Family History |
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by Malcolm McCorquodale III |
The best way is to start is with yourself. Write down when and where you were born, when and where your parents were born, and if you remember when and where your grandparents or great-grandparents were born, write this down too. If you have children, write down their dates and places of birth.
This information can be organized on a Pedigree Chart. Next, on a separate sheet of paper, write a one or two paragraph biography for each person on your Pedigree Chart. You may also create a Family Group Sheet. A Family Group Sheet (FGS) shows the vital statistics, (name, birth, marriage, death dates and places), for the members of a family. Place all you have in a binder with your name, address, and phone number on the cover. Congratulations! You now have a real head start on your family history!
Why record family history? You may be interested in:
Providing charts for family reunions to show how attendees are related.
Tracing back to your immigrant ancestor(s) and publishing a book on their descendants.
Tracing your heritage back to the "old country". Maybe finding a castle and coat-of-arms that belonged to your ancestor.
Finding out what part your ancestors played in historical events. Why did they move to the New World? Why did they move West?
Joining a lineage society (Sons/Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Sons/Daughters of the American Revolution, etc.).
Medical genealogy. What ailments run in your family? If you find a particular ailment is common, you may want to talk to your doctor about this ailment. What should you watch for? Is there something special you should do, or avoid doing?
Finding relatives in Hawaii that you can visit for free. <grin>
Now comes the fun part. To find out more about your family, you will have to do some research. Start by talking to older relatives (parents, grandparents, aunts, even old family friends). Ask them about important events in their lives and in the lives of other family members. Ask about schools, jobs, marriages, children, parents, ask their impressions of the historical events they lived through. Ask for family stories: Did they know people who fought in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam? Where did the family come from? Record your conversations either on paper or on tape. After "exhausting" all your relatives, you must turn elsewhere for more information to satisfy your ever increasing habit. Before long, you will become addicted to genealogy. Two good friends of mine spent part of their honeymoon in courthouses and graveyards in Arkansas trying to find more information about their ancestors.
Besides the HAL-PC Genealogy SIG, check out the following:
Clayton Library, Center for Genealogical Research is just east of the museum district at 5300 Caroline (Houston). Their phone number is: 713/524-0101. Look for family members listed on the Federal Census 1790-1920. Check with the Library for occasional "Intro" or beginner classes.
The Houston Genealogical Forum is a group of genealogists, some just starting, some very experienced that meet the first Saturday of each month. Call 713/827-4440 for a recorded message about the next meeting.
Barnette's Family Tree is a genealogy book store, located across the street from the Clayton Library.
LDS Family History Centers are spread around Houston. Look in the phone book under "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints".
A good starting place to look for information about genealogy is http://www.oz.net/~cyndihow/sites.htm .
If you want to find people that have your last name try http://www.switchboard.com. Type in the your last name and Switchboard will show you many people with the same last name. While this is not really genealogy, it's fun to find other people with your last name, and if you are really lucky, you may find someone out there that has already done some relevant research on part of your family.
Ancestry has a web site with the Social Security Death Index, a list of some American Marriage Records, as well as several other links and search capabilities. Their address is: http://www.ances-try.com/SEARCH/search.htm. See also: "Web Sources for Family History Information" elsewhere.
Roots IV is for those that want to publish a well documented book on their ancestors' descendants. This product has more of a learning curve than most, but allows for a professional level of documentation for all the facts about the people in your family. It provides only very limited charts, but maybe this problem will be addressed in the Roots V upgrade that should be available by the time you read this. Roots is published by Commsoft, their address is: http://www.sonic.net/~commsoft/index.html .
Family Tree Maker by Broderbund is a popular all around program that is easy to use and makes nice charts.
Reunion is easy to use and makes very good organization-type box charts.
Personal Ancestral Filer (PAF) is a program distributed by the Latter Day Saints (LDS) church. This program is very inexpensive, about $35.
Family Origins Deluxe by Parsons Technology is well organized, has a friendly interface and a review is ion page 16.
Malcolm McCorquodale III, a HAL-PC member since 1983, works for American General and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer and Information Science. Malcolm has served HAL-PC as Secretary, leader of several SIGs, and Help Panel Coordinator at the monthly meeting. Malcolm has also had several positions in the Houston Genealogical community: Director of Grants for the Clayton (Genealogical) Library Friends; President of the Clayton Library Friends; and, Genealogy SIG Leader. Malcolm has been a speaker at the Houston Genealogical Forum, the Pasadena Historical Society and the Harris County Genealogical Society.
E-mail me at webmaster@hal-pc.org with any comments you have and tell me what you want to see here.
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