New to Genealogy - Beginners First Step: Difference between revisions

New to genealogy? Take care of the two '''time sensitive <font color="red">critical</font> steps''' immediately and then you can take your time to learn how to set attainable goals as your experience grows.&nbsp; Get started at any age, see if this is something your kids would be interested in, do some storytelling about your ancestors or yourself, start a project to share your family history with others.

[[Image:FirstStep.jpg|right|300px|A balancing act (first step)]]The very first step when getting involved with a genealogy project can be the hardest.&nbsp; As depicted in the diagram it can be a balancing act where you could either end up flat on your face or be off to a good start.&nbsp; This first baby-step is to actually&nbsp; decide if you are willing to expend the time, energy, and resources needed to achieve your goals. &nbsp; The time spent and the costs involved could potentially get out of hand but by setting your goals correctly they are much easier to keep under control. &nbsp; To get ready for that first step start out slowly by doing a little crawling first.&nbsp;&nbsp; Since you are the one that sets those goals you first need to know what some of the objectives are that you could create for yourself. &nbsp; Do not set yourself up to fail.&nbsp; It is better to start off with smaller goals which you can change over time rather than to be going at full speed when you hit your first brick wall (it happens to everyone). &nbsp; The resulting decisions after your first setback could be that this was a stupid idea and may lead to you quiting altogether or you could end up overwhelmed by tons of data and end up burning out prematurely. &nbsp; To survive long term, you just have to keep everything in the correct&nbsp; perspective.&nbsp; There are only two critical items (which are described below) that you should address as soon as possible, after that you can take all the time in the world to set your objectives and readjust your goals as necessary.<br>  

<br>Genealogy is the study of a family’s origins and history and is often referred to as a family history.&nbsp; The first known use was in the 14th century to display a pedigree of royal, aristocratic, or clerical blood lines as a means of gaining and commanding respect. &nbsp; Some family trees, like that of Confucius, have been found to list 80 generations dating back 2,500 years.<br>  

[[Image:1585 FamilyTree.jpg|right|250px|A family tree from 1585]]Initially passed down by word of mouth the family genealogy was later depicted in the form of stylish paintings and documents. &nbsp; It has currently gained international interest as access to more and more on-line records has resulted in significant advances in its documentation and display capabilities. &nbsp; As it was in the times of an ancient king’s genealogy which showed his relationship to the gods, today’s family histories continue to be a form of storytelling to preserve the past for future generations. &nbsp; In today’s climate, the more accurately one can document the past the more likely it will survive through the ages.&nbsp; Today’s genealogy can take the form of simply collecting and preserving family information, all the way up to adding information to the “world tree”.