Genealogy/Family Tree? Help?!?

Question

I'm trying to research my family tree, and i'm just wondering if there is an easy way of doing it?? As well, I'm also wondering if there is an easy way of drawing/mapping out the family tree? Something that is not only simple to do, but easy on the eyes too?

thanks yall!

Answer 1

here are some tips on how to start researching your family tree:

interview your parents, grandparents and great grandparents about their lives...where were they born and grow up, parents names, grandparents names, any military activity, siblings names etc. oral histories are important but not always one hundred percent accurate, especially if you talking with the elderly who have memory issues. example: my great grandma told us her grandparents were called James and Louisa. We spent countless hours searching on the census for a couple of that named. Turned out that her mother, Emily, was the daughter of a man named James but his wife was Sarah. Her father, Elias, was the son of Jesse and Louisa. My great-grandma was correct but not entirely accurate. Oral Histories are also a great way to learn old family stories and get clues to aid you in your search.

Get two books by Emily Croom: "Unpuzzling Your Past" and "Unpuzzling Your Past: The Workbook." Everything you need to know about doing genealogy effectively and in a timely manner is in the first book. The workbook contains forms for record keeping and family trees.

www.usgenweb.com is also a great resource once you know which states and counties your relatives came from.



Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

Answer 2

There isn't an easy way. Sometimes you luck out and an aunt has "done" one of your four lines. Most of us do it as a hobby, the way other people fly fish.

If you are rich you can hire a professional, but that is like buying four pounds of filet instead of driving up to the mountains, hiking in a mile or two and spending the day listening to a small stream chuckle over the stones while you test your skill against a wily trout.

If you live in the USA and are willing to spend an hour and a half, you could do me a HUGE favor and learn about your family tree at the same time.

Get a list of your grandparents, their birth, marriage & death dates and places, maiden names for the grandmothers. If you can do it for your great grandparents, even better. If you don't have all the dates and places for all the people, that is OK.

Then go to

http://www.tedpack.org/genclass1.html

Work through the exercises. They all ask you to look up someone from your list on the free data bases. Where it says to do it for one or two people, do it for all of them. I'd like to know if you find it clear, helpful and well-laid out.

It is for a class I'm going to do at our library on "Internet genealogy for beginners".

I'd appreciate feedback; what worked, what didn't, what was clear, what wasn't, what caused you problems. You will probably find some clues to your family tree and you will certainly get an introduction to some of the largest free genealogy sites on the Internet.

Thanks!

Answer 3

I just started doing this too. There are tons of genealogy sites on the web. Under "sources" I've put links to ones that I've used and they've helped me to find documents, etc. I've also included "genetic anthropology/genealogy" sites. This is something that you might want to look into. They can tell you things about your deep ancestry even going back 50,000 years. Those are just general things like ethnic components, but they can use the same analysis to match you to other people who have submitted their DNA samples and, if you agree, they will notify you and the other person when a close match is detected.

Regarding the family tree, if found the easiest way to display it initially is in outline form like the following. This makes it easy to do with a text editor or word-processing software on the computer. Talking about software, I've also put links to a bunch of genealogy-software sites also.

Good luck. I'm finding the whole process to be a real adventure.
=====================================================================
mother
    grandmother
     great grandmother
       great grandfather
    grandfather
        great grandmother
        great grandfather
father
    grandmother
     great grandmother
     great grandfather
   grandfather
     great grandmother
     great grandfather

etc.

Answer 4

All genealogy software does, the trick is figuring out how to do it. Check the help files for "multiple parent links" or "parent links". You do want to be sure to only enter the individual (child) once, then add parent links to the couples. On the links there is a way to adjust the relationship type i.e. biological (default), adopted, guardian, challenged, or unproven. The advantage to doing it this way over simply making notes is that A) The legal and the biological relationship will both be important to keep straight in your research. Many documents will list the adopted parents, and B) it maintains the data integrity and keeps the computer/database genie happy.

Answer 5

Get the Family Tree Maker software, it makes it so much easier, and well worth the money, plus you get a free trial for Ancestry.com.

Answer 6

there are some websites that you can download this info for free. I just got rid of mine because it is too time consuming. I'm a full time student and work full time so it's hard for me to do that right now. but if you search for free geneology websites you can find templates to start your own tree.

Answer 7

THIS SITE IS AMAZEING!!!!
they have a free family tree builder

i have been useing it myself!


http://www.myheritage.com/FP/Company/genealogy.php



this is the home page
http://www.myheritage.com/

Answer 8

familysearch.org is THE most comprehensive geneology website that I've ever found, and PAF is the best software.

Answer 9

genes reunited