How do you begin to explore your family tree? Irish genealogist Megan Smoleniak has given a thorough answer to this question with her book, Journey Home: Inspirational Stories, Tips and Strategies for Finding Your Family History. Megan Smoleniak, an expert who discovered Barack Obama’s Irish ancestry, describes visiting her ancestral home as one of the few “moving life events.”
So here are eight steps to start your own ancestral journey:
Get organized
The first weeks of your search are likely to be abundantly fruitful, as it is often easier to gather facts about close relatives. To save and organize what you find, choose an online genealogical database before you start researching.
Several free and paid online genealogy databases are available, including Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource. Since Ancestry subscribers have created more than 60 million family trees, some of these existing affiliates may be useful in your own search.
Tip. To manage your genealogy tree on the go, choose a program or online database that has a mobile app for users, such as Myheritage or Ancestry.com .
Home Treasure Hunt
Professional genealogists are skilled detectives: they look for clues, do research and collect data to methodically solve mysteries and uncover family histories. And, as detectives, they know that some of the most valuable clues in any quest are often hidden in plain sight — at home.
We suggest focusing your hunt on the attic, basement and drawers where photos, documents and personal correspondence may be stored. Items with dates are especially helpful. Family memorabilia to look for (and photograph unless you have the owner’s permission to take the item) include old photographs, military records, diplomas and, of course, diaries, cards and letters.
Tip. If your hunt involves looking for artifacts in the homes of relatives, include them in the process if possible. Explain what you are doing and why, invite them to participate, and respect their wishes about how any item you discover will be handled, copied or stored.
Talk to your older family members.
“Your older relatives, even those who are 20 minutes older than you, are living libraries. “Family stories stored in their brains can save you a lot of time down the road.”
Even if you’ve heard family facts – and legends – all your life, actually spending time interviewing your elders, arming yourself with a digital recorder, and specific questions will revive your memory and reveal new details. Also, if you find the treasure trove first, you’ll have artifacts to talk to your relatives. For example, asking them to identify people or places in old photographs can be a catalyst for stories.
Start by asking questions about your parents, grandparents, and, if possible, great-grandparents, and the fundamental knowledge behind them will reveal itself. Basic information to ask includes parents’ full names and siblings’ names, places and dates of birth, places or even addresses of family homes, nationalities and ethnicities, occupations, education, military service, and where relatives are buried.
Tip. Don’t let your eagerness to gather facts ignore basic civility and respect. If a relative seems hesitant or outright refuses to share the specifics of an event or person, move on to another topic. By talking to several relatives and following up on your own research, you can often fill in the gaps without upsetting or alienating anyone.
Going online
This is the moment you’ve been waiting for – the ability to finally use all the information you collect to search the Internet. New resources and services are regularly added to popular genealogy sites, including FamilySearch.org , Ancestry.com and Archives.com.
Browse the FamilySearch genealogy catalog (including books, online materials, microfilm, and publications) and make a free request for the nearest family history center (usually in regional archives) where you can view the documents in person.
Take a DNA test
Extensive DNA ancestor testing kits, such as the Geno 2.0 Kit from National Geographic, can lead you to places and people you may never have found just by following paper trails. Geno 2.0 scientists are working to determine deep pedigree. Although not primarily a genealogy testing service, participants will discover the migration paths of their ancient ancestors that follow thousands of years ago and learn the details of their ancestral roots – their branch on the genealogical tree.
When choosing a DNA testing service specifically for ancestry research, find one with a large database of people being tested, as well as a free repository of DNA samples (in case you want to order another test later), as well as online support and tutorials.
Tip. Although DNA results can be useful in your research, the decision to get tested should not be taken lightly. Tests can reveal secrets of family paternity and maternity hidden by your ancestors or immediate family members.
Be social
Don’t forget to use your favorite social networking sites, such as Facebook. In addition to finding and connecting people who share your ancestral surname, look for local organizations, public libraries and archives, guides and genealogy-related services in your ancestor’s hometown.
Tip. You are more likely to get free local help from strangers who share your surname if they have not been “bombarded” with inquiries from people tracing their family histories.
Manage Your Expectations
TV shows about celebrity genealogy searches unnecessarily raise expectations that each quest will uncover a famous (or infamous) ancestor, such as actress Sarah Jessica Parker’s tenth great-grandmother, who escaped death in the Salem witch trials. For most people, including celebrities, the ancestors discovered and the lives they spent would be more mundane.
Every record we find represents something seemingly insignificant, but sometimes these events were life-changing events for our ancestors and therefore for us.
Tip. Use the historical information you have gathered to write an interesting version of your genealogical history.
Keep Going
In many ways, traveling to the place where your ancestors came from will be the reward for all your hard work. By taking the time to research through road blocks and detours, and being open to accepting what you discover, you have earned this trip like nothing you have ever done before.
How long will it take? Well, the farther you go, the more ancestors you have, so it could be a never-ending game. It’s your own personal history mystery. You don’t want the book to ever end. You can abandon your great-great-great-grandfathers, but I’m willing to bet you won’t. There is always another ancestor worth pursuing and another place to see.
This cool and so understandable advice is definitely worth heeding, and along with that, it’s worth adding one more point from us – don’t stop along the way without including state archives in your search. Considering the specifics of the archival sector in our country and neighboring countries, where a considerable part of documents are not digitized, it is impossible to do without visits or inquiries to the archives. Therefore, have patience and persistence and/or contact us, we will help you to understand and find information regarding your genealogical tree.