Your family Tree - What Could I Add to individual Records?

As you begin to establish your house tree you likely have a house tree software program to help guide you to input information on each personel ancestor. Names. Birth Dates. Marriage Dates. Etc. There are many house tree programs available, some free, some inexpensive, some quite expensive. They all have their pros and cons, and if you have 10 population in a room talking about 10 programs, there are many arguments and discussions about the relative merits of each of the software programs! If you are beginning, I would advise you use a free program to start with, because it is relatively easy to move your house data to any other program using a specialized way of rescue it, called a Gedcom. All programs are able to use this principles of inviting house tree information, and will guide you in doing so.

Two frequently-used free house tree software programs in North America are from inheritance or from FamilySearch. Check online for these programs, and download one to your computer. Once you have installed it, you can immediately start entering individuals, beginning with yourself as a "home" person. Adding your parents is relatively easy, as most of us at least know our parents birth dates, marriage dates, mother's maiden name and some residences. But what then? What else should or could be added to an personel record?

Consider that each ancestor should have a source listed for Birth, Marriage, Divorce, Death, Burial. These are the core basics of information. For men, troops service and associated information can be added. But, after those basics, what could you add to make your ancestors come alive to you and others in your family?

The times: think your ancestors in the context of the times. What else was happening in their part of the world, that may have impacted them? What events happened in their lifetimes? How did they live? What were their occupations throughout their life? Could they read or write? How do you know? What do you know of how men and women lived and managed to survive in the 1700s or 1800s? Find out - look for diaries, journals, stories, histories and more.

Immigration: The vast majority of our ancestors in North America came from someone else country to settle. Some came because of religious persecution (Palatines, Pilgrims), others because of famine in their home country (Ireland is a prime example), others because of wars. Some came because of the possibility of adventure in a new country. Find out as best you can how and why your specific ancestors came to the new country. Maybe those relatives who settled in Nova Scotia had neighbours or relatives who came earlier; or a group of families organized to resettle from England to a specific area in Virginia. Find out how they came, which ship, when, how long did it take to arrive, and other details. Did population go back and forth from the new to the old country to visit relatives? demand everything.

Documents and Records: By checking documents of your ancestors, you may come across information that provides you with additional questions to ask and research. Milk every document and narrative you find for every information possible for future searches. If your great grandfather served in a war, look for troops information about him. Sometimes dismissal records comprise corporal descriptions or medals, or other stories. If your house stayed in one town, look to see what the rest of the house was doing in that town, or if the next generation moved away to conclude someone else place.

Gossip and Stories: There are oral records which can be very helpful for your house history. Often a story will help you verify when a ship may have brought your great grandparents from Europe to Canada, or that two brothers came together. Sometimes, it is only a story, and the details have come to be changed in the telling over any generations, manufacture it difficult to find out the actual truth. If you use a house story as a "source", make sure you mark it as such on the relevant ancestor.

In general, the following information will be very helpful to manufacture your ancestors come alive in your house tree:

- occupations

- extra interests or hobbies

- residences, particularly if there are pictures or sketches

- memberships in organizations (business, political, religious, service)

- curative information if detailed

- personal descriptions if possible (height, build, color of eyes or hair, etc.)

- published information on an ancestor (obit, history, legal issues, politics)

- handwriting; seeing your ancestor's signature (census) or handwriting (letters)

- stories, skills, talents

- photographs and other media

There are many other items that could be added to your ancestors, and as you come to be more skilled at research, you will begin to find additional details for specific individuals or whole families, at a inevitable time and place.

Note that every program will have a way to show you how to add a "source" for the information you put in. think that each date and event should have a "source", and begin now to learn how to add that information. It is much easier to add it at this early stage than when you have any hundred or more in your tree, and have to add source information for all! When population begin genealogy searching we commonly do not know what we are doing, and only later do we realize the point of adding sources to our data. Start now. You can get a book from the library on how to cite your sources, as there are specific ways to write out the references. Go to Cyndi's List (cyndislist.com) for more websites that offer source information you can use; some can be downloaded to your computer, others are good sites to bookmark for future reference, others will offer laminated sheets for a low fee.

Something to think right now: What history would your own grandchildren want to know about you and your siblings and parents? Take time once a month to add some small item to your own history. Maybe it was a fantastic trip you took one year when you were 15 or 35. Maybe it was a piece of poetry you wrote, or how much you loved playing the piano at sing-alongs. Or learning to drive a car when you were 23. How much you loved to orchad all your life, particularly herbs for cooking. Details. Short stories.

Find time to add color and flavor to your own history, and then see how some of that can be added to your ancestors. Later, when you begin to share your house tree study with your extended house members, you will find even more information from others, as they share theirs with you. One picture or story may well lead to many more inviting additions to your house tree.

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