Getting Started

Greeting Hunters and Huntresses!

First things first… getting started on your family history!

To begin, gather what you know. Do you know your parents full names and birth dates? Grandparents? Great-grandparents?

Start writing it all down.

At some point in this progression of questions you'll discover two things.

1) You don't know everything!

2) You need a format to keep things organized. 

To answer the first concern, this is when talking to family members comes into play. Think to yourself, and ask who is the person in your family that is keeping all this organized? It might be time to call mom and dad, or grandma or grandpa, or possibly a knowledgeable aunt or uncle. The first step it to determine who that person is. The next is to make arrangements to talk to them. If an in-person visit isn't possible (I understand this- my family is pretty spread out around the USA) then a phone call or Skype can be wonderful! 

Before you make your phone call or Skype call, decide what you want to specifically ask, and then let the person or people know what you plan on asking. This way they can be prepared before the visit or call. I highly suggest setting an appointment to meet up or call to talk. Family History is a wonderful endeavor and can be a great and bonding experience to share with family. 

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with my maternal grandmother and have her share some family photos and stories about great-aunts and uncles I've never met. It was an incredible experience. 

If you don't have a person to contact, or you've hit a dead end then next comes the good old fashioned way of gathering information- collecting birth and death certificates. This means having at least some idea of where the person was born (or died) and then contacting that county. Google can be a great tool to help with this step. An example might be contacting the LA County Department of Public Health to order/request a birth or death certificate. It will cost a little bit of money, but you will also be getting the information you need. 

You're on your way to collecting all kinds of good information! Now what are you suppose to do with it?

This is when point two comes into play. You need a format to keep things organized. The website that I love and use to keep my family history organized is called familysearch.org . It's fantastic! It connects to other users so that my cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and family can see what I find and add their information as well. It organizes photos, personal stories, burial and birth locales, siblings, multiple marriages etc. It's a fantastic and free site. It also has people standing by to help whenever you get stuck. I adore this site! 

Puzzling out the pieces of our family history is a challenging and rewarding endeavor. There is truly nothing like it. 

Happy Hunting!