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=== Living Relatives === | === Living Relatives === | ||
Contact living relatives asking them for information they are willing to share. Even though people's memories may be unreliable, these stories give clues about where to start looking. Family traditions may be the needle in the haystack which helps you locate records you may otherwise be unable to find. Be sure to ask them about specifics including places and dates where things occured. | Contact living relatives asking them for information they are willing to share. Even though people's memories may be unreliable, these stories give clues about where to start looking. Family traditions may be the needle in the haystack which helps you locate records you may otherwise be unable to find. Be sure to ask them about specifics including places and dates where things occured. | ||
It is particularly valuable to contact living relatives as soon as you can. If you put it off, memories may fade, photographs may disappear, or people may pass on without giving you a chance to learn their story. There are some good tips at [[Creating Oral Histories]] and [[Oral Personal History]] with ideas about how to effectively interview and record other people's stories. | It is particularly valuable to contact living relatives as soon as you can. If you put it off, memories may fade, photographs may disappear, or people may pass on without giving you a chance to learn their story. There are some good tips at [[Creating Oral Histories]] and [[Oral Personal History]] with ideas about how to effectively interview and record other people's stories. | ||
=== Names === | === Names === | ||
Ask about names of people in your family. Was someone named after a particular relative? Why? Are certain names traditional in your family? (If so, they can give you clues to which names to look for later.) Is there a tradition about how people are named in your family (naming a child after a parent or grandparent, for instance). | Ask about names of people in your family. Was someone named after a particular relative? Why? Are certain names traditional in your family? (If so, they can give you clues to which names to look for later.) Is there a tradition about how people are named in your family (naming a child after a parent or grandparent, for instance). | ||
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== Keep Good Notes == | == Keep Good Notes == | ||
== Rules of the Road == | As you find information, be sure to take good notes about what you have found. The [[Document_AS_YOU_GO!]] article has some good suggestions for how to do this. Experienced researches find it helpful to keep research logs which record: | ||
*what records you searched | |||
*what information you were looking for | |||
*where the records were found | |||
*when you were doing the search | |||
*what information you located (or didn't locate) | |||
Recording this same kind of information when you're just starting out will pay big dividends later in avoiding repeated effort, sorting our questions, and explaining your conclusions to others. | |||
As you think of ideas of other places to look or things to do, write them down in a To Do list. Then, when you put down your project and pick it up later, you'll have the benefit of youru previous thinking to get you started again. | |||
== Organize Your Information == | |||
Genealogy work is a lot like putting together a giant jig saw puzzle. As you're getting started, you will be looking at bits of pieces of information you will be putting together over time. It's helpful to gather the information together in ways that will aid you in refining and improving your information as you find additional puzzle pieces. | |||
=== Filing Systems === | |||
Develop some kind of filing system which will grow with you as your research expands. When you first get started simple box, notebook, or portable filing cabinet will probably be sufficient. Later these may expanded to larger filing systems or collections of notebooks. The [[Organizing_Your_Files]] is a good article about a system for organizing your files. Although that system may be more involved than what you need when you first get started, its good to keep in mind where you may eventually be headed. | |||
=== Computer Programs === | |||
Computer programs can be helpful in organizing the information you have found, locating previous notes, and documenting how you determined the places and dates you have decided upon. It is helpful to make connections between your paper files and computer files so that you can related these two records. The [[PAF_and_Other_Genealogy_Software]] and [[PAF_and_Other_Genealogy_Organizers]] | |||
== Rules of the Road == | |||