Discover Your Family History Online: A Step-by-Step Guide to Starting Your Genealogy Search

324 Pages·2012·5.82 MB·English

by  Nancy Hendrickson

DISCOVER YOUR
Family History
ONLINE
a step-by-step guide to
starting your genealogy search
Nancy
Hendrickson
Contents
Introduction
CHAPTER 1 BUILDING YOUR FAMILY TREE
Your family history research starts with you. In this chapter you’ll learn
how to gather vital information about yourself so you can branch out to
past generations.
CHAPTER 2 COMPUTER BASICS FOR THE ONLINE GENEALOGIST
Your computer is your most valuable internet research tool. Learn
shortcuts and tricks that will help you make maximize your research
efforts.
CHAPTER 3 USING SEARCH ENGINES
The internet contains an overwhelming amount of information. Search
engines can browse all of that information in seconds and show you
exactly where to find what you are looking for. This chapter explains
how to use keywords and operators to yield precise results from search
engines.
CHAPTER 4 ONLINE DATABASES
There are a number of online databases for family historians to explore.
This chapter shows you all the subscription and free databases and
everything in between.
CHAPTER 5 BIRTH, MARRIAGE, AND DEATH RECORDS
Vital records prove family connections. You’ll learn where and how to
find them online. Probate records can help you make connections as you
research ancestors who lived in pre-civil registration eras. After you
gather your evidence, you can use it to join a heritage society.
CHAPTER 6 LIFE DURING YOUR ANCESTORS’ ERA
Your ancestors were affected by the events of their world—war, natural
disasters, disease, politics and cultural shifts. Understanding the events
of your ancestors’ lifetime can help you better relate to them. It may also
provide new research leads.
CHAPTER 7 GOOGLE FOR GENEALOGISTS
Google is more than a single search engine. Its many functions will prove
invaluable in your family history research.
CHAPTER 8 LAND RECORDS
Land records will show you exactly where your ancestor lived, and
armed with that knowledge, you can focus your search on likely
locations for census, birth, marriage, and burial records, plus church and
social records.
CHAPTER 9 THE CENSUS
Census records can provide the valuable missing link between
generations. They also introduce you to your ancestor’s neighbors, a
fortunate introduction because these neighbors often prove to be family
members.
CHAPTER 10 MILITARY RECORDS
Discover where to find details about your ancestor’s military service.
CHAPTER 11 FINDING LOCAL RESOURCES ONLINE
There’s a wealth of information sitting in local repositories, and you can
access these through local resources such as genealogical societies.
CHAPTER 12 TRACING IMMIGRANT AND AMERICAN INDIAN
ANCESTORS
Find your immigrant ancestors in online databases of immigration ports
and passenger lists. You’ll also learn how to research ancestors brought
to the United States as slaves. If your ancestors settled the continent
before Europeans arrived, you’ll find help researching your American
Indian roots.
CHAPTER 13 SHARE WHAT YOU’VE FOUND
Social media makes it easier than ever to share your family history
discoveries and connect with distant cousins researching the same
surnames as you.
CHAPTER 14 PUTTING IT ALL TO WORK
This chapter is full of case studies that show you how to use all of the
online research techniques and databases explained in this book.
Appendix A American Indian Resources by Geographic Region
Appendix B Tracing Jewish Ancestors by Schelly Talalay Dardashti
Appendix C Tracing Slave Ancestors by Kenyatta D. Berry
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nancy Hendrickson is the author of six books and hundreds of magazine
and web articles. A native of St. Joseph, Missouri, she is an internet
genealogy consultant and an instructor at Family Tree University
<familytreeuniversity.com>. Nancy is passionate about the history that
shaped America and spends her vacations photographing and chronicling
the historic and pre-historic sites of the American West; ride along with
her at <frontiertraveler.com>. To learn more about her genealogy
work visit <ancestornews.com>.
DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my mother’s side of the family—the Dearing,
Knox, Hume, Bay, Brooks, McClelland, and Broyles. Researching these
families has been a challenge and a joy. I’ve discovered larger-than-life
ancestors who were the Daniel Boones of their time—always on the
frontier, pushing their way into new territory. They’re the adventurers I
always wanted to be.
Introduction
ew people had heard of the phenomenon called “the internet” when I
F
first logged onto CompuServe in May of 1986. Back then, family tree
information was scarce, unorganized, and hard-to-find.
Since then, millions of genealogy websites have sprung up. Some are
well-known commercial sites like Ancestry.com <ancestry.com> and
Fold3.com <fold3.com>, but the majority are sites built by everyday
genealogy enthusiasts who have a deep desire to share their family
history with other seekers.
In truth, the largest percentage of my genealogy breakthroughs have
been the result of finding personal websites created by people
researching the same family lines.
Thanks to networking with other online researchers, I’ve made
tremendous strides in discovering more about the Dimmitt, Snow,
Broyles, and Knox families. And I’m confident that you can do the same,
whether you’re facing a “Smith” challenge or delving into the mysteries
of the pre-1850 censuses.
If you’re just starting in internet genealogy, this book will provide
dozens of techniques to help you amass names and dates. If you’re an old
hand you’ll discover how to enhance those names and dates with maps,
stories, music, news of the day, and photographs. There’s no end to what
can be found.
In addition to the techniques you’ll learn in this book, I’ve also created
several videos that will work you through real-life search scenarios.
You’ll find the videos at <familytreeuniversity.com/W5972-video>.
Genealogy is a lifetime pursuit, so take your time as you work through
each chapter, putting the strategies into practice. In the end you’ll be
able to merge all that you’ve learned into a rich history of your family—
a history that can be shared today and treasured tomorrow.
I’d love to hear of your successes with the techniques in this book, so
please e-mail me your stories at [email protected].
Happy hunting!
Nancy Hendrickson
San Diego, California
@genealogyteach on Twitter
1
Building Your Family Tree
ou’ve probably heard a few stories about your family history. You
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may have been told a distant ancestor arrived on the Mayflower or
your family’s lines go back to European nobility, Scottish rebels, or an
Indian princess.
Whatever the stories, they’ve sent you on a mission of discovery—to
find the people who came before you.
If you watched the popular television series Who Do You Think You
Are?, you may have noticed a common theme running through nearly
every story. Each actor gained an understanding of how connected he
(or she) is to his past, and often the actor recognized how similar he is to
his ancestors.
As a science, genealogy is about proving the link from one generation
to the next. As an avocation, genealogy provides hours of fascinating
detective work. And as a philosophy, genealogy is, in the end, about self-
discovery.
As you make your way through this book, you’ll learn the “how-to” of
the science as well as the fun of the chase. When you’re finished, you’ll
have a deeper sense of who you really are.
So let’s start with the science.
BEGIN WITH YOU
When you climb a tree, you start on the ground, work your way up the
trunk, and then move out onto the branches. Use this same approach in
genealogy.
Start on the ground (with you); climb up the trunk (your parents and
grandparents); then venture out onto the branches (past generations).