Getting Started

Most of us, at some time in our lives, are intrigued by family stories and where we came from. Maybe the memory of the smell of your grandmother's warm cinnamon rolls make you wonder who taught her how to make them. Or maybe as you've gotten older, your laugh reminds you of your Uncle Johnny...you know, the loud, crazy one who scared you to tears when you were little, and who you grew to adore.

The secret to beginning family history is to just get started with what you have. Maybe that's documents or photos, or your aunt's family Bible. Or maybe all you have to start with are memories or stories you've heard. No matter what you start with, the key is to start...today.

Do a little bit of research and decide which family tree organizational software makes most sense to you. When I last looked, the five top ranked were:

Legacy Family Tree
Family Tree Maker
RootsMagic
The Master Genealogist
Ancestral Quest

I, personally, chose to use Family Tree Maker because I have a membership to Ancestry.com, and Family Tree Maker will sync with the website automatically. This saves me an enormous amount of time!

After you've chosen, purchased, and downloaded your software, sit down and get familiar with it. Start with yourself and add as much information as you can think of. After that, pull out any records or photos you might have and see what else you can add. Make sure you cite all sources you use, even if it's your own knowledge or a date on the back of a photo. Let whoever might see the information you're recording know where you got the information.

Now it's time to decide how you want to start searching for the rest of your family history. I'll be honest, I only used free online resources until very recently. There are so many places you can research your family for free! Just Google "free family history records," and you will be amazed by what you can find. After literally almost 20 years, I finally decided to pay for a subscription service to Ancestry.com to help me further my research.

If you're not ready to jump into hunting down records, names and places, then start writing your family history. The easiest place to start is with your own personal history. There are resources online that will give you a checklist of things you might want to include, but my suggestion (as always) is just start writing. You can start with your birth, your earliest childhood memory, or your most special experience. It really doesn't matter where you start, you just need to start!

I keep all my family history files on my computer, and I realize I'm probably playing with fire. With the ability to create documents that are stored online, whether it's in a "Cloud" or a Google document or whatever, there is no reason to take a chance of losing your work. If you don't know how to use those resources, please save your work on a removable thumb drive or something like that. I plan to write more about how to get all your work on the internet so you don't have to worry about losing anything permanently. That will be a later post...

So, that's it! Just get started :)

 

Meet Shannon

Like everyone else, I have a story. I grew up in the rural, southern United States, and married the love of my life when I was only 19 years old. I don't think many people believed we would stay together, but decades later my heart still skips a beat when he walks into the room. We have been blessed with three daughters and three sons. They are the light of our lives.

Life has taken us to so many parts of the country, and the world! Now our older children are spreading their wings and creating their own stories. There are few things that bring me more joy than watching them learn, experience, and grow.

I consider my family members who have gone before me, and I wonder if they could have imagined us. Did they think about what their family would be like in the year 2013? I tell their stories to my children, and we learn from their lives and experiences...some good, and some not so good. When I look at their faded photographs, I can sometimes see my children in their eyes. I am so thankful to be part of such a wonderful, diverse family.

This blog is a labor of love. My purpose is to help you find your family, encourage you to record your story, and hope you enjoy the adventure. If you have specific questions, please feel free to email me. I will do my best to get you answers.

Shannon

My family