2025: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Week 1 Prompt - In The Beginning

2025

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 1

Prompt – In The Beginning

I realize that I have dabbled in genealogy for 19 years now. In 2006 I took a Beginner's Genealogy Course. At that time I was interested in finding out more about my family tree, but I really didn't know where to start.

The Golden Rule of Genealogy is always start with yourself and what you know. The key items you need to fill in are, names, places, dates and relationships. Expand outward as you go. For example, I have 6 siblings and I would next fill in their data such as birth, christenings, marriages etc. Always work from the known to the unknown.

Your initial information can be found at home such as documents, bibles and certificates. I have a photocopy of my mother's bible which included the births of my siblings and me. 

 

 

 

The next source of information is interviewing the family. My 3 sisters and I got together one weekend and with my trusty pen and notebook I began to take down notes. I was quite surprised by how much information I was able to get from putting our heads together. It was a great start to some vital information plus as a bonus we told a few stories that we remembered. For example Betty told us that she remembers dad's first car which was a 1949 apple green Ford. And I always thought dad was a Chevy guy

The use of computers for gathering together our work was just at it's beginning when I first started. Initially I found a free online tree template that I put my family tree information into. Eventually I bought the program called Legacy which I still run as the main family tree. I add new mostly sourced information to this tree. It is private and only what I share is available to the public.

Again back in the early 2000's most genealogy researching took place at a library where information such as a census would have been stored on their database or microfilms. And now the home computers, network access and a few paid software sites provide much information. I use Ancestry and My Heritage to find many pieces of my family information. There is a free database made by the Mormons called Family Search. It is quite useful. These programs offer the opportunity to connect to fellow researchers. Most often new information.

Genealogy has come such a long way since I started to do it as a hobby. I rarely go to the library for research. Computers and programs make this possible. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is just starting to be used in finding hints for your families. I am on the fence about AI as a genealogical tool. AI is actually quite scary to think about. DNA is still my nemesis. So many genealogist swear by its usefulness. I know its there but haven't put the effort into learning more about it. 

Wendy