Remember reading lists assigned over the summer back in school? Well, here’s a genealogy assignment for you.
Beginners: If you are new to genealogy or think it might be fun to figure out who your ancestors are, your assignment is an easy one. Start by making a family tree. List your parents including their birth dates, birth places, and mother’s maiden name. Then list their parents with birth dates, birth places, and your grandmothers’ maiden names if you can find out. That’s the starting point for the next step – search census records for each of these people on www.ancestry.com/.
Intermediates: Access www.ancestry.com to locate each of your ancestors back to 1850. By starting with the 1940 U.S. census and working backward through 1930, 1920, etc., collect information about their birth dates, birth places, occupations, property ownership, immigration status, marriage status, and more. Record the information on Family Group Sheets.
Advanced: You have the census records showing age and location for everyone in your family tree back to 1850 including brothers and sisters. Now you’re ready search other records. www.ancestry.com has digital death indexes for several states. Use the “Card Catalog” and enter keyword “Death Certificate.” Ancestry.com also has marriage records for most states and even divorce records for some states. These records can provide specific birth and death dates and locations. The free website www.findagrave.com can lead you to the specific burial location. This website also frequently includes additional family information, links and photographs. Be sure to update the information you find in these records on your Family Group Sheets and note the source where you found the information.
~ Carol Cooke Darrow, CG, is a member of the Colorado Genealogical Society.