5 Easy Habits to Discover More of Your Family Tree
Вставка
- Опубліковано 22 чер 2024
- Improvement in anything usually comes down to improving habits. That includes genealogy! Here are 5 genealogy research habits that will help you discover more of your family history with less frustration!
Chapters:
0:00 Improving habits
0:23 Read introductions before you search
1:37 Try different search terms (you might be using too many!)
2:46 Cite your sources (it isn't just for professional genealogists!)
4:09 Ask a research question
4:55 Write more
#genealogy #familyhistory #ancestry
✅ Pick up a free copy of Amy's guide "5 Online Search Strategies Every Genealogist Should Know: www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/search...
🔍 🔍 Find more genealogy and family history tips at www.amyjohnsoncrow.com
📙 Amy's book "31 Days to Better Genealogy" is available on Amazon:
amzn.to/3c2Nono
(Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
The writing is really important if you want your research to have meaning and value to your family. Most people need something in narrative form (not just names and dates) to understand their family history. I wrote a book on my maternal family history, tracing them from the late 1600s in Italy through their immigration and assimilation in America, and was pleasantly surprised by how many family members of all types wanted to read it and have copies to pass on to their children and grandchildren. I am proud to say that my book was accepted into the Library of Congress and will be a permanent record.
We're told that we should "bring life" to our research by going beyond putting the historical dates and places into a narrative form. I agree, kind of. I started writing because I discovered that while my aunts and uncles loved that I was doing family history research, they did NOT understand even simple family group sheets or pedigree charts. When I put it into a narrative form, it did two things 1) helped them be able to "read" the story (and, surprise, they added memories to them!) as well as 2) helped me evaluate the information and identify missing elements not typically seen on a FGS/Pedigree chart. I still write the information in short narrative form about the ancestors, but have added to it as I've found interesting stories (another benefit of starting the process in story form using available software- you can add to it!). Using multiple ways to think about information should be encouraged, even in its basic form. Thanks for being the great teacher you are!
One that I was surprised you didn't mention was Always look at the image if there is one, not just the transcription. Quite often, there are transcriptional errors that can cause a correct record to be disregarded.
Not only a transcription error, but the record itself often contain more information that what is on the index.
@@AmyJohnsonCrow Well yes, also very true
So true. I have an ancestor whose middle name was run together in a marriage record. That record isn’t visible on ancestry or family search, only find my past uk. So “Thomas son of...” was transcribed as “Thompson”. So now the majority of people have his middle name wrong and no one will correct it.
@@sidneybristow815 That’s really interesting. Newbie here, hoping to use Amy’s advice to make a well-organised start. If you have the marriage record showing his proper name, is there any way of asking Ancestry (or other database managers) to correct the error? Or can you have an addendum inserted explaining the error?
I found that only yesterday. To cut the story short I discovered who an apparent unrelated entry on a family headstone finally was. Then I couldn't see why a mother sent her young daughter from the coal mining area of South Wales, UK, to her parents home about 70 miles away in a sparsely populated area of the far west of South Wales at the turn of the 2oth century. The answer seems to be in a comment in the School Admission book for the village. The girl left "of age" at a time when they left asap to start work. It also gave the date and said "left . Home - Deformed" She also died at 21 ( death cert still to be found) This told me as dad was a coal miner mum couldn't cope with bringing up a handicapped daughter so family stepped in. They also did the same for my grandmother when her mum died AND brought up my father when his mother married and her husband was not the baby's father. All put together I think I now have the answer sad as it was for the initial young girl. They were good people so doing this revealed their character too.@@AmyJohnsonCrow
If you make a book or have a book made of your genealogy then you will have a record that outlives you. I did and now have a 400 page family history book that dates back to the 1500's.
Wow! And no outdated digital programs needed to reed it. 😊
Listing categories of subjects - such as countries from which your ancestors immigrated, military service, etc, helps organize research on paper too.
Yes, I listed the churches in which my ancestors were baptised, married etc. If I visit those places, I know who experienced them too.
@@ennasus5964 Great idea! I have several original birth certificates that show location of baptisms.
I learned the hard way about citing sources. I had 600 pages of Swedish records without citing their source. Am down to 400 after trying to find the originals…..😳
Ouch!
Oh dear! And you the “Chief FGO”, too 🤗. Good luck finding the rest 🤞🏽
You are the best of many genealogists!
I wrote up a book on my for my maternal grandmothers side of the family and found out exactly what you said, that I didn't have all the info i needed and ended up finding out WAY more than I would have if I didn't start making the book. I have yet to give it to her and I'm so excited to!
I started recently to bring all the data I found about one ancestor together on one word document. I listed dates, names and dates of children and put the sources in the footnotes. I use the comment function to right questions and clues. For example on the death certificate were listet all living children at the date of death by the reverend of the church. But one child, my ancestor who was still alive at that point, was not mentioned. Was it because he lived elsewhere and the reverend didn't know him? Or had he become estranged? Why? Or did he not belong to that family entirely and my research result was wrong? So I already have my research questions ready for my next session. Thank you for all your tipps, Amy! They are a great help and a strong source of motivation for me and for many others I bet!
Thank you for the kind words! And it sounds like you've found a good way to manage your note-taking! I find it so helpful to have a way to capture those "what about X?" questions/thoughts.
Along with the page numbers for my sources, I try to remember to write the image numbers, especially if it's a record that has a lot of pages. I also extract deeds and tax records onto a spreadsheet so I have the basic information at hand and don't have to read them more than once.
I've always written a narrative of my ancestors' stories as I find their information. It helps to put all your documents in context, and fleshes out your ancestors making them humans and not just a list of facts.
It can also help to follow their trail and see where you might want to go next to hunt out your next documents.
Based on a couple of Censuses, this one couple were both from one county (born there), their first daughter was born there, their next daughter was born in the next county over (or was the next county formed between those births?), and then they moved halfway across the state where they stayed for the rest of their lives and the rest of their children were born.
I track neighbors on Census records and mark if I find relatives nearby, as well. Obviously, your ancestors interacted with most if not all of their neighbors. Sometimes you can find missing folks checking in these places. Maybe grandma was moved into brother's house 3 doors down but her name was horribly butched in transcription b/c the enumerator had poor handwriting or misheard the name. You wouldn't find her doing a search for her.
One of my mom's cousins made a slide show with a bunch of family pictures and names. Maybe I can make a new one with some of the info I found on some of the ancestors.
That sounds like a great idea!
All excellent points ! I try following them all, but found writing up your research on individuals or couples, really shows you what you know and don't know and can give direction for future work.
I'm often amazed by how many research ideas I get when I'm writing.
So true!
Excellent tips; really excellent!
You are amazing! Thank you!
I love this, thanks so much for your great work.
Great Advice!!
Glad it was helpful!
Really great presentation. Made me think... I need to write more! Thank you Amy!
You're so welcome!
Read the original of various records. The typed out portion can be wrong. The person who typed it may have miss read that name!
Exactly! Always look at the record itself!
Great tips, and a few never crossed my mine to do.
Glad it was helpful!
These are really handy tips. Thank you. The fifth tip is a bit tricky for me at this stage. All I have are names, dates, and locations. Not a lot to write about sadly.
I always skip the introductions. I guess maybe I should start reading them. Thank you for the tips. And you're right about the writing -- once I start, it always brings up more questions.
I bet you'll be surprised at what you find when you start reading the introductions!
I've been working through sources. I really want to see (or write) an article with the title "Alias Smith and Browns." I have had the worst trouble with my paternal grandparent's lines. Granny Brown was a Smith, and Grandpa Brown was...a Brown. I knew them, have their families but going further back can get really sticky. I've bungled the line on the Smith side a few times, following the wrong person and had to go back and start stripping out and redoing. I keep a notebook as well as the actual software so I have sources and such so I can transfer the information when I need to.
I do have one "bad" habit (if you can call it that). I'm a historian and a fiction author. Either thing can grab my attention and drag me into places I haven't seen before. Start looking into the Georgia Smith line and get attention taken away to state history, county history, or other things. As for writing, I love doing that so I get more things down.
Thanks for the list!
Rabbit holes are big here. Side tracked like a beagle after a rabbit. My 15 minutes turns into two hours!
Newbie here: exactly my experience, but Amy’s advice will help a lot. Might stick a little picture of a rabbit (or squirrel) on my desktop screen to remind me.
Thank you Amy, helpful info pointing out some things I had not thought about. Is there a place where I can post a question to you?
Ancestry has changed how you can edit a search. You might do a how to on the new "system."
Help I'm having problems linking two people ( one of which is American Indian and a French Canadian) from the 1700s then connecting them to a person on my tree
My best advice is to work from the known person on your tree. Don't start with the couple from the 1700s and try to move them forward.
Any suggestions how to find someone u not sure where he was at or was born because it varies throughout since his records and we don't know if he was in Indiana in 1850 or 18 50. In Ohio?
I had someone add relatives to my family tree without my permission, on Family Search and there are no records supporting that addition. I am also now listed as both alive and deceased on that same tree. I am really mad and Family Search won't remove it or sanction her
The FamilySearch family tree is one big collaborative tree, meaning anyone who is registered can add and edit. It isn't like the trees on Ancestry or MyHeritage where you have your own individual tree that nobody can edit unless you invite them to. You can contact FamilySearch to have the profile of you that someone else created. I've had to do that when someone marked my living aunt as deceased. (But no, FamilySearch won't "sanction" the other person unless they've done something that violates the terms of service.)
Are you related to the Crows of Georgia?
No. The ones I research are out of Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Fortunately, a lot of the info I have came from my mother .