Doing your Family History is something that comes to each of us at sometime in our life, it appears as a deep-seated desire to know more about our ancestors, what they were like, and where you come from.



Many remember the made for TV minnie series called ?Roots? written by Alex Halley, which seemed to start a nation wide interest in something people have been doing for centuries? Genealogy, or also know today simply as Family History.

I'm here to tell you some things that can be useful to you as you think about getting started doing your own personal Family History research.

First start with yourself? after choosing one of the many Family History or Genealogy software's on the market today open it up and put in your personal information. Mainly you're full name, birth date, where you were born, and whatever else is asked for in the software. Then do your mediate family, wife or husband, children, or if your not married start with your parents and siblings. If you use the Pedigree Chart you can see how this looks like a tree and the farther you go back the more branches you have. That's why people often ask ?who's in your family tree??

After that keep putting in your parents and their siblings, their parents and their siblings, for as far back as you know or can remember. Then when you look at it, you start to see how very quickly your ancestors add up. Don't let the shear magnitude of the numbers discourage you from continuing. You see in the digital age we live, the second most researched topic on the Internet is Genealogy, so even though you don't know all the people from your past chances are someone has done some work that you can find by doing some simple research on the world wide web.

Second, remember all the stories you have heard about your parents and grand parents, write them down as best you can. They take a recording device and interview your parents or grand parents, or anyone that may have information about your family. Keep these recording and use them as reference material. Most of all the software out there will allow you to input these stories as a part of your record, and pictures.

Last of all; set aside a regular time to work on this weekly, monthly, or whatever works best for you. The key here is to find time to spend doing this work on a regular basis. I can promise you that if you do this you will find yourself excited, and it wont be work at all, you'll look forward more and more to the time you spend with your kindred dead. They will become alive for you as you come to know who they are; this leads to a better understanding of yourself too.

Remember this last tip, share your findings with others, and they will share with you. We are all connected at some point if you go back far enough. So just remember most likely others are doing research on your family line somewhere in the world. They will share as you share with them.

Because of the times we live in today this work is linking the family of man on a worldwide bases, mainly because of the information super highway, and the advance in technology over the past 15 years. Embrace your Family History with passion, which for many used to be just a hobby, but now has become an addiction.

Copyright 2005