4 incredibly effective tips to help you start your ancestry research

4 incredibly effective tips to help you start your ancestry research

Ancestry research can be an exciting and rewarding experience. Evaluating who your ancestors were, where they lived and what they did for their living can provide a very strong sense of connection with history. Ancestry research is a step-by-step process based on logical thought and conclusions. To help you along that path, we have put together a list of ten top tips for success.

Tip 1 – Record your searches

You would also be required to record what you have looked for, especially if you haven’t found anything. If a specific record makes no mention of your ancestor, it is easy to simply not record the fact that you have looked at it. But, in a few months or years time you may return to that record and not recall that it has already been searched. Therefore to avoid duplicating searches and wasting your time, you should always note down details of all of entire family tree research you have undertaken and the records you have consulted, whether the results are positive or not.

Tip 2 – Work as effectively as possible

A lot of records are now being made available online and the internet has revolutionised family tree research. This can now be carried out much more quickly and also from the comfort of your own home. It is therefore quite imperative to discover what information is available online and what information still has to be sought in person in the various archives and record offices. As with any transcribed and indexed material it is good practise to make sure that you also check with the original documents if at all possible to make sure that the online details for your family tree research are correct.

Tip 3 – Share your findings

Another advantage of researching on My Genealogy is, of course, discovering members of your extended family. 2nd, 3rd and 4th cousins whose relatives have long since lost contact can soon be reunited. By sharing the results of my genealogy research with my family, and the wider genealogical community, I will encounter other people who have also been working on the same ancestry.

Tip 4 – Join a family history society

Tens of hundreds of family history societies are there around the world, and it can be helpful to join the one which covers the area from where your ancestors originated. Similarly, you may also want to join the society in the area where you live so that you can attend their meetings. The communities do a lot of work making records from their locality available for researchers and they also provide a useful forum for swapping information and research. These also generally have an interesting education and lecture program from which you can learn about new research skills and sources.

If you would like someone to help you with it, contact Jackie at http://familytreesbyjackie.com today.