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Discovering Your Family Tree |
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Table of Contents
1. Identify What You Already Know About Your Family
Use Appropriate Forms To Record Information
Recall And Record Information About Your Family
Gather Information Within Your Family
Copy Information From Family Documents Or Records
Organize Records, Documents, And Family Memorabilia
2. Decide What You Want To Learn About Your Family
Identify People For Whom There Is Insufficient Information
Choose One Person To Learn More About
Identify Questions To Answer About The Person
Select One Question As The Research Objective
Prepare A Research Log
3. Select A Record To Search
Identify Major Categories Of Records Available To Search
Select Specific Record(s) To Search
Describe The Record On A Research Log.
4. Obtain And Search The Record
Obtain The Record.
Search The Record.
Record The Results.
5. Use The Information
Evaluate The Information Found.
Transfer The Information
Organize Newly Acquired Records.
Share Your Family History With Others.
Records, The Church And Family Ties
2. DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT TO LEARN ABOUT YOUR FAMILY
Insufficient information can mean missing, unverified, or conflicting information about a person.
Missing information is information about a person that is not known or recorded on the pedigree chart or family group record. For example, if the birthplace of a person is not recorded, it is missing information.
Unverified information is information that cannot be traced to a credible source. For example, if a family member gives a birthplace for an ancestor from memory or from a traditional family story, it is unverified information.
Conflicting information is information from two or more sources that disagree. For example, if the birth date on a person's death certificate differs from the birth date on another legal document, it is conflicting information.
It is possible to identify and link a person to your family without filling out every line on the pedigree chart. However, each piece of accurate information will confirm that you have identified the correct person and will help you learn more about that person.
As you research your family history, work from the known to the unknown. Try to connect family members person by person and from the current generation to past generations. For example, find out about your grandparents (third generation back) before working on your great-grandparents (fourth generation back).
Make a list of the missing, unverified, or conflicting information you would like to find or verify. If, for example, you choose to learn more about your grandfather, you might ask—
In selecting a research objective, generally you should first find out about the event that happened most recently. For example, find out about the death before the marriage and the marriage before the birth. You will need at least a family name (usually a person's last name) and some idea of when and where the ancestor lived.
When you begin researching a new objective, write your ancestor's name, your research objective, and the place the event occurred in a research log. Later as you begin to search individual records, you should keep your log current as you discover more information.
Using a research log will help you be more efficient because you will be able to remember what records you have searched and what information you have found in them. A research log can also help you stay focused on one research objective at a time.
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©1998, 2001 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.
No part of this document may be reprinted, posted on-line, or reproduced in any form for any purpose without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. FamilySearch is a trademark of Intellectual Reserve, Inc.
Identify People For Whom There Is Insufficient Information
Choose One Person to Learn More About
Identify Questions to Answer About the Person
Select One Question As the Research Objective
Prepare a Research Log
[FamilySearchTM: Research Guidance
Version of Data: 6/8/2001]