I remember back in school that they would have you do your family tree. You’d generally only go back a couple of generations. However, as I have gotten older the family tree has really intrigued me. There are times that I will get going down a branch and get “lost” in the branch.
Do you know where your grandparents are from? How about your great-grandparents? Now can you go back further than that? Depending on the branch, I can go quite a few generations back. I did a report last night on myself and went back 20 generations.
If you do genealogy, what program do you use? What sites do you use to do your research?
For me, I want to do the majority of my research on the computer and for free. There is enough out there to get a really good start. Then some in person searching along with talking to your family members, especially the older ones. You never know what people other people know.
When you go to Ancestry.com, you can search for free. However, if you plan on clicking on the information, you are going to have to pay for that. You can visit them here:https://bit.ly/33l7J1H. I do use Ancestry for a lot of my searching. In fact, if you use Family Tree Maker, a lot of hints will pull in from Ancestry and not cost anything. Now, it doesn’t do it automatically, you are able to go through and compare the information to see if the match is correct or not.
Another website that I use is familysearch.org and this is completely free! It is through the Genealogical Society of Utah. According to their website they were founded in 1894 and now operate as FamilySearch International. This is the genealogical arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One day I will go out to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah in person and do some research. However, before going I will need to make sure I know who I am researching. They do have 4,600 local family history centers around the globe.
Find-a-grave is another free website that you can do research on. This will pull up information and sometimes pictures of gravesites. Information contained in the database relies on people going out and photographing the gravesite and uploading it. Any further information is tied together from the volunteer. Some of which is received from the cemetery. Here you will be able to search by cemetery or by person. It’s a great resource: www.findagrave.com.
Coming up on Sunday, August 11th is the 101st Robinson reunion in Ada, Michigan. This is the oldest continually running family reunion in the state of Michigan. The great thing about going to family reunions is that you can get the family tree updated and current. So, if there are new births, deaths, marriages, divorces, information of any kind, you can update your family tree. I will be taking my laptop. Also, one thing that I know that I have to get better at, is getting together with family outside of family reunions. I say it every year and need to set a date this time and that is to get together with a cousin that has the complete family tree on her computer and compare files. I will get that done.
What last names are you searching for? What years? Have you connected with other genealogy groups? Have you done a search on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter? We have so many avenues to search. Here are a few surnames that I have in my family tree that I like to do research on:
- Rindhage
- Opitz
- Robinson
- Harrigan
- Cooper
- Lefler
- Mowbray
- Gross
- Parmalee
- MacKay
- Clarke
- Pickle
- Griffeth
- O’Grady
If you come across the same surnames in your family tree, we might connect. Connections are fun.
Happy family tree searching.