Genealogical Research

One of the best ways to know about yourself and your family is to do some genealogical research. There are lots of programs that you can use to keep track of your family history. The best program that I have found to do this research is Family Tree Maker.

You start with yourself and your parents and siblings. Then as you gather more information you can add nieces, nephews, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. As you gather information from people, it is important to ask specific questions.

It’s important to have full names, birth dates, place of birth, death date, place of death. If a person is married their marriage date and the same information for their spouse. It’s good to know if the person has/had a nick name and their occupation is important as well.

You could make up a form and send it to relatives and ask them to fill it in. You could arrange to meet the person and fill it out together. People are usually hesitant to fill out any information unless they know you. You may need to use an introduction from another family member. Whatever it takes, try to get this information before the information dies with the person.

Know more about family helps you learn more about yourself. A good website is Ancestry.com. They have lots of information. They give you some information and then they charge you money for additional information.

I hope you have success in your genealogical research and then learn more about where you came from and maybe even where you are going.

Blessing,

Carol

2007 Copyright by Carol A. Deel, MS, LCPC, LCMFT, All Rights Reserved. No part of this may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.