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Beginners Guide to Genealogy
Start with yourself ...Where were YOU born and
when? Get a copy of your birth registration, not just the certificate.
Keep a diary of all relatives you can ever remember having met and any
snippets of talk about other relatives. Even gossip can prove to be a
valuable lead. Marriage certificates, death certificates, birth
certificates; anything that shows dates ,places and relationships is
very valuable. Your public library can be very valuable as a resource
for old newspapers and some now have genealogical services.
Interview your relatives and especially the eldest
ones and they usually love talking about the olden days. Any story no
matter how trivial it may seem, may contain a clue. Talk about the
depression,WW1, WW2 or any historical dates that may jog their memory
and that you may be able to later obtain clues about family that may
have served or immigrated.
Records do exist if you look: census records, birth
records, church records, passenger lists, military services records, tax
records, property records, wills, death records, obituaries, Social
Security applications, employment applications, War Militia meeting
minutes, historical maps, the adopted children records that came to
Canada and it goes on.
Consider joining a club or historical society in your
town or nearby area. Alot of libraries are now hosting genealogical
clubs. You can get support. Also there are now magazines that come out
monthly. Check your local library publications.
Be organized and use acid free supplies (available
from your arts and crafts supplies store). If using handwriting, write
legible so others that may follow can read your writing or
printing.
Remember to protect your photos in case
of future floods,..it happened to me. Protect your research by sharing
it so that its not lost to future generations. Natural disasters or ones
own mortality can bring all that information to a dead stop if we do not
share the information.
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