Step 3: People

So, you've created a tree and have some good resources in order to expand your tree. That's it. That's all you need...Not Quite.

This is the last step before I start elaborating on search methods and tools. I was initially thinking of calling this step Forums, but decided that the true idea behind it is the people that you meet. People are wonderful resources for information. When you did (or just read about) the Home Work on Step 1 you realized the potential in uses other people as a resource. Not all of us are fortunate enough to have elders with memories and stories. Some of you will have limited family members whom you could use as resources. Well, here is how you make up for or add onto that: find other online. In a moment I will talk to you about specific Forum's and methods that have helped me to connect to others, but for now I'll start with a more generalized method.

Pick a name from your tree. It could be a full name, or just a surname. Type this name into:

Google Now you will be given either a very few or lots of, not always helpful, sites that have information of people with that name. After sifting through many sites that don't help you might find one that works for you. A way to simplify that is to type in additional information with the name that you are searching for. I tried typing the name of one of my 2nd ggm (see Step 2 for abbreviation assistance) Anna McKenna into Google. It just so happens that there are many, many Anna McKenna's. When I entered her birth year after her name in the search bar (Anna McKenna, b. 1861) I got results that fit more with what I wanted. However, as with my case, the results might not be to great. How, you might ask, does this connect to people? If you find a website that has information that is compatible with you tree,you should explore the website for information about the person who posted it and do your best to contact them. If and when you contact someone for the first time DON'T give them too much personal information. Start with a brief explanation of how you found there e-mail address and why you are contacting them. For example. "I found your website through Google and I was wondering if I could have some more information on John Smith." Be polite. No one will want to answer back to a rude email. Ask for their sources, so that you could check them yourself, if they are available,or cite them on your tree.

Alright, so that doesn't always yield good results, but I wanted to include it for those of you who are reluctant to put your contact information online (you know who you are). Another method that doesn't involve put contact info online is to search through Rootsweb's World Connect Project. If you type in some search criteria, such as a person's name, birth date, and/or death date you may find information on someone else's tree. Same as above send them a friendly and inquisitive e-mail.

Now to Forums.

This method of contacting others is far more likely to give you results. When you join most forums you will need to include an email address when creating an account. From my experience the benefits of using a forum out weigh the occasional bit of junk mail that sites will send you.

Some sites that have forums:

Rootsweb's forum is broken down by location rather than by surname which can be both useful and problematic at times.

Genealogy.com Genforum lets you search for information via surnames, locations, topics, and with a search feature that will look through all of them for relevant information.

Ancestry.com Message Boards uses a similar style to Genealogy.com's, but in my experience it gives quicker results to posted queries. This is mostly likely due the the traffic on the site. There are paying Ancestry members and free account ancestry members as well as those who get sent to the site by many of their online ads.

There are others, but these are the top three that are not based around a specific geography, nationality, or surname. I use all three of them, but you can start with one at a time.

If your up for it, sign up for at least one Forum.

Pre-Homework:

As of now One Branch at a Time does not have it's own forum, but I would love to make it possible for readers to use each other as a resource.

HomeWork:

Your homework is to type out a list of Surnames that you have information on and/or would like more information on into the comments section of this post. If your lucky you will find someone who can help you.

Steps 2: Research

Look at your simple tree. Some of you will have loads of information and others won't have much. Hopefully your homework paid off and you got more information. Even if it didn't pan out so well, that's ok as long as you tried (and those of you who didn't do the HW really should give it a try).

Now, in order to expand your tree you will need to do some research. If you want one perfect source that has everything you need, then I'd better get off my Griffin and look behind the money-tree for that fiction that is the perfect genealogy research location. Sorry that I'm so blunt, but I started off with assuming that as soon as I started looking I would find all the answers. The reality of it was a wake up call. There are, however, many good places to do your research.

Your Homework for this week will be to start searching using one or more websites that I will provide you with. Before you get to this task or I give you the websites, I will give you some tips on Researching.

Tip 1: When you find something that you find pertinent, what ever it is, make sure you make a note of the information source. I didn't do this at first and have spent many tireless hours re-researching data that I already have just to find the sources.

1a) If you used the free ancestry account and tree, as mentioned in Step 1 then you can enter information about the sources of your data. Go to this screen:
Note: If anyone on my tree appears on yours, I would be happy to share my sources and information with you as long as you ask nicely, cousin.


Hover over the name of the person that you want information on and then click view profile.
You should come to screen which would list details that you have entered about that particular person. Click on the brown "Edit this person" button under the name. Now you should be here:


You can edit names and suffixes, birth and death dates and details in the Vital Information section. If you click the "more options" button (1) on the right you can add a source and/or alternate information. Clicking on "add new life event" (2) will make a drop down menu with a list of options appear (3). Make sure to "Save Changes" (4). Also be sure to explore the other tabs: (5) Facts & Events; (6) Relationship Events; (7) Relationships; and (8) Notes.

1b) If you choose to use Genealogy.com for your simple tree you cannot add sources and will need to use another method of doing so.

1c) If you choose MyHeritage than you can add source info by clicking on the "Family Tree" tab and then clicking "Sources".On the right side of the "Sources" screen you'll find a big blue button labeled "Add Source." Clicking on it will give you a box where you can describe the source. Once you have a Source added you can cite it. Go to the profile page of the person whose information is found on your Source. From the options at the top of the site click people. Clicking on the person's name will bring you to their profile page. Scroll down the profiles until you see:


You can cite your source by clicking "Add Source citations" (in red).

1d) Neither Rootsweb or Family echo will let you add citations


Tip 2: Keep in mind that some websites will assume a person's birth year based on their age. Some documents, such as immigration records, city directories, or censuses don't give a person's birth date, but rather their age at the time that it was written. For example when Julius Grahe, my 3rd Great Grandfather(see shorthand tip below), arrived in America in August 8 of 1855 he was listed as being 32 years old. If his birthday was between January 1st through August 8th that would mean that he was born in 1823. If his birthday was August 9th through December 31st than he was born in 1922.

Tip 3: Be willing to accept that what your family members told you or what you think to be true may be wrong. Sometimes people go by nicknames, or translated names, rather than their birth names so often that their true birth name doesn't appear on official documents. For example my Great Uncle Larry was never called anything but Larry, from my memory of him. I still have his funeral card, which presents his name as Larry. All records that I found of him in America list him as Larry. When I asked my Grandfather, he said that he believed that Larry was short for Laurenzo. Recently I found something that his father had written about his son Leucio. After much comparison of information and finding that my 2nd Great Grandfather was also named Leucio I have come to the conclusion that Larry was born Leucio.

Tip 4: Learn how to read your sources. Many sources will give you information on what their abbreviations represent. Here are some that at used often, but are not universal:

b. - born
d. - died
bur. - buried
bap. - baptized
m. - married
div. - divorced
gm - Grandmother
gf - Grandfather
inf. - infant
dy. - died young
exec - executer
fB - Family Bible
N.N. - not named/name unknown
chldn. - children
w. or wid. - widowed
ggm or 2nd Great Grandmother - Great Great Grandmother
gggf or 3rd Great Grandfather - Great Great Great Grandfather
ggggp or 4the Great Grandparent - Great Great Great Great Grandparent (You get the picture)

Tip 5: People are great resources. Use/join forums to get in contact with people who know more than you. (It would also be nice if you would share your research with others.) Like I said in my little note above, I will gladly share any of my research with anyone if it will help you. Future posts may include branches of my tree.

Tip 6: If you are having trouble, Google can often give you help.

Tip 7: Don't assume that what you find in one source is correct, even if it sounds right. Make sure you have multiple agreeing sources for the same information.

Now I think your ready. It's time to get some good sources. Most of the sites that I link you to are free, however some have parts or may link you to sites that may require payment. Don't pay for anything that you don't have to. If there is something that you really want and can't find anywhere for free, mention it in the comments section below and maybe someone can find you a free source.

Good Luck:

Ellis Island allows you to search for immigrants who came to the US and view original records

Castle Garden was the predecessor of Ellis island. It's records date back as far as 1820. No original records, but a transcription of them.

Census Online links section will send you to view info from US and Canadian censuses (can be useful, but it doesn't have all of the censuses, many links are broken and the originals are not available to look at)

Census Finder same as above but US, Canada, UK, and Native American Censuses

Family Search (My favorite source) Lots of information, some original docs. Some links bring you to pay sites. Most of the information you find will provide you with detailed citation. I trust most (not all) of the information on this site. I could, and probably will, devote an entire post to a site description and manual.

Distant Cousins Some link redirect you to Ancestry.com, but others are free. I make use of the surname research section. Not a lot of information available but there is some if you have somewhat popular surnames to search for.

Find A Grave is nice for finding birth and death dates. The dates represent those printed on the tombstones. Remember, just because the name matches someone on your tree doesn't mean that it is the person from your tree.

Regional Genealogy and Local History provides links to sites that have info on many many places. Not all the links are good, but some will help.

Italian Genealogy Group Half of my family tree is NY Italian and I found this to be pretty useful, but it might not be for all of you. If you have some Italian on your tree, try it.

Digital History This site has a lot of links, some are better than others. They all pretty much focus on American history.

US National Archives If you use this site your probably not going to find a lot, but theirs a chance you will get something, particularly if you had someone serve in the US military.

World Connect Project is based off of Rootsweb, but can show you the information from other people's trees.

Manifest Markings is not a research site but has some helpful information.

Digital Librarian & Linkpedium will link you various sources. Not all of them are note worthy, but others will be useful (some have world wide info)

Social Security Death Index (SSDI for short) gives b. & d. (see tip 4) dates for those who died in the USA in the past 20 or so years. It's good for double checking more recent dates.

Pre-Homework:

My local library has a number of research websites that their members can access. Some libraries require you to access their research pages from inside the library and others, like mine, allow access from home. My local library gives me free access to over 80 different databases. Not all of them are helpful for genealogy work. The three that I use most often are: HeritageQuest, Footnote, and WorldVitalRecords. Of the three I just mentioned two of them will let you search them without an account.

Try typing one of the names from your simple tree into either WorldVitalRecords' or Footnote's search bars. With some luck one or more of those names will yield a result. Both sites will tell you where they found results; they won't let you see the results but they will give you the source, which can be helpful in the future. In addition, they might connect you to various sources that happen to be free.

Your Homework:

Go to your local library and find out what is available to you.

Step 1: A simple tree

A simple tree is a misleading title. What we are creating is going to start out as simple, but will become complex over time. Take out a sheet of blank paper and a pencil. At the bottom of the page draw a small box. In it write your name and date of birth. Draw two boxes above your box. Connect them with with a line. From that line draw a line down to your box. It should look like mine:
Enter your parent's names into each of the two boxes above your own. Then from their boxes extend two more boxes. Everyone's family tree is different, but typically you should have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grand parents, sixteen great-great-grandparents...and so on. Fill in as much as you know from your own memory. If you don't know dates, skip them. You can use middle names, middle initials, maiden names, married names, just first names, or any other variation that works for you. DON'T be discouraged by limited information.

Once your finished with your basic tree you will probably want to go paperless. You could spend money and by a program that creates a tree and stores information for you. You can go into various computer programs and draw one. My local library actually had a program available "Family Tree Maker." Before paying for anything, find out what your local library has available or try one of the many free web based family tree makers. Here are a few that I have liked the best:

www.Ancestry.com allows you to create and save a tree for free. Ancestry also allows you to upload photo's of people to your tree. Overall it is a pretty good system to work with. The only problem from this site is that it will tell you that it has found information on members of your family tree, but you will have to pay to view that information. If you do sign up for an account with ancestry you should know that there is a setting that will allow other members to see or not see your tree. Any living people (those who don't have a date of death) will be show to others as having their first name replaced by the word Living and their birth date will not be listed.

Genealogy.com has a much more basic set up for storing your family tree. It is basically just a step above the drawing that you made. If you're just starting out this might appeal to you, but if you want to add siblings, aunts, uncles, or cousins this tree might not be what you want. You can add an extended family to this tree, but all of the information will not be viewable at once.

myheritage.com has similarities to both Ancestry.com and Genealogy.com. Myheritage lets you fill in your tree and offers you matches like ancestry.com, but unlike ancestry you can view corresponding information of other people's trees without a paid account. However, you should be warned that myheritage has a limit on the number of people that you can enter into your tree without paying for a Premium Account. However there is a way around this, if you upload a tree using a Gedcom file (we'll talk about these later).

Rootsweb is a derivative of Ancestry.com, but can be used as a stand alone. The ads on the site, as well as some of the search features, often lead you to Ancestry.com, but you don't need to use those. Rootsweb is a pretty good source for connecting with others and finding information, however the downfall is that in order to submit a tree you need to use a Gedcom file. (There it is again, I swear I'll explain it soon.)

FamilyEcho looks is more basic like the Genealogy.com family tree but also allows for you to upload photos. If you are just starting out, or are not very computer/internet savvy, this might be your best bet. In addition it doesn't prompt you to pay for anything. Also, you can send a link to your tree to family and friends so that they can see your tree. The major downfall is that you can not use it to find additional information. In addition you can use this program to make a Gedcom file.

Alright already, stop asking! I'll explain it:

A Gedcom file is type of file created and used by family tree programs and websites. A Gedcom file would have .ged at the end of the file name. Like how your documents are represented by the .doc extension. It's not very complicated but you can not open a .ged file on your computer without a program or web page designed to do so. You can create a Gedcom file in a family tree or genealogy based computer program or at the Family Echo website.

So this is all you need to create your simple tree. Next time I'll explain how to start finding additional information. In the meantime put all the knowledge you have into a tree on at least one of these sites (or another one, if you want to.)

Homework Assignment (don't complain, it's not hard):

After you're finished entering in the information you know off hand, ask any family members if they have additional information. Pick the brains of many family members, even younger family members might be able to remember something that you could not.