3. A recorded history of one’s ancestry.
The study of family descent.
Definitions:
◦ Ancestors – came before us
◦ Descendents – follow us
4. Why do people research their
genealogy?
Recording information.
How do we get started?
What information do we look for?
Where do we find information?
5. Reconnect with family.
Adopted child wants to find birth parents.
Trace medical conditions.
Validate family legends.
Famous people.
Religious tenets
Heritage Societies
6. To answer the questions:
◦ Who am I?
◦ Where did I come from?
◦ Where am I going?
Who you are is determined by your ancestors.
Genetically descended from all of them (but DNA dropout)
Your children will continue your heritage.
How big is your family?
7. 2 parents
4 grandparents
8 great grand parents
16 gg grandparents
32 ggg grandparents
64 gggg grandparents
128 ggggg grandparents
256 gggggg grandparents
512 ggggggg grandparents
1,024 gggggggg grandparents - 10th generation
Total = 2,046
But, there is the genealogical diamond….
And this does not even take into account family
and collaterals!
8. Genealogy research should start with the present and
work toward the past.
Makes future searches easier to have information to
work from.
Prevents repetition.
They will not get lost.
9. Pedigree Chart
◦ Provides information
◦ Provides a single page reference
◦ Provides a picture of your ancestors
10.
11. Family Group Sheet
◦ Provides a record of all members of a family
◦ Collateral family members often help solve problems
12.
13. Names (Roscoe Glenn Hastings)
◦ Given Name
◦ Middle Name
◦ Surname
Dates (22 June 2010)
◦
◦
◦
◦
Day
Month
Year
9/10/75 – This doesn’t tell you anything.
Place (Town, County, State, Country)
◦ Brighton, Monroe, New York, USA
15. Family Tree Maker – Most Popular
Personal Ancestral File http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp
Legacy Family Tree http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/
Roots Magic - http://www.rootsmagic.com/
Other programs for the Apple Macintosh,
tablets, and phones
16.
17. Newest information is the hardest to find.
Start with a pedigree chart and enter all of the
information that you know.
Visit your relatives to fill in more information.
Visit the oldest first.
Identify the family historian.
Avoid open ended questions but instead view
photograph albums or talk about holidays.
18. Now you are ready to start your research.
It is very important that you reference every source
you find.
◦ Saves time later.
◦ Used when you publish your genealogy.
◦ Helps to resolve conflicting information.
If there is any doubt in your mind, about information
you find, look for another source to verify it.
19. Original Documents
◦ Ex. Birth Certificate
Closest to the Time of the Event
◦ Good = Birth record
◦ Not So Good = Death record
Indexed Materials
Other Genealogies
Newspapers
20. Information is only as good as:
◦
◦
◦
◦
The original record
The person who recorded the record
The person who indexed the record
The person who provided the information
Since every record originates from a human there may
be an error.
21. Method
◦
◦
◦
◦
Who – the person I am looking for.
What – the kind of record I am looking for.
Where – where did they live when this happened.
When – about when did this happen.
Where do I find the records?
What did your ancestors do that was important enough
that someone made a written record of it?
23. First research step.
If someone has already done part or all of your
genealogy it can save a lot of time:
BYU Library - http://www.lib.byu.edu/fhc/index.php
Google - hastings family
http://www.google.com/seacrh?
hl=en&as_q&as_epq=hastings+family
24.
25.
26. Generally Town records (Town where birth occurred)
◦ Town Clerk
◦ Town websites
NYS Health Dept. – 1880 – 1937
◦ Microfiche – Rochester Public Library
◦ NYS Health Dept – order certificate
Census Records give persons age
27. Massachusetts – to 1850 & 1841 to 1910
◦ Published books for each town about 1900
◦ NEHGS website
Internet Birth Records
◦ Some states have information on-line
◦ Some places you can download and print information and pay
on-line
28. Baptisms
Church Records
◦ Church
◦ Some are published on-line - http://nyrgs.org
England
◦ Parish records
LDS Library - Microfilm
https://familysearch.org/#start
29.
30. Usually Town Record (Where license was issued)
◦ Town Clerk
◦ Church records
◦ NYS State Health Department – 1880 to 1962
Microfiche – Rochester Public Library
Order from NY state Health Dept.
Some for NY are available 1908-1935 at Familysearch.org
Massachusetts - same as Birth records
England – Parish records
31. Usually Town Records (Town where death occurred.)
◦
◦
◦
◦
Town Clerk
Church records
Social Security Death Index
NYS State Health Department – 1880 to 1963
Microfiche – Rochester Public Library
Order from NY state Health Dept.
Massachusetts - same as Birth Records
England Parish Records
NYS Metrix program just starting.
32. Funeral records
◦ Funeral Home where arrangements were done.
◦ Some are on-line
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nywarren/towns/warre
nsburg/funeralrecords.htm
◦ Cemetery records
Visit cemeteries
Many on line (rootsweb), FindAGrave
33. Obituaries
◦ Newspapers
Rochester Public Library – Microfilm
On-line
Wills
◦ Surrogate Court Records (wills, citations for probate)
◦ New York State Wills 1626 to 1836 (NEHGS)
◦ County Records
34. United States Census every ten years beginning in
1790. (Not available for 72 years)
New York State Census from 1825 to 1925. (Most
Counties did not start a state census until 1855)
Census before 1850 list only the head of the household
plus the number of males and females in age groups.
37. Individuals (Age, Sex, Race, Birth Date)
Relationship to head of household
Birth Place
Parents Birth Place
Occupation
Ownership of land or home
Education
39. Ancestry.com – Has all U.S. Census records, indexed
and originals
Heritage Quest – Has most U.S. Census records,
indexed and originals
New York State Library has all NYS Census records on
microfilm
Rochester Public Library has NYS Census for Monroe
County on microfilm
Ancestry.com & Family Search have some NYS Census
records on-line
40. Most Counties have Census Books for both the U.S.
Census and NYS Census
Canadian Census started in 1841 and are available to
1911
British Census first useful was 1841 and are available to
1911
Census records are also available for other States and
Countries
41. Don’t depend on correct spelling of names
◦ No spelling rules prior to 1755
◦ 1900 – 40% of Americans can not read or write
Don’t depend on boundries
◦ http://www.familyhistory101.com/maps/ny_cm.html
Just because it is on the Internet doesn’t make it fact
42. National Archives has all Military records on microfilm
Soldier lists and Pension records
Revolutionary War Pension records on:
◦ Heritage Quest
◦ Fold3
Civil War Soldiers at Rochester Public Library, Local
History, Adjutant Generals Report
Newspaper Articles
43. Julian Calendar – Year begins on March 25th.
Gregorian Calendar – Year begins on January 1st.
England & America changed from the Julian to
Gregorian Calendar in 1752.
January to March 25th dates before 1752 are often
listed with two years.
Example 5 February 1750/51.
44. 1st Cousins have the same Grand Parents
2nd Cousins have the same Great Grand
Parents
3rd Cousins have the same GG Grand
Parents
Once removed means there is a
difference of one
generation
Twice removed means there is a
difference of two
generations.
48. You should have a sense of humor
as well as searching skills…
48
49. Consider yourself a time traveler…because
you are working in many times and places,
and keeping them all straight and focused
is a challenge.
Emphasis on kinds of sources, as each person
is different. Take the handouts and modify
them for your users. Local examples are
mentioned because we have
easier access to them.
49
50. Kinds of info to seek
Basics - names, places, and dates (using digital
images)
Search for work already done - family trees as found
on personal sites, WorldConnect, FamilySearch,
etc.
Census, vitals, military, immigration, pictures,
newspapers, printed histories, directories,
yearbooks, phone book, land and surrogate
records, Persi, message boards, DNA, learning
pages on sites
Evaluate evidence! Just because it is online does not
mean that it is correct! E.g. Wm Baird…
50
52. What are some sources?
Libraries and their finding aids.
Indexes, and the original records. Kinds of
materials - yearbooks, vital record
certificates (births, marriages and deaths)
diplomas, censuses, military records. school
yearbooks, directories.
Documentation - how good is it?
52
53. Pros and cons of online.
Advantages
More convenient -24/7 access from any internet accessible
computer
Ease of use - type in a name and get instant results
Saves $ on traveling to distant locations to look at the
records
53
54. Disadvantages
Ease of use - type in a name and get instant results
Less than 5% of the world’s records (or less than 1% of
Canadian records) are actually available online because
mass digitization is very expensive.
Little editorial vetting of data.
And if the electricity goes off, you are stopped cold.
54
55. Concentrate on one family branch at a time
Do background research
Don’t assume everything is online or in a
single resource
For example, Monroe County NY
Surrogate’s Court indexes $$
55
56. Enough already! Where do you look? How
do you keep track? Programs, forms,
backups? Privacy of data vs. sharing.
Be sensitive of hurtful info.
56
59. Census - film, online, books indexes.
(numerous sources for these).
Borrow through ILL for items not held locally.
(French and German books at N.Y.P.L.)
Does what you find online meet standards - or
have a plethora of punctuation marks?
OMG , I found my family LOL !?!?!?!
59
60. Web can offer indexes, vitals stats, directories,
curated web site content, personal web pages
already out there, genealogical discussion groups,
city, county state genealogical or historical society
pages, and individual libraries.
But you will not find everyone, and any given site
may or may not have accurate data. For example,
my own experiences indexing 1940 census….
60
62. Keep track in a program - you are using a
computer to search, so make the data saved
in a program - and please keep it backed up!!!
Keeping data in a program helps keep the
filling out and filing of forms more organized.
62
63. Forms
Why should you use forms?
How should you fill them out?
Where do you get them?
63
64. Help!!!
All kinds of formats and helps Familysearch.org wiki (research guides,
thesauri, word lists, how to’s), online
research guides, translatable web pages,
overseas records, privately done pages
64
66. What about “stuff in the wild?”
…like the RGS CRPC locally.
Or the lady [Martha Mae Schmidt] with 1000
pages of church records in St Louis, or the one
in Newark [Mary Lish] with 100,000 names from
Newark NJ cemetery. Or the city employee who
did a listing of the missing/destroyed Britton Rd.
cemetery records?
How do you find them?
Word of mouth, message boards, writing to
libraries and archives, blogs, etc.
66
72. Maps
Looking at maps will help you determine where people
went to church, may have moved (or not), and likely
places of emigration. But people do weird things, and
what is apparent to you might not be the actual truth.
See:
http://www.libraryweb.org/rochimag/maps/home.htm
72
73. Census
There are numerous censuses - federal,
state, local, school, church, etc.
See Cyndislist.com, William Dollarhide’s
books on census, etc. for sites
which hold them.
And ask online.
73
75. Online records in the USA
Ancestry, Rootsweb, HQ, GenealogyBank,
Familysearch.org, and of course locally,
RPL’s sources at www.libraryweb.org maps, city directories, searchable indexes,
Rochester Images, Civil War materials, etc.
75
93. Don’t forget books
There are many printed histories of
families, of locations, and how-to help
books for various kinds of research.
93
94. Newspaper libraries
It is becoming common to see newspapers
digitized and searchable for free on various
sites - at the same time that newspapers
themselves are getting pricier and more
difficult to access.
See: www.fultonhistory.com, and
http://www.rrlcnewspapers.org/
94
95. What can you trust?
You have to apply common sense to a
source. “Genealogical sheep” find a
fact online and copy (and disseminate
it) without thinking critically.
95
97. Sidebar things
Sites like Intelius.com, spokeo.com,
whitepages.com, Facebook, Google,
dogpile.com, mocavo.com, etc. can be useful
- or useless and misleading. Sometimes you
find interesting or reliable info - other times it
seems to be utterly bogus. Never pay for
what you can find for free! Check yourself on
these sites first.
97
98. Recommended sites
Ancestry $
HQ $
Rootsweb - message boards - Free
Worldgenweb - down to the county level - Free
Various local historical sites -Free
Familysearch.org - Free
FHC portal at FHC’s - Free
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