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Courtesy of: Susan Roser,
Canadian Mayflower Historian and author
of many books of Mayflower interest.
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GENERAL |
| Educate yourself |
| No matter what your
family history, in order to successfully
trace your genealogy you must educate yourself
on the geography and time period you are
dealing with so that you will know what
is available to you. And with the advance
of the internet bringing this knowledge
into our homes, it couldn’t be easier!
There are many excellent sites with links
to virtually every location imaginable. |
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| Cite and copy your
sources |
Whenever you find that
elusive piece of data, whether you open
a book, or find it on a reel of microfilm,
don’t transcribe it by hand - photo-copy
it! (Always include a copy of the title
page if applicable.) Photo-copies of original
records can be used to help document your
line for membership, handwritten transcripts
cannot.
Citing sources in your genealogical work
is important; instead of guessing where
your info came from, or wondering how accurate
your info really is, your source citation
allows you to better evaluate the reliability
of your data. |
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| Data is only as good
as its source |
| Genealogical data is
zooming around cyberspace at an amazing
speed, with so much information becoming
so easily available to us in short periods
of time, however not all of it is accurate.
When you come across family data, or ten
generations of your genealogy, don’t
smile smugly and assume your family tree
is now complete, just because it has been
printed on the net (or in a book) doesn’t
mean the information is infallible. Set
out to find the sources yourself and prove
the data, so that you will know for sure
that each branch does indeed belong on your
tree. Undocumented data can be a great starting
point (case in point, the IGI files), but
don’t invite it onto your family tree
until you’ve proved it. Your goal
is to compile your family history –
not what you think is your family history! |
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| Long form records |
| Some vital record offices
and archives have both long and short form
records. Long forms are sometimes referred
to as long form for genealogical purposes
and can contain a wealth of information,
information that you will not find on the
shorter form. Not all offices have them,
but if you don’t specify, then you
could miss out. For example, a certificate
is often a fancy document on which has been
typed the name, place & date of event,
as taken from the record – but what
you really want is the record that the information
was taken from. The original record could
contain much more information than the bare
facts of a certificate. In fact, a long
form death record could also give birth
date & place and names of parents –
which could be a blessing if you have not
been able to locate the birth record. There
is no guarantee it will have what you are
looking for, but it’s certainly worth
a try (and the cost is usually the same).
Wherever possible, long form records should
be obtained when documenting your Mayflower
lineage for membership |
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Mayflower |
| Searching early New
England |
Conducting genealogical research in
the New England states is a pure joy!
And we have our early ancestors to thank,
for unlike our later ancestors who were
pioneers in new lands and had other things
on their minds, they kept wonderful records.
This doesn’t mean you are going
to find every record you ever search for,
but chances are you will find a majority
of them.
When you begin documenting
your Mayflower line you should always
begin at the beginning (generation #3)
and work forward. Your first five to six
generations are likely already done, therefore
depending on the advice you receive from
our Historian, you will probably need
to begin documenting your line from generation
#6 forward, concentrating on generations
6-8. As long as your line remained in
New England, then the town clerk’s
office will be the place to write for
birth, marriage and death records. |
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| Ancestors on the move |
If your ancestors
were on the move during these middle generations,
then you may run into problems finding
the primary records you need. As new lands
opened up and our ancestors were on the
move, up through NY and into Ontario or
through Maine into New Brunswick, recording
family events was not high on their list
of priorities (those of us whose lines
went into Nova Scotia fair a little better),
therefore when primary records cannot
be located, secondary sources may be used.
Whether or not the secondary source you
have is acceptable, depends on how reliable
the source is known to be; the Historian
will be able to advise you.
Since these generations are usually the
most difficult, it is a good idea to complete
the documentation requirements for these
middle generations before you continue.
It would be unwise to jump ahead and collect
the documentation needed for your more
recent, easier generations, only to find
out later that you were unable to find
proof of parentage for generation #7 and
your application is at a standstill –
after you have spent all that time and/or
money on documentation for your later
generations. |
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| Last leg of the journey |
| Once you have completed
the documentation requirements for your
first 8 generations, those remaining should
be a piece of cake! Birth, death and marriage
records should be available and when ordering
these, remember to order the long form record,
sometimes called long form for genealogical
purposes. Your last three generations, (self,
parents, grandparents) must have full primary
documentation, i.e. birth/death/marriage
records/certificates, whenever possible.
If a record absolutely cannot be found,
such as the birth record of a grandparent,
then there are exceptions. See below. |
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| Don’t give up! |
Whenever a record
cannot be found, don’t despair,
there is usually another way around it,
or another avenue to follow. For example,
great-grandpa was born in 1865, married
in 1890 and died in 1930. Registration
of vital records did not begin until 1870,
so no birth record for grandpa –
no problem. He died "late enough"
that a death record will be available
and a long form death record may give
his birth date and/or parentage. Some
long form marriage records also name parents.
Also available will be the 1871 or 1881
census which will place him with his parents
and the 1901 census will give his birth
date.
If you get stuck, have a problem, or
are unsure what to do next in regards
to the documentation requirements, just
ask! |
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- The General Society
of Mayflower Descendants
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| There are countless
genealogy and Mayflower sites available
on the internet, with more being added all
the time. Here are a few to get you started: |
Our Society's home page contains an overview
of the national organization with links
and information on other state Mayflower
Societies.
http://www.mayflower.org |
- Caleb Johnson's
Mayflower Web Site
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This energetic, comprehensive
site is run by an experienced genealogist.
Look here for extensive information on the
ship, her passengers and a multitude of
related information. It is not affiliated
with the Mayflower Society.
http://www.members.aol.com/calebj/mayflower.html |
- Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites
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Considered the premier site for finding
genealogy information you need on the
internet. Thousands of links are organized
into searchable categories. It is constantly
updated. there are extensive additional
California genealogy resources here.
http://www.cyndislist.com |
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The Pilgrims and Plymouth
Colony
Created by Mayflower Society Education Committee
ChairDuane A. Cline
www.rootsweb.com/~mosmd/ |
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A living recreation of the Pilgrims settlement
is a fascinating experience.
http://www.plimoth.org
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