Genealogy - Uncovering Your Ancestry

Table of Contents:

Introduction...4
Chapter 1: Why You Need To Explore Your Past...5
Defining Genealogy...6
Chapter 2: Genealogy And The Search For Answers...10
Genealogy And History...10
Chapter 3: Modern Methods Of Researching Your Past...14
The Advent Of Change...14
Research Effort Methods...16
Chapter 4: Where You Need To Start Your Journey...23
The Benefit Of Stories...25
Creating A Family Tree...28
The Importance Of Pictures...30
Chapter 5: The Records Search Begins Now...32
How Records Came To Be...32
The Records Search Begins...34
Land Searches...38
School Records...39
Other Records To Search...40
Chapter 6: How Did They Get Here Anyway?...43
How To Begin Your Search...44
How Did They Get Here?...47
Then Where Did They Go?...49
Chapter 7: Genealogical Information And Tools To Use...50
Types Of Genealogical Information...50
Reliability...56
Chapter 8: Getting Help...57
Hiring A Professional...57
Family Tree Software...59
Conclusion...60


Introduction
Your family’s history is part of your history too. Perhaps learning more about your family will inspire you to be a different person today. Or, perhaps your quest will help open the door to questions that you may have. For others, a quest into their family ancestry is one that will provide them with the tools to pass down information to their own children and then their grandchildren as well. Genealogy is something to strive for.
The quest to learn more about your family is something that people have wanted to know and learn for hundreds of years. The need to know about who, what, where, and when is powerful and virtually any person can relate to wanting more information about their past, whether it’s their own or their ancestors.
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Our quest to learning your genealogy is a long one and it will take some work. There’s nothing simple or easy about the process of unearthing years of history. Yet, the reward that will come from it is a reward that will fulfill your history craving for knowledge. Use this book to help you to begin your quest.
Chapter 1: Why You Need To Explore Your Past
It seems simple to understand why history is important. There are countless times that history repeats itself. We are face with the same choices that we were just a handful of years ago. Did we learn from our mistakes or will we make the same ones over and over again?
Whether you believe in a Higher Power or not, there is still the question of what could have happened to those that are in your past. After all, don’t you want to know who was in your family tree?
Could you be the descendant of one of the Kings or Queens of England? Perhaps you have an ancestor that was a war hero in the Revolutionary War. Perhaps the past isn’t as pretty with ancestors that died in famines, illnesses or strife, only to save their children that you would eventually come from.
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The “what if” type questions are out there and people in general are curious about what it means for them. If you want to know what your chances of learning more about
your past you have to give genealogy a chance. You have to try to learn more.
The good news is that it’s quite possible for many people to learn more about those in their family trees. The quest starts with understanding the process of genealogy and then learning how to get started on your own journey to learn as much as you can about those that have come before you in your family tree.
Defining Genealogy
Genealogy is the study of family ancestry. It is the study and tracing of the family’s pedigrees. During the process of genealogy, you will collect the names of your relatives, including those that are deceased and will then establish their relationship to each other.
This will include exploring various levels of your family tree as well including primary and secondary family members. You will use both documentation and word of mouth to help you to develop your family tree. The goal is to ultimately build a family tree that includes all of your relatives as far back as you would like to take it, or at least as far as you can take it.
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Getting a family history of your family is a bit different. In genealogy, you technically only will get the names of your family members, creating a tree.
But, with a family history, you will take this one step farther by including information about each of those people. Learning more about the lives they lived is part of getting your family history.
Sometimes, this can be done at the same time as creating a family tree, other times it is a bit more complex because of how difficult it can be to learn this information. The goal is to gather as much information about your ancestors as you can to better understand your family’s history in both public...