RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees No.

RootsWeb's Guide to
Tracing Family Trees

Guide No. 1

Chalkboafd

Where to begin?

Interview Questions
(compiled by the Smithsonian Institution Office of Folklife Programs)

Pedigree Chart

Family Group Record - pg 1

Family Group Record - pg 2

Research Questions

Research Log

Source Notes - pg 1

Source Notes - pg 2

The WHY of Oral History Interviews
by Elizabeth M. Bentley

Find and identify photographs of your ancestors

Sod House

What were their homes like?

Wagon Train

Was getting there half the fun?

Cemetery

Do you know where your ancestors are buried?

Mayflower

Did some arrive on the Mayflower in 1620?

Ellis Island

or at Ellis Island in 1892?

Is there one of these <gasp>

IBSSG Logo

in your family tree? If so, you can join IBSSG

More help is just a click away

Searching Your Family Tree
by Richard A. Pence

20 Ways to Avoid Genealogical Grief

Quick Start in Genealogy

Printer Friendly Version

Where to begin? Charles Dickens' David Copperfield must have been a closet genealogist. He said, "To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born . . ."

That's how you should begin also. Write down everything you already know about yourself, your parents, and your grandparents. Don't worry if, once you have it written down, you realize you do not know much.Get it down on paper so that you have a starting place.

Start at Home. Document your own life first by gathering records and information about your birth, marriage, graduation, military service and so forth. Look around the house for photographs, documents, old letters, diaries, newspaper clippings, and family Bibles. Ask your parents and grandparents about such items also.

Birth, marriage and death records information (by states):

What's available; who to contact; costs, etc.

Vital Records

VitalChek

Use a Family and Home Information Sources Checklist as a guide to sources of information you might find in your home or the home of a relative. Talk to all your older-generation relatives (before they are gone and you are the older generation).

What Should You Ask? Armed with what you do know, then start asking questions. Genealogists can put reporters to shame. After all, we want to know everything. Talk to your parents and your grandparents. Write to them or call them. Write to and call your cousins, aunts, and uncles. Interview those people who lived near your family, and don't forget old family friends.

Learn to ask the right questions. If you ask Uncle Fred to "tell me everything you know, he may side-step you by responding that he can't remember anything. Ask specific questions that jog the memory. Whenever possible, show old photographs of people and places.

Names. Dates. Places. While it is important to ask the basic questions about the whens and wheres of births, marriages, and deaths, you can sometimes get more information from relatives by asking about other aspects of their life. Here are some questions that will help you get more than just names, dates, and places:

Who were you named for?
Did your grandmother tell you any special stories?
Who was your best friend and what did you like to do together?
Where did you go to school?
What was your favorite holiday? Why?
Were you in the military?
Have you done any traveling? Where did you go? Who with?
What was your first home or apartment like?
More oral history questions to ask.

Be sure to write down the answers. If your relative doesn't object, audio or video taping would be even better. However, this sometimes makes a person self-conscious and they may not be as forthcoming, but usually they will forget all about it within a few minutes. Prepare for an interview by making notes in advance about the questions you want to ask and by being somewhat familiar with the family you will be asking questions about.

Inquire regarding:

Home and community life. "What do you remember about the houses you lived in?"

Personalities and relationships. What was your relationship like with your mother/father/sister/brother?

Economic conditions. How did the family earn money? Who worked?

Family characteristics. What were the most outstanding family characteristics. Any diseases that run in the family? Was there a black sheep in the family?

Family Facts. Try to fill in the blanks on your Pedigree Charts and Family Group Records.

Pedigree Chart

How are you related to ___?
See Relationship Chart

Free Forms in PDF from RootsWeb, including:

Genealogy Charts

Family Relationship Chart

Easy Genealogy Forms

Free Forms from Family Tree Magazine

Take your time during interviews; be prepared for a leisurely chat. People have a way of wandering off the subject, but you can gently move the conversation back to the matters of interest. Be considerate of elderly family members and do not let an interview go on too long. Make the interview enjoyable so they will look forward to hearing from you again.

Immediately after the interview, transcribe your notes while they are fresh. Note the things you did not have time to ask or forgot to ask so you will be prepared for a follow-up interview. Sample interview questions compiled by the Smithsonian Institution Office of Folklife Programs can be downloaded and/or printed. Use them to help you gather oral histories.

Family Folklore: How to Collect Your Own Family Folklore is a guide produced to accompany the exhibition, The Grand Generation: Memory, Mastery, Legacy, organized by the Smithsonian Institution Office of Folklife Programs and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). SITES is a program activity by the Smithsonian Institution that organizes and circulates exhibitions on art, history and science to institutions in the United States and abroad.