5 Ways to Piece Together Your Family Tree
While most people may know the basics about their family tree and their roots, in most cases you can only go a few generations back with any sort of certainty. Obviously this can answer some questions but not all, and you may find there are a number of gaps as you give it more thought. With that said it can be a fun project to put together a family tree plotting as many generations as possible on it.
In order to help you get started, here are some tips you can use to make the process move along smoothly and provide you with the insight on your family history.
1. Speak to As Many Family Members as Possible
One of the best sources of information you have is your actual family members. What this means is that it’s time to put on your investigative journalism hat and start asking as many questions as possible. You can ask to see family photos and any other documents that will also help to support your efforts.
To help go about it in a more organized and methodical manner you can write out a list of basic questions that you ask family members, and then keep careful track of each member’s responses. All your information can be recorded on a spreadsheet, as this will make piecing the tree together a lot easier.
2. Visit the Library and Check Out Local Records
Another excellent source of information can be your local library. This is where you can search old newspapers and announcements. You never know where mentions of family members will pop up and what it can lead to. As well you want to visit your local records department, sometimes this information can be found online. This is how you search things such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, and death certificates.
3. Look Into a Genealogy Service
There is no doubt that researching your family can be very time-consuming and often lead you down paths that turn into a dead end. This can be frustrating and leave you unsure of where to turn to next. This is why the professional genealogy online services have become so popular as of late.
These services will identify markers in your DNA and allow you to pinpoint what area of the world your roots come from. Genealogy companies tend to have very high accuracy rates, so you know you’ll get information that will prove to be helpful. It can at least give you that kicking off point that you may be missing.
4. Use an Online Ancestry Service
Another online tool that many people turn to is an ancestry DNA test service. The way these work is that you key in all the basic information that you know about your family, and then you start your research from there. It’s typical that the first few steps will be free, and then as you want to uncover deeper and deeper information you’ll have to pay a fee.
Keep in mind that even though this can make the process easier, it will still be time-consuming. The fees tend to provide you with a specified amount of time to use the service, so with that said you want to be sure you’ve got enough free time to dedicate to the research before your membership runs out.
5. Get a Better Understanding of Where You Come From
By using these tips you’ll be able to uncover all kinds of interesting and exciting information about your family, allowing you to uncover where you come from and your roots. Just remember that in order to get all the information you’ll need to put in a fair amount of time, so you’ll want to be patient and stick with it.