This page is provided to assist persons who are new to family history research.  
    Joining a family history society, such as ours, is an excellent way to get started. Our society has maintained a good educational program through a mix of good speakers, workshops, special interest groups, and one on one assistance. If you require help approach the President of your local family history society. That person can put you on the path to getting assistance.  
    The volunteers at the local LDS Family History Centres provide assistance in accessing the resources of the LDS Library collection. Why not check their opening times and pay them a visit. 
   Following the write-up below there are selected links to websites useful for beginners. Remember after visiting linked websites use the back button to return to this page.

FAMILY HISTORY FOR BEGINNERS by Douglas Dicken B.A. .

Index
    Getting started.
    Standard research forms.
    Use your local family history centre.
    Use your computer.
    Proving the line back.
    Write the family history.
    Genealogy software.
    Sharing your family history.
    Newbie links.

Getting started.
    Family history research can focus on the purely genealogical aspect of a family tree or can be widened into other aspects of ancestors lives. It is most important to be factual about a family's pedigree although  we sometimes have to use some latitude when writing down family remembrances or commentary on historical events that may have influenced our ancestors lives.

    The first thing to do is to write down what you know about your family tree and history including names, places and dates or approximate dates of christening, birth, marriage and deaths. Also events, places, homes and churches associated with the family including memberships in organisations such as the military and nursing etc. Check with relatives to see if they have documents, information, family knowledge, photographs and other memorabilia that can be added to your own knowledge of your family history. 
Return to top of page

Standard research forms.
    As you are just starting your research it is a good idea to use standard "Family Group Record" and "Pedigree Chart" forms to write down the beginnings of your family tree. Blank forms are available from the local Latter Day Saints Family History Centre (LDS FHC).

    Free forms are also available for downloading at the following websites, http://www.ancestry.com/save/charts/ancchart.htm      http://www.progenealogists.com/freeforms.htm
http://ww.familysearch.org   

A genealogy software program is not necessary for this early stage when you are likely to have just three or four generational records. The above forms will be useful as working documents and, if you do not want to use a computer for recording your findings, they can be used for your permanent record. 
Return to top of page

Use your local family history centre.
    Visit your local LDS FHC and check the catalogue of genealogy records that they make available on film, microfiche and computer as well as any other resources collected by the local centre. For example the Qualicum Beach LDS FHC has two library carts of binders full of information to aid researchers. 
    
    Although the main objective on your first visit is to find out what resources and equipment the centre can provide it is a good idea to have a specific ancestor research objective prepared. It is recommended that you take your pedigree chart together with any dates and locations you may have.  The volunteers at the centre will point you in the right direction to start your search. They will not do your research for you;  that’s not what they are there for. 
    
    Remember to work from what you know for certain back to the next previous generation. Don’t jump several generations in a particular place and think that the individual you find is necessarily in your own family line.
Return to top of page

Use a computer.
    Use the Internet in your research. The LDS FHC provides computers and Internet access to various records. Their website www.familysearch.org is a premier site for family history research. Not only does the site give newbie tutorials but also lists the LDS library holdings and has a name search capability.  

    There are several good genealogy gateway sites that give newbie information and lots of website links. Two of the most popular are Cyndi’s List at http://www.cyndislist.com and GENUKI at http://www.genuki.org.uk

    You can also do general searches for links leading to websites using your web browser and search engines such as Google. You will be searching for locations, archives, christening, birth, marriage and death indexes, occupations, social history and so forth. Try different search words or word combinations to get more search results. Extract any useful data, noting the source, and add links to your Favourites or Bookmarks Folders. You will soon have a list of website links that match your own areas of research.

    Keep a log of websites visited to avoid unwanted return visits to some and to note others that you want to visit again, perhaps on a periodic basis. Records are being increasingly made available through the Internet.

    You may want to subscribe to a commercial genealogical records website but your local library or LDS FHC may subscribe to a library edition that you can use.

    Keep a copy of what you find on the Internet. You will need to be able to copy, paste and save documents or excerpts from the Internet into your own files. Note that the amount of information that you collect can very quickly become unmanageable so it is advisable to set up a computer system of Folders and Files to keep your computer sourced  data in order. 
Return to top of page

Proving the line back.
    One of the objectives of your research will be to prove the line from yourself back through each generation with proof of each step back in the family’s history. Many researchers build this proof with a combination of parish, civil, census and other records. Having a strong intuition that you have found an ancestor is not good enough. I have had strong vibes about a person only to be proved wrong later on. As you get hard copies of records and data set up a paper filing system.
Return to top of page 

Write the Family History.
    A page on this website, (click on the side menu bar "Writing your History") , gives a checklist for an example of structuring a family history.       

    Write down your own and your relatives memories and history. Two ways of starting this are the structured and the (you've guessed it) unstructured approach. The structured approach is based on writing your history in date order. Use a timeline to write down your own memories. Your own awareness of people, things and events in your life would be a good start - childhood, Mom and Dad, house and garden, starting in kindergarten, first bike, notes about cousins, aunts and uncles, friends and schooldays.  Your story may include the family farm or parents work, college, more friends, starting work, marriage, start of living away from home, birth of children, buying that first automobile, joining the air force and so on. This approach gives you a dated and chronological framework and some initial paragraph or section titles to which you can add more text and photographs. If relatives send write ups to you it would be a good idea to include their letters in your history.    

    Some people have a problem with the above approach perhaps because it seems too complicated to remember incidents or dates chronologically and they use the unstructured approach. This can yield some quicker more satisfying episode write-ups starting with the most notable or memorable events in your life. By assembling these "short" stories in date order you can build up a picture of your life in broad terms. 

    You will then want to write explanatory notes to accompany the ancestral genealogy records.   

    In documenting your family history it is a recognised practice to include the sources of your data so make notes about this as you write and conduct your research.
Return to top of page

Genealogy software.
    When you have some firm ancestor data you may want to use a genealogy software program. There are several free downloads and trial packages available as well as several to purchase. Below are two examples.  

    The Personal Ancestral File (PAF)  genealogy software program is a free download from the LDS family history website at www.familysearch.org   It is also available through a tutorial page for the software at http://261.byu.edu/paf.html  It is worthwhile to read this whole page (page 2 of a religion course) before downloading the software, primarily so that you can understand the whole PAF download and tutorial. Links to individual lessons are given at the "stop" signs. Each lesson has several pages associated with it and these are opened from each lesson page. Once you have downloaded the program the tutorial lessons are easily accessed through the "Help" button. 

    Personal Ancestral File Companion is an add on to the above. It is available for a small charge from the LDS. This program allows you to print reports, ancestor charts, descendant charts, hourglass charts, bow-tie charts, and multiple pages to form a large wall chart. 

    There is a small charge for the PAF genealogy software for Macintosh computer users. 

    Legacy Standard Edition software is available as a free download from   www.legacyfamilytree.com/Index.asp  If you like this program you may want to splurge and pay for the DeLuxe edition.  

    Both of the above are excellent genealogy programs and are used by very experienced family historians. 

    There are several other genealogy software programs available to purchase including Family Tree Maker and Rootsmagic. Mac users will also want to look at Reunion software.
Return to top of page 

  Sharing your family history.
    As you make progress and leave the newbie ranks you will, no doubt, want others to read your work. One way is to publish your findings from your own computer. This can be in book form for distribution to your family, and perhaps a local history or family history society. If you want more than one or two you should check with local small print shops to find the cost of producing them. There are mailbox and courier outlets that undertake small printing jobs.

    If approved, you may want to transfer your pedigree to the Latter Day Saints records in Salt Lake City. In order to do the latter the software you use for recording your family data has to be capable of transferring the data in GEDCOM format. Most genealogy software will have the GEDCOM file feature.  
Return to top of page 

Specific web page links that give information for Newbies.
    There is a lot of information on the Internet for newbies but the links given below will take you to some of the best.

Getting Started in Family History and Genealogy   http://www.genuki.org.uk/gs

Roots Web Guide to Tracing Family Trees   http://rwguide.rootsweb.com

The Society of Genealogists (U.K.)    http://www.sog.org.uk/leaflets/starting.pdf

A Latter Day Saints tutorial   FamilySearch.org - Discovering Your Family Tree 

Another Latter Day Saints tutorial   FamilySearch.org - A Guide to Research 
 
The Federation of Family History Societies (UK)    http://www.ffhs.org.uk/tips/first.php

In the VERY Beginning   http://www.familychronicle.com/begin.htm

Cyndi’s List newbie page   http://www.cyndislist.com/beginner.htm#Guides

Return to top of page