Do any of y'all do geneological research?

vannie

15 years ago

Any suggestions for making it easier?

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Comments (8)

grittymitts
15 years ago
I do when I have time, but had some good beginning points so it hasn't been too difficult on my side of the family- but DHs'has been a bear!

Just my opinion but for online stuff, the Mormon Church site is tops and a big plus is that it's FREE. I think it was thru them I located Ship Manifests & tracked a couple of branches from there. Check with your librarian or phone book to see if they have a local Morman Geneology Library (I used it in St. Louis & they were super helpful!) Here's a place to begin it; even offers a "personal" online Guide to assist you.

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

If I can help in some way, I'll be glad to try. I also keep hand written Pedigree and Family Sheets- lady who showed me how to begin used them, so I started that way & found it less confusing. The computer program my niece has (sold at a lot of places) offered mostly Census Records & what I printed out was far too tiny to be read by ANYONE. What a waste of printer ink & paper.

Suzi
msmarion
15 years ago
Vannie, start with your self and go backwards. The family sheets are a big help for organizing. I had it easy on my paternal side 7 generations all lived in the same town, so info was at the local library. My maternal side is kinda of stumbling block, but I'll get it.
What kind of info are you looking for?
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Would you do DNA testing for a geneological search?
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My husband has done some DNA testing, Autosomal, which is where you match cousins and that is probably what he is asking you to do. The other hubs did was Y testing, trying to find males with the same surname. One thing you can do to have a little more control over the results is to 1) make sure you have the kit number and that you set up the password. I had ordered kits for two people and paid for them myself. This was so I could see the results but I also included their email addresses so they would get results and match notifications as well. Once I determined if hubs was related to them (one yes, one no), then I had them change the passwords so that I can no longer get into their kit information. Our situation is a little different than yours but again in our case, like yours, these were total strangers who agreed to help us out. ] Be aware that there are sites that the DNA information can be downloaded to sites like gedcom where people that have different companies that test can compare results. This person may then have your information out there for anyone to compare your DNA to theirs. Names are not listed, just your kit number and he would probably put his email address as the contact person. There is an option of not putting email address at all but then that limits possible matches from contacting him/you. These are questions you should discuss before you do the test. Know if he is having the results sent to him only, you only, or both. If you have them sent only to you, then you can request him sending his to you and you could be the one who sees if there is a match. The person who hubs did not match still appreciated receiving the information and we still keep in touch. The one who did match has helped confirmed our lines matching back to the GGGF in the late 1700's. The autosomal testing is not as definite. We get matches all the time but the probability is small. It has helped to find some relatives that we weren't sure of. Do you know the name of the company and type of test?
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Vique_Pa
15 years ago
It takes a lot of time and patience but when you finally hit on something you feel it was well worth it. I have my husbands family back to 1524, the information fills two big notebook binders, by big, I mean the spine of the books is about 4-41/2 inches. I put it aside for a little while to have a rest before I start on mine. msmarion gave you some good advice. Start with yourself and work back, using family sheets. Make sure you keep your information in order, if you get records or papers mixed up it could take awhile to get it all straightened out, I speak from experience. Have fun. vique
msmarion
15 years ago
I haven't done much since I moved to FL. No excuses, there is a LDS library about a mile from the house.
When I go to New England to visit (it's been a while) I spend a week getting my notes together on what documents I would like to see etc. I allow two days for research and copying documents.
Vannie it also depends on how indepth you want to search. If you wanted to find all the info you could on your dad, for instance, you'd look for birth records, marriage records, a death certificate, deeds, wills. I've added photos of headstones if I found them.
If your parents are alive, take a tape recorder on a visit and ask all the questions you can think of. Same with any other members of past generations. They are a wealth of knowledge. I have lots of funny stories recorded from my Dad and his brothers. It's amazing how each one remembers the same store differently!

I've been searching for years for an woman who was supposed to be an indian princess from Canada. I think I found her but after she changed her name and married in England. I may never know anything more. I have also found cousins searching for the same woman.

There are also genealogy web sites that have message boards by last name. You can post questions and see if anyone else is doing or has done research. They will share sometimes and sometimes they share and never respond again. LOL

Hope this helped some. It really is alot of fun. Ask away if you have more questions.
msmarion
15 years ago
I forgot to add this link. On the right side you can find forms to print out that will help.

Here is a link that might be useful: Family Search
jemdandy
15 years ago
AltaVista, Google, and TopoZone have been very helpful for on-line searches. The basic TopoZone was free, but now is only available by subscription. That is unfortunate because TopoZone was very good for locating land holdings and obscure, abandonded cemeteries. Towns and villages that no longer exist can be found if those had a post office in the past, or were of note in their day. Where available, TopoZone can show section numbers. With this inforamtion and the legal description of land, one can locate exactly where the land holdings of your ancestors were. This can be very helpful and it adds to the knowledge of living conditions of your ancestors.

As an added bonus, TopoZone can show the topology (elevation lines) of the land and this gives one the idea of terrain hilliness or flatness. Major peaks, hills, gullies, and streams are readily identifiable which is an additional aid to finding "the old home place".

The GLO (goverment land office) has records of land patents. Some of these are duplicated in state, on-line achives. A land patent is the first official record of land ownership, many of which were purchased by homesteading. Military warrants was another instrument of purchase. However, beware that a military warrant (grant) could be sold to another party - some were sold at 10 cents to the dollar, thus a particular plot of land could be recorded in the name of the warrant but was held by different person. In the majority of cases, warrants were executed by the person who earned those.
MiMi
15 years ago
Ancestry.com. .It is so worth the membership fee. Then get a program called Family TreeMaker. .you can download your family tree from Ancestry.com to Family TreeMaker. .it's really easy. Once you put some family members names in at Ancestry.com it will also pull up any other trees with those names in it so you can compare and add them to your tree. It's lots of fun and so addictive. .Debbie
Lindsey_CA
15 years ago
I have a full worldwide subscription to Ancestry.com. I would be more than happy to look stuff up for you.

Do any of y'all do geneological research?

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grittymitts

msmarion

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