Is it time to begin your family tree research?

Has something come into the fore in recent times that’s made you decide the moment has come to embark on one of life’s biggest projects that will mean so much – are you about to tackle your family tree research? If so, we have gathered 6 tips to help you on your researching way – it’s certainly going to be a journey of highs and lows, breakthroughs and lulls, but this is a commitment that will enable you to understand who you and your family really are.

1. Write it all down and begin your family tree research

Start by writing information closest to you, all the things that you know straight away without having to research. This may be an idea to buy a long roll of paper and set it up somewhere in the house to start visually building a diagram of what your family tree already.

2. Collate information

Information such as dates, places of marriage, births and deaths, will be a great place to start and geography will play an important part in your future research too.

Another tip when collating information is to gather sentimental objects from your family’s past – documents such as birth certificates, wills and military service papers can start to fill in early stage gaps.

3. Read ‘how to’ books

Read a collection of ‘how to’ do my genealogy, you don’t need to read the entire book, just gather facts and advice that will help you make progress, and inevitably, make you feel in control. The more details you have the more confidence you will gain.

4. Collect family stories

Speak to everyone in the family by gathering personal stories and anecdotes about my genealogy. You can spend your time reminiscing, which should bring lots of relevant and interesting facts into the search. Family members can be a wealth of knowledge, remember to start with parents, aunts and uncles, and then work back a generation if you can. Speaking to your grandparents can open up a whole new world of information too, as they are the passage-way to finding out about the unknown generations of my genealogy.

5. Help and guidance

There are some pretty good websites, blogs and networking options for ancestry research online, to find these out start by searching on social media via some genealogist’s pages. Various communities are there on the web and you can utilise these to help guide you through this researching frenzy. Another option is to find a local genealogical society or family history event in your area. Attending classes about ancestry research, family history records, and how to avoid brick walls is an important step to finding answers for all levels.

6. Getting started

Using all these tips, each project will be performed in their very own way – with different influences and paths taken. Consider working with us at Story Terrace to write your family memoirs – an option that allows you to create a book of your ancestry research with one of our professional ghost-writers.

Get in touch with Jackie at http://www.familytreesbyjackie.com/ today to share your story.