Family Tree Archives
1. Online genealogy databases
These are big and they contain lots of information on families from all over. Previously, it was not possible to find information on some groups, like Asians and Hispanics and African Americans, but today, this information has been added and if you belong to any of these groups and want to check for your family tree, you should start by hitting these databases. There are many of them, but there are some that are more popular and have more information than others. The good news is that these databases are free.
They were initially just book records that were kept by governments and mostly the Mormon Church, but when the internet came along, the records were transferred online and are now available for anyone to use. They are not complicated to use at all if you know what you are looking for. You will usually need a name of someone who lived a long time ago and maybe the date of one of the major events in their lives – it’s likely that it was recorded.
Online genealogy databases are the chief source of information today for people who want to build a family tree, and they usually get a lot of information so that you are left with few gaps and these will usually be of the more recent relatives who are not that hard to trace.
2. Genealogy archives
In some places, there are family tree archives kept on paper and stored well enough to have survived over the years – actually the typical description of an archive as we know it. They are a bit harder to dig information out of compared to online genealogy databases, but they contain lots of information and can be a rich source for your family tree.
In order to be successful in getting information out of an archive, you need to prepare your visit so that you are well armed and have lots of time to look through lots of records.
You will need to know a name of someone that you think will be found in these archives – a relative who was in the army for example is easier to find than one who was a farmer their whole lives.
If you can’t get anyone who was employed in an institution which kept structured records, go with a name and an event; your uncle who lived 100 years ago in a certain state must have got married in a church and the church is likely to have kept these records and eventually archived them.
The best thing with these family tree archives is that they give a longer trail of information than you would possibly find online – if you find one person, you will find other names of relatives associated with that person and you are well on your way to a great family tree.
3. Church records
It’s very few people, especially in the past, who did not have at least one event in their life conducted in a church; their wedding, their baptism or their death.
If you know the name of one of your older relatives and which church they attended, you can make a visit to the church and track down the information that they have on record there. It’s also a bit of a search, just like an archive, so make sure to set aside plenty of time to dig through records and also get the relevant names.
With these 3 family tree archives, it’s very likely that you will get information to get you started on your genealogy project. Make your family tree as rich as possible by combining all 3 sources if you can.
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