How to Search for Your Ancestors

Discover the rich history of your family through patience and diligent research and illuminate your past!  You may be a descendant of royalty or perhaps a famous historical character and not even know it.

The quest to enrich your knowledge of family history begins at home with your closest living relatives.  Parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents, and even great-grandparents are the most reliable resources available to you to acquire family stories and secrets that nobody else could possibly know.  Don’t let the precious time you have with them slip away.  Take advantage of each opportunity to reminisce about the past and learn more and more about your family.  Record everything in the form of notes, audio recordings, and video.  One day, you’ll be glad you did.

Look through the family Bible if your family has one.  It used to be tradition in many families to record births, deaths, and other significant events in the family Bible.  To dig even further into the past, join one of the many online resources for genealogy research.  Why do all the footwork when someone out there may have already filled in many portions of your pedigree?  You can also use the library as a research tool by looking through old newspaper clippings and history books.

If you can determine the location where your ancestors lived the majority of their lives and the church they attended, you may be able to locate their name in the church’s records.  If you’re lucky, you may also discover their grave marker.  If you do, be sure to clear away any debris from the marker, take a digital picture, and include it into your online family tree.  Leave some flowers as a show of respect.  There are also free websites dedicated to listing grave marker information and pictures to which you can contribute.

Travel to the countries, the cities, the small towns, or the villages where your ancestors lived.  Sometimes, the locals have stories to tell or your family may have left a unique impression.  Above all, be sure to record anything of interest.  Sometimes pieces of the puzzle don’t make sense until they are matched with others.  Be sure your story is told as well.  Keep a journal or even a blog so that in the future, your descendants can learn more about your life experiences.