Digging up Your Family Roots: Part 1

Digging up Your Family Roots: Part 1

You’ve begun delving into your family history. You’ve already filled in all the names of your great-grandparents on your family tree. You’ve begun collecting the legal documents that record the milestones of your ancestors’ lives: birth, marriage and death certificates. You’ve even located your family in a few census records. But before you push further back, why not stop and really get to know these people? After all, that’s the purpose of tracing your family roots: knowing more about your ancestors. If you have names, dates and records through your great-grandparents, you have fifteen lineal ancestors to get to know, both living and dead. To get to know your deceased ancestors better, you have to dig deeper on the paper trail. To better acquaint yourself with your living ancestors, start conducting oral history interviews. Both of these techniques are explained in more depth in this set of articles. Part one will discuss digging deeper on the paper trail, while part two is an introduction to conducting oral history interviews. Digging up Your Family Roots: Filling in Your Ancestors’ Lives Documentary support is vital in genealogical research. Even the oral histories of your living relatives will require supporting documents, which they would hopefully be able to provide for you. While these documents include things like birth, marriage and death certificates, it will involve more than just these documents to get to know your deceased ancestors better. This part of your research might begin with your oldest living relative. He or she might be able to tell you of books or newspaper articles mentioning relatives, even if he or she doesn’t have copies of them. The resources your relatives share with you are also a good starting place, including newspaper clippings, photos, books, Bibles, journals, etc. Newspapers are an excellent resource. If your relatives have provided you with clippings describing a big event, locate the actual newspapers (usually on microfilm or microfiche by now) and search the following days for follow-up stories. For example, I have a great-great-great uncle who was a police officer. He was shot and killed in the line of duty. Not only do we have newspaper records of the stories about him, but we also have stories about the criminal who shot him: the pursuit, the murder of my relative, the shootout, the dynamiting of his hideout, the holding cell, the trial. This event happened nearly a century ago, yet we have it well documented. The Internet is a good place to start your search. Search engines may be able to provide reliable and helpful information, or even photographs of ancestors. However, as with all things on the Internet, don’t trust everything you read, and do record the URL or source of all information. To find newspaper clippings offline, use indexes of newspapers from areas where your relatives lived. An excellent resource might be the obituary of deceased relatives. You’ve already gathered the death date and place, so you know where and when to look to find the obituary in their local newspaper. Many places are served by more than one newspaper, so search all those you can find. The availability of other milestones like birth, engagement and wedding announcements vary, but try to find those as well. If possible, search for your surname in the newspaper index. Be sure to check for “alternative” spellings of your last name as well. Newspaper resources are only one resource. Military, probate, immigration, court, deed, and church records are each invaluable sources of information. It might be wise to employ a professional genealogy research service to help you with these aspects of your family history. Not only will this save you time, but you can benefit from professional genealogists’ years of experience. Professional genealogy research can be well worth the cost when it means that you get to spend more time reading about your ancestors and getting to know them and less time looking for your resources and getting to know the archives. The largest repository of genealogical data is the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City, Utah. Run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this resource can be a one-stop genealogical gold mine. However, traveling to Salt Lake may not be in your budget. Retaining the services of a professional genealogy researcher located near the FHL is another way to take advantage of the millions of records found there. Real family history research is more than recording names and dates. Digging up your family roots is more than gathering birth, marriage and death certificates. The goal of family history is coming to know your ancestors better. Start getting acquainted by fleshing out your family roots for both your living and dead ancestors.

15 Resources For Tracing Your Family Ancestry

If you're like me, when you were young, looking beyond your mother and father to find out where you came from just wasn't important.

Well, I've found that the older you get, the more important your ancestry becomes. I'm not sure why. Maybe I have a broader perspective on things now. Maybe I'm just curious as to whether there was nobility in my family. Perhaps I'm looking for some closet skeletons.

Whatever my reasons, I do find tracing my ancestry fascinating. It is so interesting to learn about other people--how they lived, what they did, who they knew. But I've also learned along the way that most people haven't a clue what resources are available to them beyond the usual - interviewing family, checking birth certificates and newspapers, etc.

So here I've compiled a list of 25 resources you should take advantage of if you're really serious about finding out "where you came from."

1.The obvious, of course, is interviewing family members; not only mom and dad, but aunts, uncles, distant cousins. Start by drawing a quick family tree going back just two generations and start making calls or sending mail or emails. Here are some of the basic things you'll want to know:

Complete names (married and maiden names)

Addresses throughout their live

Birth records

Military service (when and where)

Marriage records (even attendants, if possible)

Property records (state and county)

Burial records (where)

Old pictures, especially if they have names and dates

2.Family bibles. While it doesn't seem to be such a common practice these days, in the past, families kept their bible forever, often keeping record of family members, births, marriages, and deaths on pages within the bible.

3.Old family letters. Once again, with technology, we've all but lost the art of letter writing (what will our own children and grand children have to look back on in years to come?). But older generations tended to preserve letters of importance. These letters can oftentimes be of great value in tracing your ancestry. They may contain important dates, facts, and places that will be of help. Check return addresses and postmarks for information.

4.Legal documents are a great resource. Such documents include deeds (property addresses), wills (names of kin you may not have known about), marriage licenses (note the witnesses), birth certificates, voter registration, adoption records, and even judgements. Your search for these documents should begin with state and county records.

5.What about associations your ancestors may have belonged to? These would include churches, clubs, veterans groups and lodges, all of which may be able to provide background information for your search.

6.Census data. After 1840 the Census collected age, place of birth, occupation, personal wealth, education, spouse, children, hired hands, and even immigration information. Copies of the original decennial census forms from 1790 through 1930 are available on microfilm for research at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC (http://www.archives.gov/), at Archives regional centers, and at select Federal depository libraries throughout the United States.

7.Naturalizations records.
For Pre-1906 Naturalizations:
Contact the State Archives for the state where the naturalization occurred to request a search of state, county, and local courts records.

Contact the NARA regional facility that serves the state where naturalization occurred to request a search of Federal court records.

For Naturalizations After 1906:
After 1906, the courts forwarded copies of naturalizations to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Naturalizations from Federal Courts are held in the NARA's regional facilities for the Federal courts for their area. Learn more: http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/naturalization/

8.Grave sites. Headstones will give dates and possible family names.

9.Libraries. Here you'll find newspaper articles (look for obituaries, and birth and marriage announcements) and books on local history (what was taking place during their life). Many libraries can be accessed online. You will also find genealogy information in several libraries, the Allen County Public Library in Indiana having the second largest genealogical collection in the US. Another good source is the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT.

10.Genealogy message boards. Google "genealogy message boards" and join in--you'll find a wealth of information available!

11.Military records. You'll find several sources online, including NARA (http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/).

12.High school and college yearbooks. These sources can help locate a relative or provide other resources for your search. Check online.

13.Family pedigrees. These are family groups already linked in a computer system. Accessing an individual's family group sheet in a linked pedigree will also give you access to all of the records that are linked to that individual. Two great sources are Kindred Connections (http://www.kindredkonnections.com/index.html) and the Family History Library (http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHL/frameset_library.asp).

14.U.S. Immigration records. Two great sources are Ellis Island Records (http://www.ellisislandrecords.org/) and Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/default.aspx?rt=40)

15.Social Security Death Index. This is a database of people whose deaths were reported to the Social Security Administration (SSA) beginning about 1962. The best source is RootsWeb.com (http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/?o_xid=0028727949&o_lid=0028727949&o_xt=41534187).

Now that you're all grown up and interested in finding your "roots", these 15 resources should get you well on your way. It'll be a fun and rewarding adventure.