If you’re interested in finding out more about your family, I would strongly recommend that the first thing you do is interview members of your family. Start with your grandparents, your parents, aunts and uncles. Ask questions and give them time to answer and either write down what they tell you or better still, record them. Ask where they were born, birth and death dates of their parents, marriage dates, ask for copies of any official documents they might still have (birth and death certificates, passports, any military documents).
My mother, with some encouragement, wrote down memories and stories of both her family as well as my father’s. She wrote dozens and dozens of pages so now, almost eight years after her death, these memories are preserved and in her own handwriting.
After you’ve exhausted and possibly irritated your relatives, then start with some of the free genealogical Web sites like:
CyndisList.com – one of the best sites out there, Cyndi’s List is a compilation of basically every genealogical site worth visiting. Sign up for the free email announcements and receive regular updates to your in-box.
FamilySearch.org – this site is a service provided by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Although provided by the Mormon church, this site is free to anyone and can provide a wealth of information, completely without charge.
Genealogy.com – this site has some great message boards on which to post questions, comments on your family or even others. Their search capabilities isn’t as robust as ancestry.com (AKA The Mother Lode) but the message boards are a wonderful tool.
The list is endless and the best are listed on Cyndi’s List. Once you’ve searched these sites, check out ancestry.com. To search is free and to view some records is also free, but mostly this is a paid site. To some, worth every penny.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Lost Forever
I’m the youngest of 6 children…my parents had three boys and then three girls. Only one brother is as intrigued as I am by our family history. He offers memories, encouragement, memorabilia, even money to help pay for Ancestery.com. However, my oldest sister has an odd reaction to all of our searching. She can’t understand why we’re “wasting our time”. I explained we’re doing this for our children, grandchildren and future generations. If we don’t document this information, it will be lost forever.
A few years ago, my boyfriend’s uncle and aunt came to visit. I told them about my genealogical searching and they both became curious about their own family histories. John’s uncle gave me a few tidbits of family information and within minutes I was able to track his family back to the year 1594. Not too shabby. John’s aunt immediately asked me to look for her family. Unfortunately, this otherwise bright woman couldn’t tell me her grandparent’s first names; they were always just Grammy and Grampy to her. She was crushed that her family history was lost.
This why I'm researching my families' history...so all of this wonderful information I'm finding won't be lost.
A few years ago, my boyfriend’s uncle and aunt came to visit. I told them about my genealogical searching and they both became curious about their own family histories. John’s uncle gave me a few tidbits of family information and within minutes I was able to track his family back to the year 1594. Not too shabby. John’s aunt immediately asked me to look for her family. Unfortunately, this otherwise bright woman couldn’t tell me her grandparent’s first names; they were always just Grammy and Grampy to her. She was crushed that her family history was lost.
This why I'm researching my families' history...so all of this wonderful information I'm finding won't be lost.
Friday, March 12, 2010
In The Beginning
When we were young, our grandmother would frequently tell me and my five siblings we were direct descendents of Marie ("Let them eat cake") Antoinette. Of course we didn’t believe her. This was after all, the same woman who would take us to neighboring Fall River (a town in Massachusetts known almost exclusively for Lizzie Borden giving her father 40 whacks) and tell us it was New York City. A town filled with old factories with a smell reminiscent of grease and decay, Fall River would in no way be mistaken for New York City. As we grew older, she continued this tale of Marie Antoinette and we continued to mock. Out of frustration, she visited us one day toting a very large and as it turned out, very expensive book detailing that we were, in fact related to Marie Antoinette. We should have listened.
On to our 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, we became engrossed in our own lives, our children’s lives, school, work etc. Our parents made periodic attempts to tell us about their parents, their grandparents. Did we listen? No we did not. Oh, maybe some tidbits sunk in but mainly we were too busy to listen. My father died in 1986 and with him died any hope in learning about his parents, both of whom were born and grew up in Ireland. In 1999 I left my husband and moved in with my mother. I realized that I wanted to learn more about my heritage, my ancestors. My mother and I talked for hours about her memories and with my encouragement she wrote bits and pieces of what she knew…how she and my father met, the years my grandparents were born and where, stories about her godparents who were born in Denmark. Soon we had stacks of paperwork, newspaper clippings, pictures. In 2002, she died and my brothers, sisters and I became orphans, and all links to our past died with her.
In 2005, I bought a scanner and scanned every single page, clipping and picture my mother gave me and for Christmas presented each of my siblings with a binder filled with our family history. But I wanted more. I searched online at various websites, ancestry.com; familyhistory.com, familysearch.com, cyndislist.com and many, many others. I finally joined ancestry.com and started to search for my family roots in earnest.
I found we had a great aunt we didn’t know existed. I found pictures of our grandmother in the newspaper archives. I found our grandfather’s obituary and learned he was considered a “prominent citizen”. I learned our grandfather was a “jitney” driver. For a short ride taxicab drivers charged a nickel or a “jitney” and soon the word became synonymous with taxi.
I wanted more and the search was on.
On to our 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, we became engrossed in our own lives, our children’s lives, school, work etc. Our parents made periodic attempts to tell us about their parents, their grandparents. Did we listen? No we did not. Oh, maybe some tidbits sunk in but mainly we were too busy to listen. My father died in 1986 and with him died any hope in learning about his parents, both of whom were born and grew up in Ireland. In 1999 I left my husband and moved in with my mother. I realized that I wanted to learn more about my heritage, my ancestors. My mother and I talked for hours about her memories and with my encouragement she wrote bits and pieces of what she knew…how she and my father met, the years my grandparents were born and where, stories about her godparents who were born in Denmark. Soon we had stacks of paperwork, newspaper clippings, pictures. In 2002, she died and my brothers, sisters and I became orphans, and all links to our past died with her.
In 2005, I bought a scanner and scanned every single page, clipping and picture my mother gave me and for Christmas presented each of my siblings with a binder filled with our family history. But I wanted more. I searched online at various websites, ancestry.com; familyhistory.com, familysearch.com, cyndislist.com and many, many others. I finally joined ancestry.com and started to search for my family roots in earnest.
I found we had a great aunt we didn’t know existed. I found pictures of our grandmother in the newspaper archives. I found our grandfather’s obituary and learned he was considered a “prominent citizen”. I learned our grandfather was a “jitney” driver. For a short ride taxicab drivers charged a nickel or a “jitney” and soon the word became synonymous with taxi.
I wanted more and the search was on.
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