Family Stories – The Stories Are The Key
By Richard Kearns

The family stories are the key. You have been collecting dry bits of information and facts for some time. Your search for your ancestors has given you a glimpse into the past. But the research can also be frustrating and intimidating. What do I do with these facts? How do I present this information so that everyone can appreciate the challenges and sacrifices that my ancestors made? The facts take time to collect, but the stories pop up at the most unexpected times and are the key to making your tree come alive for the rest of your family.

Your family history, your heritage, is more than just dates and places. Our challenge, as family historians, is to not only discover the ancestors’ names and dates but to research and find the stories that each one of them left behind. The stories may be in scrapbooks and Family Bibles in our Grandmother’s front room or in newspaper articles that were published decades ago. Still other stories may be recorded in history books or even heritage group publications.

Some of these stories may not be recorded at all, but instead passed down from one generation to another at family reunions, parties and dinners. The important thing to remember is, that when you uncover one of these stories, be sure to record every last detail. Even tape the conversation or photocopy the text. Being very methodical and meticulous in your research will make the difference between dry facts and heartwarming stories of past challenges and victories.

Researching your family tree can provide valuable insights into the lives and times of your ancestors. These searches for your family’s past, whether through searchable databases or your Uncle’s attic, will help you understand your heritage. Revealing your heritage to the rest of your family can be a rewarding hobby that may bring your family closer together and more importantly bring the past alive for your children and your children’s children.

Richard Kearns publishes an informative, easy to use website that helps people discover their family heritage and shows them how to document their family tree for future generations. Go to Family Stories - The Stories Are The Key for more information.

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Finding Your Genealogy
By Kadence Buchanan

One activity that many families find rewarding and exciting is researching their genealogy. Who doesn’t want to know where they came from? Plus, if you research your roots back far enough, odds are that you could be surprised with some type of connection to a historical figure. While there are many sites that provide genealogy packages, doing the work yourself can really be rewarding when it comes to getting to know your relations.

First, when researching your genealogy, you should get some paperwork organized. You should create forms that you should distribute to the relatives that you know of that consist of places to fill in information regarding the births, deaths, marriages, and spouses of those that they know of in the family. Some people find it important to make the entries as complete as possible, listing family stories, occupations held, and other information about the entrants. You may also want to consider purchasing a program that helps you to log this information to ease the amount of paperwork that you will be doing. When you get information from a relation, be sure to ask them if they have any genealogical information that can help you in your hunt. Family bibles are one thing that can provide information about lineage that you may not be able to find elsewhere.

Once you seem to have reached the end of the paper trail when it comes to those that you can contact, you may want to turn your search towards census records. Census records have been around for almost the complete history of America, with censuses being conducted formally since 1790. These records can provide a wealth of information when it comes to finding relations that you may not know about due to the long length of time. Other sources of records for genealogy may include birth certificates, death certificates, adoption papers, divorce papers, and school records. Searching on the internet for your family name can also prove to be effective.

Now that you know the basics when it comes to finding your genealogy, indulge in it! Get your whole family in on the fun, it’s exciting for everybody to find out about their roots.

Kadence Buchanan writes articles on many topics including Family, Gardening, and Real Estate

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Building Your Family Tree 101: How to Find Your Irish or Scottish Ancestors
By Chris Simeral

Did your ancestors come from Europe – in particular Ireland or Scotland? It’s quite possible to find their records. You may even be lucky enough to find records online, because as more and more people become intrigued with their origins, more are being made available.

If Your Ancestors Came from Ireland

Huge numbers of Irish people left Ireland in the mid-nineteenth century when famine forced many people to look for a new and better life in another country. When you’re trying to locate records, it’s vital that you know as much as possible: if you can establish which town or village your ancestors came from, you’ll know which government – whether Northern Ireland (Ulster) or the Republic of Ireland – now holds the records.

Start at the National Archives of Ireland at http://www.nationalarchives.ie/ and the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland at http://www.proni.gov.uk/. Irish Genealogy (http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/non_flash/frame_1024.htm) is also an excellent site, with many good resources.

You can apply on the site for a birth search for a birth after 1864, at which time civil registration of births began in Ireland. The search will cost 45 pounds (approximately USD $90), of which 20 pounds (approximately USD $45) is refundable if the search is unsuccessful.

If Your Ancestors Came from Scotland

The Scottish government provides ample resources for you to find your Scottish ancestors at The General Register Office for Scotland (http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk). Here’s what you can find on the site:
Close to 40 million records, including a fully searchable index of
Scottish births (covering the years 1553-1904), marriages (1553 to 1929) and deaths (1855 to 1954). You’ll also find indexed census data for the years 1881 to 1901.

Once you’ve found your ancestors in the Scotland’s People database, find additional information at The National Archives for Scotland at http://www.nas.gov.uk/family_history.htm, which provides guides, indices to collections, and a fully searchable catalog at http://www.dswebhosting.info/nas/.

Finally, the Scottish Genealogy Society also provides online information, and an online forum, both of which are free, at http://www.scotsgenealogy.com/.

Chris Simeral is the creator of the 7 Day Family Tree Genealogy Research Toolkit. For more information on how to href="http://www.7dayfamilytree.com/">make a family tree, researching your family’s past, or a free genealogy mini-course, visit href="http://www.7dayfamilytree.com/">http://www.7DayFamilyTree.com.

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Tracing Family Histories
By Trevor Dumbleton

One of the most fascinating, and most rewarding pastimes you can engage in is tracing family histories. By delving into the past of your family and the families that have joined together to form that family, you can learn about yourself, your parents, your ancestors, and the many people who have been born, wedded, had children, and eventually ended up creating that unique entity known as you. As well, you can learn much about what those people did and the places from which they came.

Tracing family histories can often be a difficult task. However, the best place to start is by tracing genealogy. Without names to go on, any family history is almost impossible to create. Thus, a full family tree should be formed and formatted in order to figure out just who these people were, when they lived, and where they lived.

Once you have figured out names, the real digging begins. You need to find as much information about these people as possible. Anything in the public record is usually the best place to start. Legal papers can be a wealth of information about the people from whom you are descended. Such items as deeds, real estate papers, and loan papers can tell you a great deal about the names on your family tree. If they bought land, they must have worked it. If they applied for loans, they usually gave a purpose for the loan. These are the meat of any family history. With a few little details, you can start filling in a whole lot of blanks.

As well, old letters are very useful for tracing family histories. Though letter writing is something of a lost art today, people would often keep letters they received, especially love letters. These can provide fascinating glimpses into the people who have gone on before you, as they will often not only speak of their love, but they can also provide interesting asides about where they were and what they were doing. The addresses will tell you where those letters went. Return addresses will tell you where they came from. They often told each other where they were and what they were doing at the time. These are not just pieces of paper, they are windows into the souls of your ancestors.

Family Bibles are akin to the Holy Grail for those tracing family histories. As these were often large, decorative, sacred books, they were almost never discarded. Thus, people often used them to store important documents. It was like a large safe. Simply put those loan papers at Numbers 12, and they were safe. As well, people often listed ancestry and descendents in these books. The front page often contains a family tree that can be used to find relations that are not in one’s family tree. And as the Bible was passed down from generation to generation, it was filled out that much more, creating a complete history of the family.

However, the most important resource for tracing family histories should not be overlooked. That resource is, of course, family members. Surviving relations are a wealth of information. They want to talk about what they did, where they went, how they felt about things, and what was going on at the time. They can call up stories that they have not had the chance to tell, and they will sometimes remember things they forgot they knew as they tell their stories. Do not forget to ask your family members about the family. They will be more than happy to help.

Tracing family histories can provide wonderful scenes, compelling dramas, and stories that are too strange to be untrue. When you compile the history of your family, remember that you are learning about people. People who were just as full of life and vitality as you are. So feel free to tell their stories and don’t forget to enjoy the fact that you are letting your ancestors live their lives all over again.

http://www.familytreeshistory.com/ is a categorized resource directory to help explore the world of genealogy, or family trees, including the history of our ancestors.

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Free Family Tree
By Max Bellamy

There are a lot of resources on the Internet that offer free family tree charts and free family tree software. Read on to find out what these freebies can do for you.

Benefits of downloading free family tree charts and software

There are a lot of free family tree chart designs available for downloading. These graphical representations will help you organize your ancestors and relatives. There are a lot of designs available for every personality and taste.

What’s great about these free family tree charts is that they can help you add names and dates electronically, usually using your browser window. These charts make it very simple to keep tabs on your progress, because with one click, you can see right away what boxes still need to be filled out.

Free family tree charts and software typically let you complete everything on the web, so it’s very easy to email your relatives and put up a website, once you have finished. Free family tree charts are also usually printable.

What do I have to do to get free online family tree charts and software?

Most websites that give free family tree charts and software require you to sign up. This will instantly give you access to online tools that can generate ancestor, descendant and pedigree diagrams for any name you type into your family tree. These charts are usually hyperlinked – just click them and you can access photos of these individuals, if they exist.

You can also upload your own photos right from your hard drive. Your uploaded photos will appear alongside the names you have inputted in your free family tree chart. Best of all, the free family tree software can instantly calculate the age of and the degrees of relationships among the names in your tree.

Family Tree provides detailed information on Family Tree, Free Family Tree, Family Tree Makers, Family Tree Charts and more. Family Tree is affiliated with Family Reunion Ideas.

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Genealogy & Family Trees
By Kelly Liyakasa

For many of us, comprehending our family’s rich and diverse history may not be the easiest task at hand. Many extended families are marked by numerous divorces and separations, the conjoining of several lineages and even adoption. While figuring out one’s family tree may look intimidating, genealogy services are a reputable source in untangling even the most complex family background.

A genealogy service allows inquisitive individuals to enter their family names and scour through results in the family tree database. While every service is unique in its search mechanisms, one popular genealogy service reported by 6StarReviews.com is Ancestry.com. Ancestry gives users access to fun facts like the meaning of surnames and international record collections for paying members.

Say you’re a “Smith” and you feel like the quest for your true family background may be worthless because of the prevalence of your last name. One genealogy service, One Great Family, allows members to utilize special family tree software and link their lineage with global ancestry links. That way, you’ll be able to browse through existing records and have your family tree updated automatically for you.

There is no feeling quite like knowing where you came from and discovering a hidden family secret, such that you’re related to Abraham Lincoln or Marilyn Monroe somewhere down the line. While relying on Uncle Barry’s word that you’re delineated from royalty may be trustful on your part, a genealogy and family tree service can truly divide fact from fiction.

Kelly Liyakasa is staff writer for 6StarReviews.com. Kelly Staller is site manager at 6StarReviews.com, a site dedicated to giving YOU, the consumer, the best product and service reviews around. If you like saving time and money by having someone else review leading sites and products, then Visit our site at 6StarReviews.com Also, if you have the time, check out the 6StarReviews Blog for product updates, new site reviews and to give us suggestions or feedback! Visit 6StarReviews.com Blog!

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What is Genealogy?
By Fred Hawks

Genealogy (which comes from the Greek words genea, meaning family and logos meaning knowledge) is the study of family lineages. Usually this is done by collecting names of family members (both living an dead) and looking for a link between them, based on evidence and documents. The results of these investigations are then used to build family tree.

In the past genealogy was very important for nobles who depended on it to determine the rightful heirs to titles and inheritances. Detailed records were kept to ensure that titles were passed down to the right person. Nowadays genealogy is a science and hobby practiced by many people around the world.

Genealogists usually begin their search with a person’s parents and grand-parents. From there they begin to dig deeper and deeper into the family’s past by looking at documents such as marriage records. Genealogy has been described as a very complex puzzle. To get a reliable picture of a family’s origins requires a lot of study and investigation.

Thanks to the Internet anyone can now easily do genealogy research. In past researching family history was a lot of work and very time consuming. Today, thanks to the many public records and genealogy sites available online, it has become much easier and faster. In fact, genealogy is one of the most popular subjects on the Internet.

Genealogy can be absolutely fascinating. For many people it can feel like a journey through time. It also makes them appreciate all the things their ancestors accomplished during their lives.

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Search Engine Genealogy
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