Top 10 Things to DO in Family History Research

Summary

The web content provides a list of top ten things to do when conducting family history research, emphasizing the importance of involving family members, focusing on specific ancestors, and utilizing various records and resources.

Abstract

The article outlines ten key strategies for effective family history research. It suggests starting by interviewing family members with open-ended questions and recording their stories, which can be shared and preserved on platforms like FamilySearch. The article encourages collaborative research with family to distribute the workload and highlights the importance of focusing on particular ancestral lines. It also advises researchers to familiarize themselves with local records, consider neighbors in census data, and understand geographical and cultural influences on ancestors' lives. Additionally, the article recommends learning about boundary changes, brushing up on Latin for Catholic records, and searching for surnames in the context of their towns, especially in countries like Norway. Military records and the Social Security Death Index are also presented as valuable resources. The author, Adrienne, invites readers to share their own tips and resources for family history research.

Opinions

The author believes in the value of family collaboration and oral history, suggesting that family members may hold unexpected knowledge about their ancestors.
There is an emphasis on focusing research efforts on specific ancestors or lines to make progress and maintain interest.
The article conveys the importance of understanding historical contexts, such as boundary changes and the use of Latin in Catholic records, to successfully trace family history.
The author suggests that looking at neighbors listed in census records can uncover additional family connections and migration patterns.
There is an opinion that searching for surnames in conjunction with town names can be crucial in certain countries, like Norway.
The author advocates for the use of non-vital government records and military records, including pensions, as they can provide valuable information.
The Social Security Death Index is recommended as a tool for researching more recent ancestors, with the caveat that SS numbers were issued at different times for various purposes.
The author expresses a personal interest in hearing from others about their family history research methods and preferred resources.

Top 10 Things to DO in Family History Research

This is the second post utilizing two handouts I created for a family history fair my husband and I were asked to staff. Please read the other post, Top 10 Things to Avoid in Family History Research.

Ask Your Family for Help. They may know more than you think!

1.Interview family members (using open-ended questions) and record (with permission). Upload to FamilySearch for future reference.

2. Involve family members to help with research and completing ordinance work. Divide up the work and relieve the stress you’ve placed on yourself.

3. Consider which line or specific ancestor is most important to you to find more information on and then focus your efforts there.

4. Familiarize yourself with available records for the locales your family has lived or worked in throughout their lifetimes. You might find an ancestor working at a farm three doors down or helping an extended family member in a neighboring town.

5. Look at the neighbors on censuses (the page before, the page of, and the page after). You might find some additional family living close by or recognize the name of an ancestor that was a neighbor first before becoming family.

Learn about the different regions, cultures, and religions that could have influenced your ancestor’s life.

6. Learn the names of the cities, counties (parishes for Louisiana), states, and countries where you’re researching. Do you know when boundaries changed or when two combined? Events occurring before or after a state joined the Union determines how it is listed. (For example, did the event occur in the State of Alaska or Alaska, U.S. Territory?)

7. How’s your Latin? When searching Catholic records, knowing Latin can be a huge help.

8. In countries like Norway, remember that you’ll need to search for the surname as well as the town as a surname. For example, John Peterson may be listed as John Peterson Graham meaning John Peterson of Graham.

Look for official government (non-vital) records online or in person.

9. Search military records for those who served as well as for widows or children of deceased Servicemembers who applied for the pension.

10. Search the Social Security Death Index (S.S.D.I.). Remember that Social Security numbers started being issued in 1936. SS numbers were required for employment in different years based on industry. SS numbers weren’t required to claim dependents on taxes until 1986 (for ages five and up).

I would love to hear your tips and favorite resources for doing family history research!

~Adrienne

Originally published at www.findingmytwistedroots.com on March 11, 2019.