How Do I Start A Family Tree?

Question

I am a first-generation American. I plan on becoming the patriarch for my family, so I want to start a family tree to pass it down the line. Any ideas how to begin? Thanks.

Answer 1

You are the perfect person to start a family tree because you have knowledge of your family before they came to America! There are a lot of Americans who have no knowledge of the old country, wherever that may be for their family.



When constructing a family tree, ALWAYS start with yourself. Record all important dates and places. Usually the MINIMUM you want to record on each person is:

date/place of birth

date/place of marriage (all marriages)

date/place of death

Date/place of burial

all children and their pertinent dates.



Once you have recorded all of that on your self, collect the same information on your parents. Once you have collected the information on them, move back to your grandparents and continue backward until you run stuck. Along with recording all of the information, it is important to record the source of your information whether it is from the persons own mouth or whether it is from a vital record, it is important to record every place your information comes from. Trust me on this... if you start recording your source information from the beginning, you will be very happy you did.



You might want to talk to your parents or grandparents if they are still alive . They would be a wealth of knowledge on the customs and traditions of your family before you came to America. Don't put it off because life is uncertain. My grandmother lived to be 95 years old and I had her around for a long time, but do you know how often I kick myself because I didn't ask her things when she was still alive? There are lots of websites that have interview questions available that you can ask, if you are having a hard time coming up with what to ask. Here is a list of sample questions.

http://www.etherton.net/geneques.htm



Record events that would make this person "come alive". Record what they did for a living, where they went to school, whether or not they were in the military. If you know about their religion or faith, record that too... As you can see, there are a lot of things and events that have genealogical value. The family tree is what YOU make of it and what an AWESOME gift for your descendents.



You might want to keep your findings organized on your computer. Familysearch.org has a FREE program called PAF that you can download to keep your information organized. PAF allows users to view screens and print reports in English, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Swedish and German while entering data in most known languages (including Asiatic and Cyrillic characters). It even allows the users to enter information in any one of those languages while viewing the screens and reports in another.



Here is the link to the free download



http://www.ldscatalog.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10151&storeId=10151&productId=47670&langId=-1&cg1=13669&cg2=14000&cg3=&cg4=&cg5=&sortId=1&sortOr=1&retURLtext=Back%20to%20'Software%20Downloads'&retURL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ldscatalog.com%2Fwebapp%2Fwcs%2Fstores%2Fservlet%2FCategoryDisplay%3FcatalogId%3D10151%26amp%3BstoreId%3D10151%26amp%3BcategoryId%3D14000%26amp%3BlangId%3D-1%26amp%3Bcg1%3D13669%26amp%3Bcg2%3D%26amp%3Bcg3%3D%26amp%3Bcg4%3D%26amp%3Bcg5%3D%26pageId%3D1%26pageCt%3D15%26sortId%3D1%26sortOr%3D1



I hope this has been helpful. Good luck and recording your family history is a great thing!

Answer 2

1) Talk to your family members Parents, Grand Parents Aunts, Uncles, Cousins etc



2) gather any and all paper work you might have Certificates of Birth, Death, and Marriage. Diary's, Letters and Military papers.



3) things like Medals can give you some details ( some have name and service number engraved around the edge, and old photo's can be a big help.



4) draw out a rough tree just so you have a idea who goes where,



5) be organised once you start the information will grow and grow so have a filing system ready.



That's a rough idea of how to start and if you get stuck (and we all do) just come back here and ask for help some one will.



Good luck and good hunting

Answer 3

Start by gathering information from your parents. Write down (a sheet of paper for each family member) in a note book that

family members birth date, birth place, Mothers name , Fathers name, wedding date and place, and siblings. The first page should contain you! A page for each of your parents,

Aunts, Uncles, and siblings. It sometimes takes a lot of research, but it is well worth the effort. Writing something on the job, or daily tasks is something that proves interesting.

There are "Tree makers" that have pages that you fill out on each member, and will automatically make a basic tree that is filled in,

but the research can contain pictures, that maybe only you can label.

Answer 4

Start by interviewing your living relatives. Learn as much as you can. There are free and inexpensive geneology programs you can use to organize the data.

You can join the website at the Church of Latter Day Saints for free and do a lot of research there.

It is www.familysearch.org.

Answer 5

Congrads to ya! We've traced r family to 16th century England (1542). But start with the oldest living relative, and get all the info they have, as it will be lost at their death, and work backwards from there!

Answer 6

Build your family tree on line.

You can use a paid site like:

http://www.ancestry.com/



OR You can do this for free on:



http://www.tribalpages.com/



Start with yourself, and then attach living family members.

Find out all you can about you family from living members, then attach it to your tree.

Now it is time to look for historical records and attach the info to your tree:



It is ALL about census records, and other historical records!



You might get lucky and others may have done some work on your family tree. Google family members names i.e. "Mary Smith" + "family tree"



Free sites:



http://www.searchforancestors.com/



http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=27399&o_lid=27399



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.findagrave.com/



Genealogy message board:



http://www.bbc.co.uk/messageboards/newguide/?board=history



http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=ab-genealogy&nav=messages&lgnF=y&msg=90.1



http://boards.ancestry.com/



http://www.gensource.com/common/search.cfm



http://messages.yahoo.com/yahoo/Family___Home/Genealogy/



http://genforum.genealogy.com/



http://www.genealogyforum.com/messages/



http://www.progenealogists.com/messageboards.htm



http://messageboards.aol.com/aol/en_us/boards.php?boardId=56406&func=2&channel=aol+research+and+learn&refresh=true



http://boards.rootsweb.com/



ECT.

The time may come when you want more information than you can find for free. When this happens you can back up your "tribalpage" tree to your computer on a "GEDCOM" file

you can then go to (I think it is the best subscription site)



http://www.ancestry.com/



Upload your "GEDCOM" file

and start to work!

You might need to make a few adjustments to your tree to make it look better.

Answer 7

www.interment.net/com

Answer 8

www.myheritage.com