How do i chase my family tree?

Question

i wanna know more about history of my family.....how do i chase it? any sites i can go to?

Answer 1

Very carefully - chasing trees, as we know from "Lord of the Rings", can be a very dangerous passtime.

Answer 2

Charlotte, we are all delighted at your terminology.  Please hang around here, I think you will give us more smiles.

To answer your question.. the process can be summed up in a few words.. start with YOU, and use documentation/ records to work back.  The documentation part is the most critical idea in genealogy.  If it is not proven by valid records, genealogists don't take it as fact.  Family tradition, maybe.. not fact.

My 2nd tip.. do not get sidetracked, tracing a surname. You are tracing persons, specifically those who are YOUR relatives. When you have the birth record of your grandmother, Jane Smith, it will tell you where she was born and her parents names. But.. the location means, you look for HER parents in that place. Saves confusion.

There are thousands of sites.. Bayard Lady gave you my favorite. Here's the idea.. why trap yourself in one site (someone's favorite), when your ancestors might be in a hundred different places? The fun is the challenge of finding new (and unexpected) sites. Some won't be genealogy.

Last.. you will usually start OFFLINE with immediate family records. Living persons should not be online. People tend to expect more recent records to be easier online (or off). The opposite is true.  Less risk of id theft with people long dead.

Don't forget here as a valid site. Each step, you have people willing to advise. You will learn as you go.. not to mention that 10 viewpoints will often ALL be of value.

Answer 3

Now I know what my problem is.  I don't run fast enough. I think what you mean is trace your family tree.

Get as much information from living family as possible, particularly your senior members. Tape them if they will let you.  It might turn out they are confused on some things but what might seem to be insignificant story telling might turn out to be very significant.  People who do this state they go back sometime later after doing research and listen to the tape again and hear things they didn't hear the first time around.

Find out if any family has any old family bibles.  Ask to see and make copies of birth, marriage and death certificates and depending on the relgious faith, baptismal, first communion, confirmation and marriage records can be very helpful.

You start with yourself and work back one generation at a time. At one point you need to work on one family line and if you run into a brickwall, set it aside and work on another.  

Go to your public library.  They might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com you can use. Ancestry.Com has lots of records.  They have all the U.S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet. They have U. K. censuses also.  If you don't find it too pricey, you can subscribe to it and work in Ancestry.Com from the convenience of your home.

Just don't take as absolute fact everything you see in family trees on ANY website, free or paid. The info is subscriber submitted and mostly not documented or poorly documented.  Even when you see the same info repeatedly by many different subscribers that is no guarantee at all it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying.  The information is useful as clues as to where to get the documentation.

A Family History Center at a Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church has records on people all over the world, not just Mormons. You need to find out their hours for the general public either by calling them or checking their website, FamilySearch.org.  

In Salt Lake City, they have the world's largest genealogical collection. Their Family History Centers can order microfilm for you to view at a nominal fee.

I have never had them to try and convert me or send their missionaries by to ring my doorbell.  I haven't heard of them doing that to anyone else that has used their resources.   They are just very nice and helpful.

While you are at your library and the Family History Center, you will probably have an excellent opportunity to talk with other researchers and they will probably share some great ideas and experiences with you.

Bayard Lady gave you a great website with Cyndislist.  What Cyndi has is a multitude of websites that can be helpful as a tool to work on your family history.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

You can't chase the tree, you must create it.

Ancestry.com is a good place to start, but it isn't free.

Answer 5

Laughing over your use of 'chase'!  Actually, I loved it!  Continually chasing mine, and they are always just around the corner...out of sight!  Below is yet another link to follow.

http://www.cyndislist.com/