Thursday, January 19, 2012

Got Records and Good Notes? Try these ideas to help.

A mark of a good genealogist is their attention to detail while researching records of the past. This means keeping good notes and being organized with your information.  Some techniques I have honed over the last 30+ years is to adapt different technologies to genealogy.

For example, if you are on a research trip, it helps to have several good maps, such as a: USGS topo map or BLM map, contemporary map from last 10 years and a period map for the era you are researching.    You can get most of these online or at the library for free. 

Saturday, January 07, 2012

Family Roots - We all have them

We all originate from some place and its great to also discover these locations when talking with friends and relatives.    What is even better is finding out where someone has visited and what they liked about those locations.  Today, we can usually produce several pictures of locations visited, in a snap... but back in the 19th century, travel was a challenge and everyone had to have a vivid imagination to accompany the stories that were told over and again.   Images and details were left to specialists.

When it comes to our family roots, we must also tap into that imagination and explore the world that was before us.  You can start with doing the research yourself.   But like travel, that takes time, money, and frankly skill.   Some commercials may imply that you can sign up, log in and with a few clicks, you can find your family tree right away, but again some things are left to specialists.

Finding details on a paid subscription website can be great, but if not careful, you may end up chasing false leads, that eventually tell the wrong story.    What's worse is it get compounded by others if you publish those details.   That is why hiring a specialist with years of experience in genealogy can help save you time AND money.

If you are interested in finding out more about your family roots, I would suggest checking out Ancestral Family Roots.   They offer full service genealogy research and include many other services, such as your own family website, photo restoration, and more. 

All for now... your cousin with some imagination.