Besides you, is there anyone else in your family doing geneaology reseach?

Question

I want to do research but I know that other people have done it in the past. I don't know if it would really be worth it.

Answer 1

my mom is very interested and helps me with research

Answer 2

A cousin, a second cousin once removed, and a sister. We try to swap verifiable data when we can.

Answer 3

My sister did for awhile and 2 of my brothers, but it seems they have all quit.  (We are not a close family...)

There is always a reason to go on; shared results helps. If one person works on on branch, another person another branch, more can be done. However, my siblings have never cooperated with each other (or myself).

As to whether it is worthwhile, I will say "Yes" because you will come across different sources and ancestors than anyone else. And enjoy the discovery!

Try these sources:

You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history.  Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department.  Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc.  Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required).

Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers.  They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you).

A third option is one of the following websites:

http://www.searchforancestors.com/...

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...

http://www.cyndislist.com/

http://www.geni.com/

Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever.

Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example.

Good luck and have fun!

Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA.

I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.

Answer 4

When I was growing up, a couple of maternal uncles started researching my mother's family, perhaps catching their interest in doing so from my grandmother's cousin who regularly scheduled trips from Texas to take members of the Macquarrie clan back to Scotland.  He even published a clan newsletter complete with a clan bible verse.  

No one had started looking at my dad's side of the family when I started looking up my paternal ancestors on microfilm back in the late 1970s, and as far as I know, I'm the only one on either my mom or dad's side of the family who has been bitten with the genealogical bug in my generation.  I'm a Baby boomer (age 55).  

However, my sister-in-law told me last weekend that my youngest niece, a college sophomore, was really interested in looking at my link to Ancestry.com.   In case you're wondering, I've given my brother and several of my cousins access to the family tree on Ancestry.com.

Yes, it's really worth doing research even if other family members have done so in the past.  I go back periodically and recheck facts because family history isn't an exact science, but educated guess work.  Besides, it could easily take many life times to sort through a really researched family tree that extends back several centuries or more.

Answer 5

As for me, personally, I don't care to know more about my family than I already do through family stories.  Most families have "skeletons" in their closet; mine might contain an entire cemetery.

Answer 6

My mom and I both do it.  It is so wonderful having two sets of eyes and two different perspectives on a problem.  My cousin Kathy lives in another state and does it, but we don't really bounce ideas off of eachother much.

My mom had an Uncle that did genealogy while he was  alive and gave us a nice start on a couple of family lines.  We of course have gone behind him and have proven and disproven several things.  We were fortunate to have his research though.

Answer 7

My maternal grandparents had 56 grandchildren, and I know that several of them researched our "family tree". In doing my own research, I met (online) several third and fourth cousins; a couple of them had done extensive research and were incredibly generous in sharing information with me. My mother's ancestors were among the early French colonists in Canada, and there's a lot of information available online about these "first" ancestors ... but I discovered that some of the data accepted as fact, and perpetuated in many online trees, is incorrect ... you really need to validate the information for yourself. (By the same token, every bit of information you can gather can be extremely useful ... I've located not one single person researching my paternal grandfather and every fact about him has been very hard won!)

Another thing I'd like to point out is that not every person researching family history has the same approach. Obviously I want to know who my ancestors were ... their names, when they were born and died, what children they had, etc. ... but I really wanted to know something about how they lived and the events of their lives. And, having grown up in a family of women, I was especially interested in my female ancestors. With my mother's family, this has worked out very well ... I have traced all of her ancestors back at least ten generations, and, after a refresher course in Canadian history, prepared about 200 family biographies featuring, as much as possible, the women in my past. Some of them were quite remarkable; certainly all of them lived in remarkable times.

Answer 8

My mom's the one who got me into genealogy... she eventually lost interest, but I've been addicted ever since!  Besides that, none of my close relatives are into research.  But through the internet, I've met literally hundreds of distant relatives who do genealogy, and it's so much fun working with them on our shared lines.

If you want to research your family, you should do it!  Even if someone else is doing it, they'd probably love to have a partner to share the work and the excitement of new discoveries.  Genealogy is a lot more fun when you can talk about your ancestors with someone who's actually interested!  And you may find things that they hadn't found!  

And keep in mind, your family tree is unique to you and your siblings.  No one else but your brothers and sisters share your complete family tree.  If an aunt or cousin is researching, say, your mom's side of the family, they probably aren't going to research your dad's side, because his ancestors aren't part of their family tree.  So you still have a whole other half of your tree that's not being researched.