By Catherine Olivia
When you start looking for your ancestors
you could start your search online. You'll be surprised by the amount of
information available to you there.
A good start is to do a search of
obituaries and death records. There is a National Obituary Archive
you can search through. There is a lot of information in an obituary
that can help you in your search, the names of spouses and children for
one, along with a reliable date of death. If you didn't know your
ancestors home town you can find it in the obituary.
If you live in the area where your
ancestors did you may be able to take a trip to the cemetery. Tombstones
are a very good source of information for birth and death dates and an
easy way to fill in your blanks.
Some families keep family bibles which
list important dates such as marriages, births and deaths. Another
valuable source for information for your family tree may be found in the
local historical society. They will have copies of old newspapers and
important town papers that may yield information for you.
There are many different sites online
offering information on various types of genealogy searches. Some of
these sites offer information on specific groups such as East European
Family History Societies, New England Historic Genealogic Society,
American-Canadian Genealogical Society, Italian Heritage and Genealogy
Home Page. You can search U.S. and U.K. Census records and passenger and
immigration lists.
Get all your family members involved in
your search, it will add to the fun of the search and you never know
what information a second cousin may have. If you have older family
members you can talk to take advantage of them. They may be a wonderful
source of information and family stories.
Perhaps you'll want to arrange a family
reunion of sorts so that your family can get together and exchange
family stories and information. Make sure that you write all these
stories down. If you have any old family photos make sure those family
members that can identify the people in the pictures do. Write down
their names and the approximate date of the picture on the back.
