I began the genealogical research aka family history trail many years ago when a birth certificate cost $6, now it costs $45. Today there are many more ways to research your family tree and the Internet holds the key to many options.
It is important that when working your family history that you double check the links to family. That is check the dates, names, and details. I have experienced a number of times people coming to me with the idea that we are related only to find that they did not check dates, names, details and have gone off on a false trail all be it nice to have met them.
I would just like to highlight the reasons we seek out birth, death and marriages records. There are many records you can seek and many others which will prove useful and lead you onto past lives unknown. Initially for many of you who read this, our own birth record will be the starting point to an incredible journey.
A friend of mine came to me with a newspaper article he found on a story about his great grandfather, or so he thought. After reading the article and noting the year, I asked him when his great grandfather was born. The age of the person talked about in the newspaper was many years older than his great grandfather would have been at that time. Whats in a name... check the date and do some math even if the name is the same.
It is important that when working your family history that you double check the links to family. That is check the dates, names, and details. I have experienced a number of times people coming to me with the idea that we are related only to find that they did not check dates, names, details and have gone off on a false trail all be it nice to have met them.
I would just like to highlight the reasons we seek out birth, death and marriages records. There are many records you can seek and many others which will prove useful and lead you onto past lives unknown. Initially for many of you who read this, our own birth record will be the starting point to an incredible journey.
A friend of mine came to me with a newspaper article he found on a story about his great grandfather, or so he thought. After reading the article and noting the year, I asked him when his great grandfather was born. The age of the person talked about in the newspaper was many years older than his great grandfather would have been at that time. Whats in a name... check the date and do some math even if the name is the same.
Birth Record
First record to obtain is your full birth certificate.
Birth records will vary with each record within each region and within each church denomination.
Here is a list of what you can hope to find:
Name of individual
Sex of the individual
Legitimate or illegitimate birth of individual
Birth date of the individual
Birthplace of the individual
Name of the father
Maiden name of the mother
Birthplace of the father
Birthplace of the mother
Age of the father
Age of the mother
Occupation of the father
Occupation of the mother
Marriage date of the parents
Marriage place of the parents
Name of the informant
Address of the informant
Relationship of the informant
Date of registration.
Here is a list of what you can hope to find:
Name of individual
Sex of the individual
Legitimate or illegitimate birth of individual
Birth date of the individual
Birthplace of the individual
Name of the father
Maiden name of the mother
Birthplace of the father
Birthplace of the mother
Age of the father
Age of the mother
Occupation of the father
Occupation of the mother
Marriage date of the parents
Marriage place of the parents
Name of the informant
Address of the informant
Relationship of the informant
Date of registration.
Marriage Record
The second record you need is your parents marriage record.
A marriage record may contain:
Name of the groom
Name of the bride
Place of marriage
Date of marriage
Age or birth year of the groom
Age or birth year of the bride
Birthplace of the groom
Birthplace of the bride
Current residence of the groom
Current residence of the bride
Marital status prior to marriage
Father of the groom
Father of the bride
Mother of the groom
Mother of the bride
If father is deceased
If mother is deceased
Name of witness
Church denomination and name of minister
Date of registration
Date of license
Name of the groom
Name of the bride
Place of marriage
Date of marriage
Age or birth year of the groom
Age or birth year of the bride
Birthplace of the groom
Birthplace of the bride
Current residence of the groom
Current residence of the bride
Marital status prior to marriage
Father of the groom
Father of the bride
Mother of the groom
Mother of the bride
If father is deceased
If mother is deceased
Name of witness
Church denomination and name of minister
Date of registration
Date of license
Death record.
Last but not least is death records.
A death record is written at a time of grief and the person providing the information may not have all the information, or even be closely related to the person. I ran into problems when the only witness was a distant relative who provided the wrong name of my great great great great grandfather's deceased wife for his death record. Then there was my great great grandfather where the witness provided the wrong birthplace, took me three years of research to find him. Microfiche readers, a time before computers.
What you may find on the death record:
Name of the individual
Sex of the individual
Age of the individual
Date of the death
Date of the burial
Place of death
Place of burial
Residence of the individual
Length of residence of the individual
Previous residence of the individual
Birthplace of the individual
Birth date of the individual
Marital status of the individual
Occupation of the individual
Name of the informant
Address of the informant
Name of the father
Name of the mother
Cause of death
Autopsy results
Name and address of the funeral home
Date of registration
Siblings
Children
These records: Birth, Marriage and Death have something in common. That is YOU and YOUR Parents! The common link. Using all three official records will verify you have the right you! And your parents will also have the same records (Birth, Marriage, Death) to verify themselves and their parents, and so the process continues. At some point as your journey takes you further back, you will not be able to locate one or all of these records and you will then have to rely on Church Records, Parish Records, Old Newspapers, and maybe even ancient documents.
Ancestry.com "You don't have to know what you are looking for... You just have to start looking". Simply enter what you know about one of your ancestors to start searching billions of records.
Ancestry.com is probably the worlds most visited geneaological site and one you should also make use of. There are other sites and you should certainly visit them in the course of your research. Some will prove of great assistance while others will not. There are also forums that you can post too which will allow you to engage in finding lost ancestors and ancestors miss-placed.
There are many books on the subject of geneaology, family history, and family research, and you can use the Amazon Search option to locate them. It will be helpful to have a book that explains the search process, record keeping, and what to do when you reach a dead end. A great book to consider is The Official Guide to Ancestry.com by: George G. Morgan. GEORGE G. MORGAN (Odessa, FL) is an internationally recognized expert in the field of genealogy and a widely published author of books, magazines, and journal articles.
What you may find on the death record:
Name of the individual
Sex of the individual
Age of the individual
Date of the death
Date of the burial
Place of death
Place of burial
Residence of the individual
Length of residence of the individual
Previous residence of the individual
Birthplace of the individual
Birth date of the individual
Marital status of the individual
Occupation of the individual
Name of the informant
Address of the informant
Name of the father
Name of the mother
Cause of death
Autopsy results
Name and address of the funeral home
Date of registration
Siblings
Children
These records: Birth, Marriage and Death have something in common. That is YOU and YOUR Parents! The common link. Using all three official records will verify you have the right you! And your parents will also have the same records (Birth, Marriage, Death) to verify themselves and their parents, and so the process continues. At some point as your journey takes you further back, you will not be able to locate one or all of these records and you will then have to rely on Church Records, Parish Records, Old Newspapers, and maybe even ancient documents.
Ancestry.com "You don't have to know what you are looking for... You just have to start looking". Simply enter what you know about one of your ancestors to start searching billions of records.
Ancestry.com is probably the worlds most visited geneaological site and one you should also make use of. There are other sites and you should certainly visit them in the course of your research. Some will prove of great assistance while others will not. There are also forums that you can post too which will allow you to engage in finding lost ancestors and ancestors miss-placed.
There are many books on the subject of geneaology, family history, and family research, and you can use the Amazon Search option to locate them. It will be helpful to have a book that explains the search process, record keeping, and what to do when you reach a dead end. A great book to consider is The Official Guide to Ancestry.com by: George G. Morgan. GEORGE G. MORGAN (Odessa, FL) is an internationally recognized expert in the field of genealogy and a widely published author of books, magazines, and journal articles.
