Family History Senior Project

Recommendations:

• 1. Set a specific (reachable) goal for the family reunion such as

     • Family group sheet started for each family that will be present

     • Collection of photos (perhaps in a photobook) for family reunion

     • Descendancy report from you great-grandfather _______ down to you [From what you said, this pushes you back a generation from the known, limits your research to one line and begins to put together the known family that will be at the reunion]

  2. Realize that you are never done -- this is an undertaking that could become a lifetime project.

Sources:

• How-to Get Started

• Genealogy Forum - Beginner's Center

  • Organizing Information (from Beginner's Center)

  • Citing Your Sources (link towards bottom goes to specific examples)

Why use software

• • Easily update reports (add a birth, marriage, death)

  • Allows for documentation (where did you get that information)

  • Neatness of reports

  • Protect privacy

Software Options

• • Family Tree Maker -- probably most popular

  • Master Genealogist -- what I use

• 2012 Top Ten Genealogy Software Reviews

  • Needs

    • LDS Connection -- allows exporting in format that can be imported into Ancestry and/or LDS databases

    • Privacy -- identifies living individuals to prevent posting their information on websites

    • Charts: Family Group Sheets / Pedigree

    • Reports: Descendancy chart

    • Books: Descendancy narrative

    • Web: ability to create a web page or post to web site

    • Events: How does it handle? Can you have custom events? What events are built in to the program?

  • No matter what brand is chosen, this will have to be updated periodically to keep up with changes in hardware.

  • Switching brands can be done but usually requires a lot of work to modify information to fit new software

Events:

• • Birth, Marriage, Death, Burial -- ones every genealogist goes after

  • Land records, Court Records -- ones that help identify families in past

  • Residence -- help locate families in census records

  • Military service, Education, Awards, Recognitions, Travels -- help add personality to person/family

Documentation:

• • Personal Knowledge is similar to 'common knowledge' on a research paper but means that the person cited actually experienced and remembers the event. For example, your mother has personal knowledge of your birth while you would not be considered a reliable source for that information.

  • Names and events should be documented

  • Primary Sources -- Created at time of event by an eye witness to event; example: Birth Certificate

  • Secondary Sources -- Not created at time of event

  • Family Bible -- If entries appear to have been recorded at different times (changes in ink, handwriting) then it is often viewed as a primary source. However, if it appears to have been written all at one time, it is not considered a primary source. 

Heartland Genealogy (Marcia Philbrick's site)

• • Favorite Genealogy Links (some broken -- will get updated)

• Family History

  • Examples of descendancy reports (listed under various surnames on page)