One of my great passions in life is tracing my family history. I was always curious about where I came from, what the people were like in my family before me. I loved to hear my father tell me stories of his childhood and swimming in the Irish Sea before his family emigrated from Belfast, Ireland to set sail for the United States. Why did they decide to leave their home to set out and start anew in another country? Then of course there was my mother and her family that are supposedly linked to Abraham Lincoln, and her stories of growing up without knowing her father and the hardships both of them faced to become the wonderful parents and the people that I loved.
In 1983, I decided to start with my father when we moved home from the state of Indiana back to Pennsylvania. I spent a week with him writing down the basics, which is the best place to start. Find out as much information as you can. Get the names of your parents along with their birthdays, where they were born, and where they had lived, significant events of history. Then move from there to their parents and their siblings. You will need the names of the spouses and children with as much information as you can get to start your work tracing your family. Unfortunately for me, my father was already eighty-years-old and he died at the end of that first week. But I will always treasure that time I had with him to learn more about his family and where he had come from and how it had influenced him.
After his death, I found an address book that had some Mackeys written in who were from Canada and Ireland. I wrote to them and received a couple of responses. Then, with their help, I was able to gather the above information from them to connect them to my father. All of a sudden, I had almost three generations of family that I was able to begin research and find the history of the times and places they had lived. My great grandfather was an Irish soldier in the British royal infantry. I found out that he had lived all over the world in the late 1800s. My grandfather had been born in England, his brothers in Hong Kong and Malta, his sisters born aboard a ship in Africa, and last in Belfast where my father had been born. What that world must have been like and the sights my great grandfather had seen.
You, too, can start your adventure into your past by beginning to interview your relatives. Get as much information as you can, names dates, places of residence, and significant parts of history that they have witnessed and how they felt about the changes. Don’t worry if you’re missing information. You are simply laying the foundation for your family history adventure.
After you have written all this information down you can get the following free forms off the Internet, Pedigree (Ancestral) Chart, Family Group Sheet, Research Log (Calendar), and Research Extract. These can be found at almost any genealogical site but I use ancestry.com.
At that site you can start your family tree free of charge as a guest with weekly newsletters and helpful hints to get you started.
This way you can start your own genealogy kit. Before embarking on any project, it is wise to make sure you have all of the parts and tools you will need ahead of time. This is true whether you are cooking, making crafts, or assembling something you have bought, and it applies to family history as well. By having the proper tools available at the start, it is easy to stay organized and maintain good research habits. Below is a list of some items that could be part of a good genealogy starter kit.
Research Notebook
You will accumulate a vast amount of information during the course of your search, it is important to maintain good organization so that we can find the information you seek when we need it. But it is impractical to think that we can lug all of our folders or binders full of research with us when we need it most-on research trips outside the house. But if we have the basics with us in the form of pedigree charts and family group sheets, we can at least take with us the essentials. These would include the charts that I spoke about above.
Research Log/Calendar
Keeping a research log is one of the most important practices you will need to learn. I keep my most recent logs on index cards so I can take them with me easily. I write down the names and dates of each individual and some items that I am looking for which can include birth certificates, wills, obituaries, etc., anything that would lead me to my next clue and the next step in my journey. I take a notebook with blank pages as well as blank charts and fill them in as I find the source. Always make sure you make a copy of the source or document it as well as you can. This goes along way in proving the facts. When I return home I take out any copies of information I have found and put it in a folder with that person’s name and keep it in my file cabinet making sure I add the information to my index card for my next adventure. The logs are very helpful in planning research trips. As I plan for an excursion using online catalogs, I reference these logs to make sure I don’t plan to duplicate previous efforts. Use them to outline your game plan if you are doing research outside your home . As I find items in the library’s catalog, I use the forms to keep track of the sources I wish to search. Then when I get to the library, I have my “wish list” handy, complete with call/microfilm numbers. As I go down the list in my log, I just enter the date and results of my search.
Genealogical Computing Supplies
We live in a great time for family history researchers. We have some wonderful software programs designed to make our work much easier. While some of these programs can be a bit pricey, there are some great options for those on even the tightest budget. There are even some, like Personal Ancestral File (PAF), that are available free of charge at ancestry.com. There are several online options available as well that are also free of charge. The Online Family Tree software at ancestry.com allows users to post their family data online with no software necessary. These provide a great alternative to those with limited space on their computers. The information can be entered manually. Then as you get used to using the program you will lean how you can upload information from your computer directly on line through a GEDCOM file. Its multi-user functionality allows users to collaborate with others interested in the same lines. An additional benefit is that the information can be viewed from any computer with Internet access, and since many libraries now offer this service, it is another great way to bring your research with you.
Filing System
It is important to set up a good filing system before the masses of paper begin taking over your house . You will need file folders, notebooks, archival-quality sleeves to preserve important documents and photographs, file cabinets and/or file boxes, and a number of other office supplies to get started. These can usually be found easily at your local office supply store
Supplies “To-Go”
When you go out to research, there are other supplies you should keep ready so that things aren’t forgotten. Your “to-go” supplies should include change for copies, pencils, and paper for taking notes. Research extract forms are also handy to have for items that cannot be photocopied. Loose supplies should be in a pencil case or something similar that can be included in your research binder in the event that you need to leave your bag or briefcase in a locker. It is best to check the Web site of the facility or call to find out what restrictions there are on items that can or can’t be brought in. Most libraries have genealogical sections and the librarian can tech you had to access the information you need.
Wrapping It Up
The key in having a genealogy tool kit is to make your research easier and therefore more effective. You will save research time by reviewing what you have already found, and you’ll be able to set goals and determine what your next step should be. When it comes right down to it, using the right tools will really make your research begin to come together!
I know that after finding the addresses in my mother and father’s notebook started me on an incredible journey twenty-six years ago. My cousin in Canada wrote me beautiful stories of family as he remembered them before he left Ireland for Canada in 1966. Many were stories my dad had told when I was a little girl, only he had never used names and we thought they were just some of his blarney stories. Instead I came to find out they were stories about real people, what they were like and how they face the world and made me who I am. My mother died eight months later. In doing my research it helped me through the grief of their loss as I uncovered many things about them that I never know. Take the time and start you journey before you lose some of your history in the people you love that alive right now. Enjoy every step of that journey as I have done.