Materials Needed To Begin

1. Materials Needed To Begin Three-ring, loose-leaf notebook binders and three-hole notebook paper allows for easy organization Three-hole dividers for each surname researched Pens or pencils. Some choose to color-code their work Remember: ORGANIZATION IS YOUR KEY TO GENEALOGICAL SUCCESS

2. "Genealogy" in relation to "Family History" • Genealogy refers to the activity whereby we identify family descent-that is, who descends from whom-generation to generation • It is specifically concerned with descendency from an ancestor or common set of ancestors • Family History includes family traditions, oral and written, and revolves around the lives of family members, including ancestors • It is much more broad in scope, and helps round out and give meaning to the family tree

3. ADVANTAGES Direct approach which narrows down data, and avoids confusion with un-necessary information DISADVANTAGES Often too specific and does not allow for the inclusion of more removed relatives and their families Three Commonly Adopted PlansFIRSTPLANFamily with male line ancestors tree, showing the wives and siblings of these ancestors

4. ADVANTAGES Expandable and helpful in identifying relationships between family members such as distant cousins DISADVANTAGES Sometimes a bit confusing and will not fit well in a condensed area Three Commonly Adopted PlansSECOND PLAN“Extended Family Tree” with collateral branches descended from one common male or female line ancestor

5. ADVANTAGES All inclusive method shows direct descent from common ancestors and ties between families DISADVANTAGES Must be careful to document sources and include as much information as possible. Will take the most amount of time and effort. Three Commonly Adopted PlansTHIRD PLAN“Ancestry Chart” with as many ancestors from both male and female lines recorded as can be traced

6. Successful Strategies • Be scientific • Be thorough • Be resourceful • Be cautious • Be systematic • Be considerate • Use a cluster approach

7. Beginner's Steps • Write Down What You Already Know • Draw Information From Records In Your Home • Ask Relatives For Information • Create A Note-taking And File System • Decide What Missing Details You Want To Find

8. A Talk to your parents and find out where they grew up B Get birth and death dates of your mother and father C Get marriage date and location of the event D Ask parents where their parents and grandparents are buried E Find out if any relatives (Aunts, Uncles) have done am previous research F Identify your oldest living relative, and make plans to visit them G Ask oldest living relative questions about the family H Ask them where your relatives are buried I See if they know any dates for birth, death and marriage J Ask if they know any stories about the family K Ask them if they know of any other living relatives you could contact L Search the Internet for surnames that you have found (www .gciilbniin.com) M Visit your local library to research areas that you have identified your family as having ties to N Visit the U.S. Government Federal records archives (Wallham. MA) for census records from 1790-1920 O Check if any relatives were in any wars as information may be obtained for a small fee from the Federal Government P Visit the cemeteries in which your relatives are buried Q Visit the Everton Genealogy Web page for Genealogical Helper magazine R Send for copies of birth, death. and marriage records from the relatives you know or have found S Gather pictures of older relatives while making your visits T Vi sit your local LDS church Family History Center (Weston, Worcester, Foxborough), and order microfilm records U Take a course in searching your relatives (which you are doing) V For the really difficult areas you may want to hire a professional genealogist, but be sure to check all references W Join a local Genealogical and/or Historical Society X Visit the Internet GenWeb Project for your area Y Visit used book stores Z Dedicate yourself to doing this by spending the time and energy necessary REMEMBER TO DO THESE AS WELL Save information in an orderly fashion Search internet phone and e-mail directories for persons of the same surnamelocated in the same region Take pictures Let others in the family know that you are doing genealogical research Respect the privacy of others The "26" Tips

9. The Benefit of "WorkingBackwards • Starting with known information about already identified ancestors is better than trying to work forwards by seeking descendants of some historical figure or ancestor that your family claims descent from in the hopes of reaching your own family • Working from known information gives you a starting place • Do not ignore family legends, but do not take them as certain to be literally true • Use family legends as yet another source of guidance for your efforts at finding the truth about the past

10. Taped Interviews • Make a list of questions to ask in advance • Ask any questions that come to you during the interview process • Word questions to encourage detail rather than "yes" or "no" responses • Be alert to the interviewee, listen, keep eye contact • Use a good quality tape recorder and tape, or digital MP3 recorder/player • Keep the visit informal • Place the microphone in a convenient acoustically strategic location • Test the equipment before you begin • Identify the persons in the interview, when and where it was conducted • Spell aloud any names that are mentioned • Pause when necessary • Use the tape only for genealogical purposes

11. The Value Of Family Traditions • Stories that are passed down by word of mouth (oral tradition) are often embellished through the years of having been handed down from one generation to the next, still, there is often a great deal of truth to be found in them that may not be documented elsewhere • Traditions often tell of the location or national/ethnic origin of the family • Traditions may provide vital statistics • Traditions that claim close kinship with someone famous are often misleading • Holidays, including rituals and foods associated with them, are often good indicators of family heritage • Superstitions and tales handed down in a family may also be indicative

12. Life History • Start with yourself and work backwards • Narrow down information as some pieces of information are more important than others • Start with childhood, then teen years, and finally, adulthood SEE pp. 24 - 26 of Unpuzzling Your Past for sample questions

13. Names: Challenges and Clues • Names are often spelled a variety of ways • Surnames change over the years • Surnames may become given or middle names • Nicknames are sometimes intertwined with actual given names in official documents • Naming practices often follow a specific pattern • Several people of the same name can appear in the same location at the same time so the genealogist must be very cautious • In some documents certain persons would sign their name in a unique manner to avoid confusion with others of the same name • Problems resolving names cannot always be solved, and in these instances, educated guesses may prove to be useful • Always support your guesses

14. Family Sources Checklist • Relatives you are familiar with • Family friends and neighbors • Bibles and prayer books • Family letters, diaries, sketches, scrapbooks • School Yearbooks • Photographs • Family papers • Living relatives • Family chain letters • Reunions

15. Local Resources • Cemeteries • Local historians and elders of the community • Newspapers • County Courthouses • Deed and property records • Libraries • Schools and Colleges • Churches

16. STATE SOURCES census records land records correspondence Native American records tax rolls pension records militia rolls issued pay warrants vehicle registrations voter registrations cattle brand registers law enforcement records Confederate records vital statistics registry state agencies county records Colonial government and Revolutionary War records FEDERAL SOURCES Federal Census records Soundex Military records Federal Land Records including bounty land warrant applications, individual claims, donation land entries, homestead entry papers, and land grants African-American and Native American materials Immigration and Naturalization records Records of Civil Service employees Passport applications Library of Congress Microfilm from the National Archives State and Federal Sources

17. Dates • Writing dates • Reading dates • Old style and new style dates • Determining the correct day of the week • How to use dates

18. Fitting The Pieces Together • SEE PP. 95-98 of Unpuzzling Your Past

19. Reading The Writing Right • Two styles of "r" and "t" were used in the 18th and 19th centuries • "u", "n", "w", and "m" look alike • double "s" may look like "fs" or "ps“ • "i" and "j" could appear identical • when copying a passage from a manuscript, be sure to copy the passage exactly as it appears

20. Computer Genealogy • A very helpful tool, there are a variety of programs available • Word processing is often satisfactory • Bulletin Boards (BBS) and e-mail can be helpful (excellent bulletin board is www.genforum.com) • One of the best sites for birth, marriage and death records is the LDS family search (www.familysearch.com) • Remote access databases (see pp. 106-108 of Unpuzzling Your Past)

21. Genealogy On The Net: Things To Keep In Mind • Just because it is printed doesn't mean it is accurate (verify sources) • Look for inconsistencies (dates, contradictions with other information found on the Internet) • Be careful downloading files to genealogy programs • The Internet is an exceptional research tool with regard to the investigation of a location of interest • Background research is essential and may enable you to avoid pitfalls should you decide to visit a locality for primary genealogical sources

22. Writing A Family History • Title page (should include the title of the family history, your name and address, and publisher) • Table of Contents • Foreword • Generation charts • Family Group Sheets • Names and Addresses • Biographical sketches • Interesting tidbits • Keepsakes and collectibles • Memories • Maps

23. Genealogy Searching on theInternet • The Internet provides a vast collection of information, some can be of valuable use to genealogists • Success depends greatly upon the search engine used and how search arguments are defined

24. Categories of Search Engines • Directories • True Search Engines • Meta Search Engines • FTP Searches • People Searches • Usenet Searches • Note: Many Search Engines have two levels of search: simple and advanced

25. Directories • Similar to a library card catalog • Updated by a web site administrator • Usually necessary to select several levels of the directory to reach a desired category • Most provide a Search Engine • Data in their index limited to the web pages included in their directory

26. True Search Engines • Built and maintained by Robots (a.k.a. crawlers, worms, spiders) • Scan web pages selecting information to be included in the index • May contain the title of a web page, the first few lines of a web page, or key words from the entire page • Huge databases and likely to produce results

27. Meta Search Engines • Do not have their own indexes • Allow the user to search several True Search Engines in just one search • Search results indicate the sites in which matches were found

28. FTP Searches • Known as File Transfer Protocol searches • Older format for downloading text and files • Not frequently used, but some sites are still accessed by the prefix FTP:// instead of http://

29. People Searches and UsenetSearches • Usually used to search for postal and e-mail addresses of living persons • Some sites provide other services including nearby commercial services, area maps or route maps • Usenet searches are for locating Usenet discussion groups

30. Simple Searching • Helpful for locating Usenet discussion groups on particular subjects • Simple searches are controlled by punctuation (ex. +and- (force and ignore), • "" (force sequence) and *and? (wildcards)

31. Using + and - • You can instruct the search engine to find pages that must contain a certain word, words or phrase • If you enter two words into a search box, the result will be pages with either or both of the words • Putting a plus sign (ex. +family) before any word tells the Search Engine that the word must be included • Using a minus sign before any word (ex. -family) before any word tells the search engine not to find any pages containing that word

32. Field Searches • Supported by Search Engines such as Altavista, HotBot, Yahoo!, Infoseek and Lycos • Enter a field name in quotes followed by a colon (:) and then a search term • Valid field names include link, title, url and alt link will find the search term in links • title only searches in titles of pages • url only looks at URLs • alt looks in labels of images • Example: If you want to know which sites link to yours, simply search for link: your_url

33. Genealogical Keywords • There should be at least one specific keyword such as surname, name of a state, county or cemetery • When searching for a specific person, use quotes (ex. "bob brown") • General words to use: +genealogy, +family, +history, +index, +born, +died, +married, +record (birth, death, marriage), +cemetery

34. Helpful Hints • Define keywords for the search by importance and number • Add necessary search language codes (do not mix symbols with Boolean) • Use all lower case unless you specifically want upper case • When searching for persons, use the "" (ex. "bob brown") • Do not use punctuation in names • Modify keywords and try again if the results of your first try do not yield what you are seeking • Use the Edit and Find in Page functions of your browser to find words within a retrieved page • Do the same search after a few months to find any additions to the net

35. Boolean Searches • Searches that use the terms AND, OR and NOT according to Boolean logic • Use AND (ie., family AND history) to find pages which have both words • Use OR (ie., family OR history) to find pages which have one word or the other • Use NOT (ie., family NOT history) to find pages which have family but not history • Note: In HotBot choose "Boolean Search" from the "all the words" menu. In Lycos, search with Lycos Pro. In Yahoo, select AND or OR or NOT from the search options page. In AltaVista or Excite write the NOT command as AND NOT.

36. Genealogical Specific SearchEngines • Several Categories • Lists • Databases • Queries • Newsgroups • Files

37. Lists • Lists of web sites with a link to them • Maintained by a web site manager

38. Databases • Varied in what they contain • Most have mutiple databases online (for example: FamilySearch from LDS has the IGI and Ancestral File online, Family Tree Maker has indexes to Library.com, Genealogy Web sites, Census, WFT CD's, Ancestry CD's, SSDI files)

39. Queries • Sites that are the same as those found in genealogical publications • You can locate other researchers who are investigating the same families as you are • You can enter your own queries

40. Newsgroups • Provide information on discussion groups revolving around various topics • Like BBS message areas • Must subscribe to these discussion groups to receive the messages • Programs such as Free Agent can be used to search these messages for surnames or subjects of interest to you

41. Files • Places to obtain genealogical text files and software • Mostly freeware and/or shareware

42. American French Genealogical Society 78 Earle Street Woonsocket, RI 02895 401-765-6141 users.ids.net/~afgs/afgshome.html More than 6,000 volumes of marriage records, genealogies, biographies, histories of French-Canadian families Lending library Research services

43. Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston P.O. Box 610366 Newton Highlands, MA 02161-0366 http://www.jewishgen.org/boston Directories of Immigrant Ship arrivals Computerized cross-reference to over 26,000 ancestral families and 8,000 town names All publications of Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies

44. The National Archives (New England Region) 380 Trapelo Road Waltham, MA 02154 617-647-8100 Census Records from 1790-present Draft, Military Service, Pension, Bounty Land Application records Naturalization Records Court Records Passenger Arrival Lists

45. Family History Centers Foxboro. Weston, Belmont, Worcester Volunteer staff members to assist you Computer files Microfilm/Microfiche documents can be ordered directly from Salt Lake City A door to a vast storehouse of original records Access to a vast array of private, non-published genealogies and family histories

46. NEHGS 101 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02116-3087 (617) 536-5740 http://www.nehgs.org Outstanding collection of books and research materials pertaining to New England, Canadian, and European (particularly Great Britain and Ireland) genealogy Excellent manuscript collection Circulating library Latest research Genealogical bookstore Lectures, seminars and trips Enquiries services utilizing professional, certified genealogists