Beginning Genealogy

Beginning Genealogy:

Tips for Finding Your Roots @ Your Public Library

By

Colleen Ringel, Morton Grove Public Library

Getting Started

Check out your local library. Learn about genealogy and family history research. Find out what types of resources are available to you from your library. Many libraries have books and magazines on the subject of genealogy and local history. Many subscribe to online databases that are available at the library or from home as long as you have a library card. Ask if there are programs offered at the library to help you get started in doing your research. Read a basic genealogy how-to book. Make copies of the basic forms you will need: pedigree charts and family group sheets (samples are available in most how-to books).

Step One: Start with Your Immediate Family

The first step in genealogy is to identify what you already know. Start with yourself and work backward in time by filling in as much information as you can, by memory, on a pedigree chart. When you're done, you'll know who are the "missing persons" in your family tree. Here is the information you'll need for each missing person:

  • Full name (including maiden names for women)
  • Approximate dates for vital events (birth, death, marriage, residence, etc.)
  • Locations for vital events (Location is the key element in genealogy, since it indicates where vital records are today.)

Step Two: Gather Family Information

Now that you've identified what you already know about your family tree, you're ready to gather information about the missing pieces.

  • Gather your home resources: scrapbooks, family Bibles, photograph albums or those boxes of photos you have been meaning to organize.
  • Interview family members; compare your memories with those of your siblings, parents, cousins, and grandparents. If you get discrepancies, keep all the facts and dates, as they may be something you can resolve in your research. The varying recollections of the same event will surprise you!
  • Ask where things happened to get an understanding of “place." Remember, location is key in genealogical research.
  • Record the information you get from these interviews. You can use the old-fashioned method of paper and pencil or purchase any of the many software programs that are available.
  • Chart your findings as soon as you can. Fill in the pedigree charts and family group sheets. A pedigree chart is a multigenerational chart that records the ancestors of one person. Family group sheets record one nuclear family: parents and their children, with space for the grandparent's names. You should have a family group sheet for each family you are researching.
  • Get organized. Keep your research notes with the family you are researching. Most researchers sort research notes by surname or individual, then by location, and then by topic or source the information came from.

As you've gathered the information, you probably heard of other relatives—distant cousins, a great-aunt you don't remember—who are untapped gold mines of genealogical information. Contact them to share and gather new information about your ancestors or to schedule a visit. As you move back through each generation, you'll uncover more and more relatives who can lead you to new information about your heritage.

Step Three: Focus Your Search

Choose to focus on one ancestor. You have eight great-grandparents making up four families. Each family has records stored in courthouses or archives, and possibly, online databases. Focusing on one family at a time will keep you from becoming overwhelmed with too many names to search.

Step Four: Write for Death Records

Now you're ready to take the next step in piecing together your heritage: obtaining death records for your ancestors. Because they include the following, death records are essential tools for discovering genealogical information:

  • Exact place of death—which leads you to other records about the person's death (and life)
  • Name of the person's father and the maiden name of the person's mother
  • Exact date of birth and death
  • Possibly, the person's spouse, cemetery where the person was interred, social security number, information about the informant (who may be a relative).

How to write for death records:

  • Determine the state in which the person died. (Statewide registration of vital records started between 1900 and 1920. All but a few states have records from 1910 forward.)
  • Find the address and write to the vital statistics registration office and provide any known information about the deceased (name, approximate date of birth, parents' names, spouse, etc.).

Things to remember:

  • Treat the brothers and sisters of your ancestors as equals—get death records for them too.
  • An estimated 20% of birth/death certificates have mistakes, thus, it's important to obtain many different kinds of records to compare for accuracy.

Step Five: Follow-Up On Death Record Clues

From the information you've found on the death records, you're ready to search for other types of records. Each document about one ancestor may lead you to another ancestor you didn't know about before.

  • Birth records. Does the death record give a date and place of birth? If so, write for a copy of the birth certificate. For births prior to statewide registration, about 1920, records may still be available from a county courthouse near the place of birth.
  • Funeral records. Call or visit any funeral director in your area and ask if you can use their directory of funeral homes, The Yellow Book, which gives the name and address of every funeral home in North America . In your request for these records, include a self-addressed stamped envelope (SASE), and be sure to ask about the cemetery where the person was buried and whether they can provide an address or phone number for the cemetery office.
  • Cemetery records. A cemetery office will have information about those buried there. If a cemetery does not have an office, a local funeral director may be able to tell you who has the records for the cemetery.
  • Obituaries. Most libraries carry the American Library Directory , published by the R. R. Bowker, New York , NY . From it, you can get the address for the library nearest the place where your subject died. Write a letter (with a SASE) requesting a copy of the person's obituary from the local newspaper, which most libraries keep on microfilm.
  • Social Security records. Since about 1967, death certificates list the deceased social security number. With or without the number, you can request a copy of the person's original application (SS-5) for a social security card, which provides the following information:
    • Person's father
    • Maiden name of person's mother
    • Date of birth
    • Address at time of application
    • Employer at time of application

The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is available online. Check your library to see if they subscribe to Ancestry Library Edition for the most up-to-date listing of the SSDI. For a copy of your ancestor's SS-5, write to: Social Security Administration, Office of Earnings Operations, FOIA Workgroup, 300 N. Greene Street, P. O. Box 33022 , Baltimore , MD 21290 .

Step Six - Search the Census

Once you have gathered your family information, interviewed your relatives, and obtained vital records for your ancestors, you're ready to tackle the census.

Census records are a major source for locating the place where an ancestor lived and those he lived with at that place. Since 1840, census records list ages, places of birth, occupation, personal wealth, education, spouse, children, hired hands, and immigration information. To protect individual privacy, the government doesn't release census data for 72 years after they take it, so the 1930 census is the latest available. Your public library may have access to HeritageQuestOnline and/or Ancestry Library Edition. Both of these databases have the complete set of Federal Census records digitized and searchable. Here's why a genealogist needs the census:

  • For census years 1790-1840, it lists names of heads of household in every state.
  • For census years 1850-1930, it lists the name of every person in a household. (The majority of the 1890 census was destroyed by fire. There are a few small portions available online but they are very limited in scope and location.) From 1880 forward, it shows the relationship of each family member to the head of household.
  • A census tells you precisely where a person lived, which opens the door to discoveries, such as other families living nearby.
  • A census gives you the name of the county in which your ancestor's vital events occurred.

Step Seven: Search at the State and County Level

If you've located an ancestor on a census, you know their county of residence. Now you're ready to search for their records at the state and county level. Many states have started putting vital records online. Check with your local library for assistance in finding those records.

State and county documents to search for include :

  • Newspapers
  • State censuses
  • State military records
  • County histories
  • Special genealogy collections
  • Birth, death, or marriage records
  • Tax lists
  • Voter registrations
  • Court records (vital records, land records, etc.)
  • Coroner's records
  • Probate records (wills, estate papers, etc.)

Places to search at the state and county level include:

  • State archives
  • County courthouses
  • Cemeteries and funeral homes
  • Land offices
  • Libraries and museums
  • Local genealogical and historical societies

Basic Research Tips and Techniques

  1. Look at the names: full names, middle names, parents', spouses', and children's names. They can provide clues to the past. Family surnames have long been adopted as given or middle names. Maiden names will help identify the parents. Look for spelling variations; many of our ancestors could not read and write, or spell their names. Check for a dropped e or names spelled as they sound not necessarily as they are spelled.
  2. Look for cluster groups; families often lived, worked, worshipped with relatives, friends, and neighbors. Make a habit of checking the names of other families living near your ancestors for additional family members.
  3. Begin networking. Finding distant relations often is a way to increase your knowledge of your ancestor. Use genealogical periodicals and the Internet to make queries to find people researching the same surnames.
  4. Attend or join genealogical societies to increase your knowledge base. Attend local, regional, and national conferences. Begin to compile your own library of reference books. You will get to meet, share with, and learn from other family history researchers.
  5. Check your sources and evidence. Investigate sources that may lead indirectly to the facts. Don't jump to conclusions. Published books and databases are at least one step away from the original records and have the potential for human error.
  6. Once you have compiled all the information you found at home, start to visit genealogy collections in libraries, both public and academic, cemeteries, and courthouses. Check with your local library about their interlibrary loans policies and procedures. It is often possible to get historical newspapers on microfilm sent to your library for in-library use instead of having to travel to other locations.
  7. Make written plans for your research to keep you on target. Don't skip generations. Follow up on leads and clues. While you research, keep in mind the following questions: Is this the right time and place for my ancestor? Does this information make sense for him? What makes me really think this is my ancestor?
  8. Make sure to document thoroughly where you found every piece of information. When you decide to write your family history, you will need that information for a footnote or bibliography. If the source doesn't seem to provide the information you were looking for, document. This will prevent looking at the same information twice. Sometimes, after researching, you realize that something you discounted before really does apply to that ancestor and you will be able to check your documentation and review the sources with a new set of eyes.

Visit Your Local Library

Regardless of what level researcher you are, visit your local library. Most libraries have a surprising amount of information available for their patrons. Besides books and magazines on genealogy and family history research, you can find online databases that cover a variety of material at your fingertips. HeritageQuestOnline contains the Federal Census records, but you will also find digitized books, Revolutionary War records, and Freedman Bank records with more records added often. Ancestry Library Edition contains the Federal Census records and Social Security Death Index but, also, includes several hundred other databases that cover a variety of vital records from all fifty states and many European countries. Your local library can assist you in obtaining books and articles from other libraries through interlibrary loan and many libraries offer classes in genealogy research.

Before you know it, you may be able to find out about that first family member to arrive in the United States without leaving town.