How to Climb Your family Tree

Climbing your house tree (researching your house history) is a rewarding and exciting hobby. It can help you to learn about your ancestry, and gain an appreciation for the lives they led. As you climb your house tree you will find many surprises. Your ancestors may have been kings and queens, or pirates and brigands. They may have been hard working farmers, or rich merchants. Anything they were, without them you would not be here. As you climb your house tree, you will also find many of your cousins climbing the same tree, or one of its many branches. You will be surprised by how many population you are connected to, and how closely we are all connected to one another.

How to Begin

In climbing any tree one begins at the bottom and works their way up. In climbing your house tree, begin with yourself and work backwards from one generation to the next.

Where to Begin

Begin with yourself. Write down or use a word processor to description data that you personally know. Perceive all of your relatives; find out what they know about your house history. Visit them personally, if you can. Ask exact questions such as:

o Given names and surnames (maiden names of females) of parents and children of each generation.
o Date and place of birth and death of each person.
o Where they lived
o Their occupation
o troops service

Be sure to visit or Perceive elderly relatives as soon as possible; they very often have a lot of information. If possible, interview them and description their answers; when they are gone their knowledge may be lost. description the data you find on pedigree charts, and house group sheets.

Pedigree Chart

A pedigree chart is a road map of your ancestry. How many generations each chart displays depends on its style; five generations is typical.

The first name on the pedigree chart (first generation) should be yours. The second generation is your parents, the third generations is your grandparents, and etc back to the latest generation.

Record the following data on the pedigree chart for each generation:

o Given name and surname of each of your ancestors (use the maiden name of females
o Date of birth or christening.
o Place of birth.
o Date and place of marriage.
o Death date and place; also description when and where buried if known.

Family Group Sheet

Create a house group sheet for each house on your pedigree chart. (A house group sheet is used to description data about each house in your ancestry.)

On each house group sheet, description the following data about each set of parents and their children:

o Given name and surname of each man in the house (use the maiden name of females).
o Birth date and place.
o Christening date and place, if known.
o Marriage date and place.
o Death date and place. Also description when and where buried, if known.

Note: If an ancestor had more than one spouse, generate a detach house group sheet for each spouse and the children born to them.

Where to Find Pedigree Charts and house Group Sheets

Pedigree charts and house group sheets can be purchased from genealogy specialty stores, or, downloaded for free from many places on the internet. In addition, many house history programs such as house Tree Maker or Personal ancestry File (Paf) allow you to print pedigree charts and house group sheets with the names you have entered already filled in.

Other records

Keep a description of searches made, and the results of each search. (This will prevent you from repeating a crusade already done) Also keep a To Do list for data you need to find; such as the marriage date and place of your great grandparents.

Further Research

After you have done everything mentioned above, increase your house tree by conducting supplementary research.

Search census records, marriage records death records, tax records, school records, and etc.

75 percent of your study can be done using internet resources. There are many perfect genealogy sites on the internet, such as ancestry.com, or one great family.com. In addition, there are many surname forums where you will find others researching your house line, and willing to share data with you. Try typing your surname into an internet crusade engine. You will probably be surprised by the results you get.

Documentation

Keep a description (citation) of all of your sources of information. This description will help others find the same information, and help you to remember where you found a single fact about your house history.

Summary

As you climb your house tree, you will find many others climbing the same tree or one of its many branches. Use a systematic advent as outlined in this article. Keep exact records of your study and description the data you find on pedigree charts and house group sheets. Be sure to keep an exact description (citation) of all of your sources of information.

Good luck with your research.

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