 – THE INTRODUCTION Doing genealogical research today has grown by leaps and bounds. For many of us coming from the “olden” days, we have a tendency to envy how much easier it is today for the newer researchers and concern about how easy it does appear! With the internet allowing availability to research records from thousands of miles away comes a problem too. Oh, I love seeing source records on line! In the past we spent hours in a dark room, scrunched over a microfilm reader which had seen it’s better days (with stiff necks and bleary eyes), or trying to talk our spouse or family into driving hundreds of miles to visit a library and walking through tick infested cemeteries trying to locate a stone for our ancestor. But, with the internet comes problems which we will discuss later on in the series. I want to take you step by step through available records, what we can find from them, and why they are important. I won’t give you a pep talk about how important it is to preserve our family’s history, or, contrary to public opinion, tell you that everything will fall in your lap in one fell swoop! I enjoy watching “Who Do You Think You Are?” presented by ancestry.com just like the rest of you. I fear the only problem with the series (for which I commend them) is that in a one-hour program, the celebrity has been able to trace their family tree back to the 1500’s, meet their relatives, jet all over the world and the researchers helping them just happen to spin the microfilm to the right page or the old faded book to the exact name. I wish there would be a series where the average Joe or Jane is shown digging through records and not finding them or following a false lead and having to start over. But, it is encouraging people to start researching. We are going to do it the old fashioned way here until the final lessons when I hope to touch on internet research. Let’s start on some basic supplies you need to have on hand. Yes, back to elementary school here. But, as I’ve learned over the years, I didn’t follow these rules always and cost myself sometimes years of information. I don’t mind if you use the internet if these records are on line, but we’re dealing with source data, not someone’s family tree you found on line. 1 – Pedigree charts. There are sites on the internet where you can print off blank forms. Even though these forms might be considered old fashioned, they will save you time. You can fill in as you find information, re-do if you’ve tracked the wrong family. See the end of this topic for the link to forms. 2 – Family charts. If one is researching on-line or in a library, this is an easy way to sort out the family. It is another work sheet for you to add to, delete. You will likely find conflicting data during your searches and to keep your John Smiths and Ann Jones sorted out, this is a great place. 3 – A software genealogy program. If you haven’t invested in a software genealogy program, you’re making yourself a lot of extra work and the papers will stack up. There are many excellent programs on the market, most very reasonably priced now. I still fill out information first on paper where I can make a lot of primary changes and then when I think (remember the word think!) I have a family pegged, I’ll enter it on my genealogy program. Most software programs accomplish the same thing and allow a large number of reports to be printed, a book to be printed and indexed from your entries, relationship charts, additions, deletions of family member and notes. You just want one that is user friendly! If it’s so complicated that it is taking all your time trying to figure it out, try a different program. I won’t recommend a program here, but ask your researching friends, check it out on-line to see what it can and can’t do and it’s price and do some comparative shopping. 4 – a way of tracking where you’ve been, what you found and the source of every record you copied! This was my downfall. When I visited a library and made photocopies, I knew that I’d remember where I’d found it. Oh no. I’ve lived in 5 states and many towns over the years. I’d pull out a piece of paper that I hadn’t had time to enter on my records at the time and went totally blank on where I had obtained it. I forgot to note down the names of books, page numbers, author and where I’d found it. I several times had to re-do the work again wasting valuable time. Was it at the St. Louis Public Library, The Dallas Public Library, a Family History Library, did someone mail it to me? So start out prepared. A little notebook to stick in your purse or briefcase, by the computer. Now that we’ve covered the introduction, next week we’ll look at various sources. We’ll be covering the census records, birth and death records, obituaries, cemetery records, funeral home records, wills, tax records, marriage records, deed and land record books, County order books, church minute books, biographical accounts, Circuit Court records, Bible records and miscellaneous other records, interviewing family members and more. As a family researcher you will soon find that you become a detective, a time traveler, and likely will “go where no man has gone before”! Next week we’ll go over census records. Blank forms available at: <http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/get_started/charts_forms.html>http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/get_started/charts_forms.html. Here you will find census records for every available year, family sheets, research records, family group sheets, etc. There is no charge. © Copyright 29 June 2012, Sandra K. 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