I'm hoping you are enjoying your genealogy work. Sometimes we hit a standstill and other times we hit a gold mine. I really enjoy it when I hit the gold mine! There are so many places on the internet and also in genealogical libraries to do your research. On my father's side of the family I have traced the family back to the early 1500 in the US. My mother's side of the family I have been able to trace it over to Europe. I started to learn Danish so I could do some Danish research, but that hasn't gone real well!! It's my fault in that I haven't stuck with it. Anyway, I hope you are feeling excited about the results you have been finding and you are well on your way to maybe printing a book about your family.

With summer here, it is easier to meet with relatives, visit cemeteries, etc. and do your family tree research. Most of us have a yearly family get together which makes it loads of fun to check with your relatives and urge them to give you some more family history. It is really important to get all the information you can from elderly family members, because once they are gone all the information they have will be lost, unless they have put it down on paper somewhere. Going to cemeteries and getting information from the headstones is more interesting if you don't have snow on the ground or rain pouring down on you, so the summer months is the best time to visit the cemeteries. Another source of important information is the Family Bible. Births, marriages, deaths, etc. are entered there and can help tremendously in the information you just may be looking for.

How is your genealogy search doing? I am having a wonderful time with mine. I get so excited each time that I start working on it. I'm finding new leads every day and enjoying reading about the life of my ancestors. Sometimes I find pictures, other times I am just able to find dates or read about them, but all in all it is still exciting!

I have discovered a new way to put your family tree online and it is free of charge. You may want to check it out. It is: www.tribalpages.com

Be sure to keep record of the source of your information that you find. Keep the name of the book or article, the date, the author, the page number where the information is found. At first it may not seem like a big deal, but as you find more and more information, it will serve you well to have that available.

Exciting Family Tree Fun!

I have subscribed to Ancestry.com and even though the cost is more than I wanted to pay, I have been having so much fun with my family tree. Once you start up your family tree on the Ancestry website, your tree starts showing little green leaves that circle around and then finally come to a standstill. When they stop circling that means that somewhere in the Ancestry website information they have found information on the name that has the green leaf. You then click on the leaf and it brings up all the information that they have located. It may be a death record with SSI or War Records or even another family tree posted by another individual. You can then attach that information to your family member name. I have found parents names of ancestors so far back I hadn't even gotten that far back in my family tree. This is exciting!!!!

Getting Started

So hopefully now you are ready to get started on your "Family Tree". What are the steps involved in climbing up that family tree? Here are a few suggestions that can help you along the way.

1. Find a good genealogy software program if you plan on putting your information on the computer. There are a number of them available. You need to decide if you want to pay big bucks and get one that does everything for you, or if you want to start out with very minimal output of your dollars. Here are some suggestions for you to check out: a.) PAF (Personal Ancestral Files) is probably the most inexpensive program you can purchase. I believe it costs around $5-$10. This is a program put out the LDS Church (which by the way is into genealogy BIG TIME!) You can locate this online and then download the program. b.) Generations Family Tree by Sierra is also an excellent program (will cost you more money but well worth the investment). Do a Google search and see what other programs are out there and read the information on them and then make your decision as to which program seems to fit your needs the best.
2. If you can afford to purchase a subscription to "Ancestry.com" this would be well worth the money also. There are several other genealogy programs online, but most of them aren't as big and well known as "Ancestry.com". They have less expensive sign-up fees though and if your money is limited, they would be better than nothing.
3. Okay - lets get started in getting that information. a.) Start with yourself and put down everything about yourself, ie. birthdate, spouse name, marriage date, baptismal info., children, parents, etc. b.)Now you are ready to move up the "tree". List all the information about your parents and your siblings. c.) Now move up to your grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc. d.) Then your great grandparents, and you are on your way to the top of your "Family Tree".
4. Here are a few genealogy helps online that don't charge to access their information: a.) www.cyndislist.com; www.ancestorhunt.com; www.rootsweb.ancestry.com; www.familysearch.org; www.ancestralfindings.com; www.olivetreegenealogy.com; http://usgenweb.com. That should give you an excellent start when you need to start doing some research on your family.
5. Be sure to look for census records, death records, marriage records, military records and social security records.
6. You are now well on your way to climbing up your "Family Tree". I wish you an exciting and invigorating hobby that you can continue to work on throughout your lifetime!

CEMETERY INFORMATION:



When walking through a cemetery and looking at the headstones, you will notice quite a few different epitaphs/abbreviations on the headstones. This can tell you about your ancestors and there is also some fantastic information included on some of the headstones. For example: One cemetery I was walking through had the following information included on the headstone.

"Born in Arnsfeld, Prussia. She endured mistreatment from Russians at the end of WWII, from which she suffered the rest of her life. An accomplished horsewoman."

Another headstone stated: "Mother of 13".

Here's a good one: "A pioneer, the 1st settler in Lane County - 1846"

This is downright exciting!!! You can find all kinds of things about people - just by reading what is written on their headstone.

Some headstones include the branch of the service they were in, their rank, etc. Other headstones include the date married, the names of their children, the names of their parents, their spouse, whether they are a member of IOOF, a Woodsman of the World, etc.

One of my hobbies is to walk through cemeteries, write down the information on the headstones and then put that information into a paperback book. I then make these books available for sale, at a small price. If you are interested in these books, you can email me at: kbcreat@qwest.net

YOUR ANCESTORS

FUN WITH YOUR ANCESTRY

Just recently I had an experience that made me get excited all over again about checking into my ancestry. I knew that my grandfather was a personal secretary to Gen. John Pershing in WWI. He did all kinds of neat things - ie. sending messages via the little white flags that you wave around in the air, etc. He rode his horse alongside the general and was Gen. Pershing's "right hand" man. What got me all excited was that I didn't know that Gen. Pershing wrote a book about his experiences in the war. When I discovered that - I wanted to know if my grandfather was mentioned in this book. So here I am really anxious to get to the library and find this book and start reading it. This is just one of the fun and exciting things that will help you learn more about your ancestors.

Do you know something special that one of your uncles, aunts, grandparents, etc. have done? Maybe you don't know all the information concerning that something special. If they are still living, get in contact with them and pick their brain as to all the different aspects of this very special thing that happened to them. Be sure to take a tape recorder or your computer and get everything they say recorded somewhere. You may be surprised and possibly excited about your newest information. Be sure to document where/who you got the information from.

Then if you are into the groove of writing books, articles, etc. make a family book and let all your relatives know what you have found out about your ancestors.


YOUR GENEALOGICAL SEARCH

Here are a few ways that you can search for your ancestors and have fun at the same time:

1. Visit cemeteries and find the headstone/inscription of your ancestors. Be sure to take a picture!
2. Visit a local Genealogical Society and possibly become a member.
3. Plan a family reunion and have a blast chatting and visiting about your ancestors.
4. Visit a local LDS Genealogical Library and search their records.
5. Do a google search for the surname of your ancestor.
6. Search online for social security numbers of deceased relatives.
7. Search online for military records.
8. Search online for baptismal records.
9. Visit museums and look for your ancestors name and possibly an invention by your ancestor.
10. Plan to visit with a relative (ie. great aunt, cousin, etc.) that spent time with your ancestor and tape record the stories that they are able to tell about your ancestor.
11. Search online for an obituary of your ancestor. Obituaries contain a lot of great information.

Hopefully this will help you in your genealogical search and let you have some fun at the same time.