5 Steps to start your family Tree
So you have watched Who Do You Think You Are, you’ve seen Ancestry.com and FindMyPast and now you want to get going on your own family tree. But how and where do you start? And how to do it properly from the start?
Collect
Check the back of the cupboards, collect every single document, photos, diaries, postcards, letters, family bibles; newspaper clipping etc anything you can find that has anything about your family.
Store everything you find safely. If you find any old photographs or old documents you will want to store them in a plastic sleeve and then file in a folder or box. Take your time with this search as it is so easy to miss some clues that might just be very important later on.
Assess
Arrange everything into couples. So a pile of items for you, a pile for your parents, and a pile for each set of grandparents and so on.
Draft
In genealogy, a Primary Source is something that was recorded at the time of the event and a Secondary Source is one that was recorded at a later date.
So using a pen for primary sources, and pencil for secondary sources start to draft your family tree.
Start with yourself, and then moving back a generation fill in your father’s details and then your mother’s details and so on.
Visit
It is surprising what people keep particularly if they have been involved in winding up the affairs of their parents or grandparents.
Once you have filled out your chart, make several copies and then contact family members, especially the older generations, and ask if they have any documents etc that might help.
Now see if you can fill in the blanks, don’t just concentrate on dates and places, but record any memories and stories.
Write everything down! It may hold the clue you are looking for, even if you don’t think so now, it may help in years to come.
Be aware that you may not get told everything in just one visit especially with elderly relatives, give them time to think and arrange another visit. Ask questions, If a date can’t be remembered then ask how old they were when they attended the service, ask if it was summer or winter, did they need a jacket or not?
Remember also to ask questions for things that won’t be recorded, it will bring life to your family history. Where did your grandparents meet? What is their earliest memory? What school did they attend?
Research
The main records you will want to access at this stage are:
Birth, Marriage and Death records
Cemetery Records
Census
Ancestry and FindMyPast offer the widest range of family history databases. You will be amazed at what is now available online and what gets added all the time.
PDFs you may find helpful can be found here:
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