Do you know the names of all four of your grandparents? What about your eight great-grandparents? (Did you know you have eight great-grandparents?) Do you know what your last name means or if you were named after an uncle or a grandmother?
If you’ve always wanted to find out more about your family history but thought it would be too hard–or you don’t know where to start–here are a few easy ways to get going from the experts at Ancestry.
1. Start a Family Tree
There’s a practical reason for starting a family tree: it’s a great way to organize lots of information and see it at a glance. A tree gives you a visual image of family relationships, but it also gives you a place to record all the facts you learn about a person as you learn them. You can build an online tree at Ancestry and attach records, pictures, and even audio and video.
2. Interview a Relative
Memories are perishable resources. Older members of your family have stories, knowledge, and insights you’ll find nowhere else. They’ve known people, lived through events, attended gatherings, heard tales, and seen things that you never will—and all that can be lost if you don’t get it recorded or written down. You can find a free list of interview questions in the Ancestry Learning Center.
3. Write Down What you Know
Your history begins with you. Don’t you wish your grandmother had written down where she was born, the games she liked to play as a child, who her friends were, where she went to school, or what her first date was like? Start with yourself and things you remember. You’ll provide details about your life that can come from nobody else, and you’ll also start coming up with questions you want to research—or ask you mom, dad, or grandparents about.
4. Take a DNA Test
Ready to apply cutting-edge science to your family history? A DNA test will provide an estimate of your ethnic origins and can connect you with living cousins. AncestryDNA can even combine DNA testing with 65 million online trees to help you find relatives back into the 1700s. DNA testing is turning out to be a favorite, and successful, approach for adoptees looking for members of their birth family. Read more about AncestryDNA
5. Search the 1950 census
It’s estimated that 87 percent of Americans have an ancestor in the 1940 U.S. Federal Census. That makes it a great place to start your search for your parents or grandparents. The 1940 census will give you names, ages, birthplaces, and occupations, but just as important, the census indicates family relationships. You can search the 1950 census for free on Ancestry.
6. Make a Timeline
Timelines are a great way to keep track of details in an ancestor’s life. And, as a bonus, they’ll help you follow your ancestors’ migratory habits, link your relatives to historical events, and quickly show you what you know and what you still need to find out. Timelines are easy to create; pencil and paper or a word-processing program are all you really need. Start by gathering names, dates and place. You can download a free PDF on creating timelines from the Ancestry Learning Center.
What will you discover? Start a 14-day free trial of Ancestry today.