We often set goals at the turn of the new year. But you don’t have to wait until January 1st to create a list of things you want to accomplish in the new year. Especially for genealogy and your family.
Let’s take it in stages and start with the big goals. What do you want to achieve this year? Here are some of my goals.
1. Locate, scan, and name your family photos.
2. Create a core family tree for the various branches of your family (so I can see what I have and what I’m missing).
3. Gather main documents (birth, marriage, death to start).
4. Interview living relatives to find out facts you may not know (make a list beforehand).
5. Visit home towns of various relatives (plan vacations around them).
These are just some things that I have set out for the year ahead (wish me luck!). But let’s break one of them down so you can see how to dig deeper into any goals you chose for the coming months, and can apply them to each separate goal.
Gather Main Documents
If you’re just starting to research your family, or if you’ve been doing this for decades, it’s a good idea to look through all the documents you already have at hand. Start with yourself and your siblings, then your parents and their siblings, and then your grandparents, etc. Or just focus on the straight line, you, your parents, grandparents, etc.
Do you have your birth certificate? If not, see if your parents have it. If not, write to your state or provincial or body of government that keeps them and order a copy. I always request the long form, if there is an option for that, as it may contain more information. I found out the exact time I was born that way!
Speak with your siblings and find out if they have their documents, and ask permission to copy them. Some family members won’t want to share. Respect that. Just remember that you can order a copy of their certificates just as you did for yourself. But it will cost you out-of-pocket, and it might not be worth it at this point. I’m sure you know your sibling(s)’ birth dates!
Parents and grandparents – always start by asking whether anyone has a copy of their own birth records. Then find out who might be the family historian and therefore have control over a lot of documents. Again, if you know where they were born, you can order a copy.
Were you ever married? Follow the same research strategy and search your own records first. You could go to the church or religious institution you were married in, or town hall where you had a civil ceremony, to get a copy.
For parents and grandparents, and further back generations, you may not know where they were married. Speak with relatives. Perhaps a cousin or aunt or uncle were born in a certain town. It might be the same town their parents were married in.
Don’t forget that most marriage records will contain the name(s) of one or more of the bride’s and/or groom’s own parents. This will help you set up another generation to search for.
I personally love finding marriage records, because often the bride and groom sign the document, and I find collecting my ancestor’s signatures to be fascinating (some didn’t know how to write and only put an X as their mark). Signatures helped me confirm a 1911 census return entry wherein my grandfather signed his name on the register himself as being a porter at a hotel in London. I double checked that signature with the one he had on his driver’s license (which was in my possession), and the signatures were the same.
Who keeps death records? Settling an estate nowadays requires actual death certificates. (They came into use in the late 1800s and early 1900s in Canada, the US and in 1837 in the UK) They will hold a great deal of information, including the cause of death (which is great when putting together a family’s medical health tree). You may want to contact the estate liquidator, as they will receive the death certificate.
If you’re not sure of when a person died or where, check online obituaries to see if they mention the information. FindAGrave is also wonderful tool to find a person’s ultimate resting place. Locating a tombstone may also give you the person’s date of birth and death.
Ancestry-type websites likely contain many documents that you can find online. Check them before ordering a copy of any document to save time and money.
For all the other goals I have set for this year, I will create a research map as I did for the main documents above. Break things down. Make the job easier by doing it in bite-sized chunks. Half the fun is becoming a detective and locating all the information.
Your Turn
- Create a list of four or five goals that you’d like to tackle this year.
- Pick one and develop a plan by setting out various levels to achieve the goal.
- Focus on one thing at a time and don’t worry if you can’t find everything. Make a note on your list to go back and search again. Online sites constantly add new things!
Have fun and good luck with the new year’s adventures!
Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash