Each of us at least once thought about a story of its own kind. Perhaps right now it is worth acting – to learn about your ancestors, distant and close relatives. And “Genealogy Simple” will try to help you with this.
We offer 12 steps to help you conduct an effective genealogical study of your own family
- First you need to systematize the information you know (create a diagram or write down your ancestors, starting with the younger ones). Record information in one of the specialized programs, for example, “Family Tree Builder”. This can be done on paper, but the program is much more convenient.
- Ask what the parents know.
- Browse family archives – gather information about the dates and places of birth of your relatives and make copies of the preserved documents.
- Browse through family photo albums and write back information.
- Record family stories about your race. Record all family legends and legends as well.
- Define a list of those you can still ask – siblings, cousins, second cousins, sisters of your grandparents.
- Contact relatives who also study the pedigree. By joining forces, you will achieve the result faster.
- Further searches should continue in the archives. The main archives in which information on the settlement is stored are regional. Find out which territorial units the settlement previously belonged to, information on it for different periods can be stored in different archives.
- Before going to the archive, you should find out the answers to the following questions (the first two are especially critical): where did the ancestors live? what faith? what state were the ancestors (peasants, bourgeois, odnodvoryati, military, office workers, nobles)? Without an answer to the first question, it is generally impossible to start a search. After all, documents are formed on a geographical basis. Without an answer to the second question, the range of documents can be quite wide. The answer to the third question will make it possible to understand in which other documents besides metric books and confessional murals you can search for your ancestors.
- On the first trip to the archive you need to take a passport and write a statement addressed to the director.
- If there are few documents in the regional archives, you can try to search for documents in the village itself.
- Chat in genealogy forums where you can be helped in case of difficulty. Also look for information about relatives on genealogy sites such as “Memorial” – a generalized data bank containing information about participants in World War II.
The process of researching a pedigree is lengthy and requires a lot of effort. This is not just an interview with older relatives, albums with old photographs have been revised, all related documents have been collected, as well as endless hours of work in the archives and the creation of a single story that will combine individual disparate facts into a fascinating multi-part film called “My Family Tree”. However, the result is worth the effort.
Good luck in finding.
