Genealogy 101+: Get Started!

Friday, March 9, 2012

I love when people ask me genealogy questions or give me suggestions for articles for my Family Times blog.  This suggestion came from my daughter.  She wrote:  "I have friends who are interested in genealogy, but don't really know where to start, etc. You know what would be really cool? If you wrote an article on your blog to help people get started. What to look for, where to go, who to talk to. (tricks like always remembering to consider alternate spellings, etc) You could keep adding to it, like talking about your experience with the library in DC, Germany, etc..."  I think it's an excellent idea.  So I will begin tonight with Genealogy 101+.

A novice researcher can get help with genealogy in so many different places including, obviously, the internet and numerous great books on the topic.  These resources will tell you to start with yourself and then ask your parents and other relatives what they know about the family's history.  That's just so obvious.  Of course, you'll want to do that--and sooner rather than later because nobody is getting any younger!  But, make your search fun and purposeful.  I suggest you ask yourself first, what do you want to know and secondly, why do you want to know it.  I'll revisit how to effectively ask questions of all those relatives in a future segment.

The reason I believe it is important to narrow your focus to a question is because researching can become very, very time consuming.  If you don't focus you will find yourself, like I often did many years ago when I began, going from tidbit of information to tidbit of information, here and there, and, pretty soon, you will become lost in a sea of dates and details and confusion.  That's no fun; it's discouraging.

When you focus your interest on a particular question or a particular person you want to know more about, you will likely have more success, greater satisfaction in the process, and ultimately more fun.

A perfect example of what I'm talking about is the genealogy research process you will observe on the TV show "Who Do You Think You Are?"  This show features famous people who want to know something in particular about their family's history.  For instance, on tonight's show, Jerome Bettis asked, "Were my mother's ancestors slaves?"  The people on this show receive plenty of professional research help and you will notice that they focus on one subject or family line when they seek out the answer to the question.  You will want to do the same thing.  Define your interest.  What is your question?

Here are a few of the genealogy questions I have worked on over the course of my many years of family history research:       

1)  Why does my family live in Wisconsin?  In my research, I learned that my earliest ancestor to come to Wisconsin was a friend and personal secretary to the first territorial governor of Wisconsin, James Doty, and that he, George W. Elliot, brought his family here in 1839 to survey land for the capital.  We've lived here ever since!  This is an example of a simple question I focused my research on and successfully answered.

2)  Who were my earliest ancestors to come to America?  My g-g-g-grandfather George W. Elliot, when interviewed, said that his Elliot ancestors were descended from Jacob Elliot who came to America in 1630.  I still need documented proof of that.  I do have proof that my Benjamin ancestors arrived in 1632 in Governor Winthrop's colony.  This question is much more complex and perhaps can never be fully solved.

Periodically, when time permits, I focus on many other questions--one at a time. They are the puzzles yet to be pieced together that make studying my family's history so much fun!  Here are two questions that I have not yet begun to research.

3)  Was my great-grandfather in Germany a musician on a cruise ship?  What was that experience like during that time period?  This will require research in Germany that I have not yet undertaken.   

4)  How and when did my g-g-grandmother Elizabeth "Louisa" O'Brien Tracy die or disappear, leaving her young sons to grow up without her?  What impact did it have on the lives of her boys?  I already know much about this family and, when time permits, I will revisit this question.     

What is your question?

Click here for the next genealogy post.