FINDING
YOUR ROOTS
By Martha Hix
Write
down what you know. Free forms are available at rootsweb.com, http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/get_started/charts_forms.html.
Fill out Family Group Sheets for yourself, your siblings, your parents,
your grandparents, and keep going as long as you can. Include FULL
names, to the best of your abilities, and be sure to include maiden
names for the females.
It
is much easier to keep track of your family if you use genealogical
software. There are several on the market. I used Family Tree Maker
for years, which can be bought through ancestry.com, but have moved
to Roots Magic. And I may yet move onward...
The
Latter Day Saints Church offers FREE genealogy software, the PAF
family-history atabase. I've used it, and I like it a lot. All you
need to do is register your name and e-mail address, and here's the
link to it: PAF Family History Software.
The
LDS has always been family-history intensive, and they have a great
genealogical library in Salt Lake City. They have also made all sorts
of information available online. Check out this LDS page for tips.
Once
you’ve got what you know in writing, take a look at what’s
already online. For instance, I posted my particular RAND line at
the free Rootsweb.com site, http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=rand100&id=I0806.
(Note that the “Edgiva” is yours truly, but that e-mail
address is not viable.) If you can’t figure out a connection
from my “Norlandic Sagas - Rand”, do your own name search
at the Rootsweb home page, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/. (And
while you’re there, check out all the wonderful info they have
available.)
If
you find something, check it out; see if that information rings true.
There’s no guarantee ANY online family history will be 100%
correct. Each is only as good as the research of the person who posted
the information. It should always been taken as no more than a roadmap
to your own research.
If
you don’t find anything about your family, no problem. You’ll
just have to roll up your sleeves and do your own digging. Do as
much digging as you can at the Rootsweb.com free site, and if you
get to the point where you need to buy a subscription to ancestry.com
(or genealogy.com, or wherever), buy it. If money is a sticking point,
GO TO YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY. Almost all, if not all, take subscriptions
to these genealogical sites.
Also,
ask questions of anyone older in the family, or younger, if they’ve
shown an interest in your family history. If folks are reluctant
to talk, be understanding. Leave them alone until you have dug up
some positive information on the family. Share it--share your pride
in it. They might be more willing to talk then. And if they are not,
MOVE ALONG. I did all my genealogical research after my parents were
deceased. It can be done.
Census
records. Libraries have these. (As do ancestry.com and genealogy.com,
for a fee.) You've probably noticed that the LDS site has Social
Security Death Records. Whatever you do, work backwards. The 1930
census is online, as are the earlier census records. You’d
be surprised at what you’ll find in these records. For instance,
the 1930 edition asks if men were veterans of any war, and which
one(s).
Free
sites. There are many. Cyndi’s list, http://cyndislist.com/,
has been around for years, and is great. Here’s another site
to look at, because it tells how to do free research:
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/free_genealogy/a/free_sites.htm.
One
of my personal favorite sites is sponsored by the National Park Service.
It lists Civil War soldiers and sailors, Union and Confederate, and
also has an article about black soldiers in that war. Go to, http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/.
(Note. I can’t rewrite history. I don’t want to rewrite
history. Many of my Rand relatives served in the Civil War, and I
can do nothing about that. But I can find WHAT they did in the war.
My purpose is to find the stories, be they good, bad, or in between.)
Of
course, these suggestions just scratch the surface of what can be
done to start your research and/or link your Rands to others.
GOOD
LUCK and HAPPY HUNTING!
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