How to Start My Family History Research – Introduction

Welcome to this tutorial which is a brief introduction to How to Start Your Family History Research.

How to Start Your Family History Research – The Steps

Step 1. Start with Yourself

Write down everything you can think of about your family tree

Step 2. Visualise the Information

Take the Information you have written down in step number one and add it to a genealogy pedigree chart.

Step 3. Determine where to start

Look at the genealogy pedigree chart you just created and determine what information is missing. This missing information is where you will start your research.

Step 4. Find out what information already exists

Gather together everything you can find that may assist you with your research. This may include Birth, Death and Marriage certificates, Baptism, and School and Military records. You may also have access to old family diaries or previous research that someone in your family has already undertaken.

Step 5. Get yourself organised

Now that you have all this information you need to get organised so you can make sense of it all. As a bare minimum, create yourself a physical and a digital filing system to store it all in.

Step 6. Decide the type of research you would like to undertake.

There are a number of approaches that are available to you. You can research either your mothers’ line or your fathers’ line, and, if you want to jump right in you can research both.

Step 7. Keep Track of your Research.

With all the information and documentation, you are going to be viewing, it is extremely easy to forget what you have or has not done. Create yourself a research log, so you can walk away and then come back in days or even weeks and
know exactly where you are up to.

Step 8. Share Your Research.

Show your research to your family. You may find other members who are interested and who can provide you with new information, and never before seen photos. You may even discover branches of the family tree that you never knew existed.

Step 9. Join a local Family History Society.

Family history societies can offer you an amazing network of local knowledge, helpful contacts and access to publications and databases that individually you do not have.