Aunt Marge used to say that her great-great-grandfather was second-cousin to Abraham Lincoln, and your Uncle Joe knows that there is more than one Revolutionary War hero in your family tree. Meanwhile, your grandmother is certain that your family is descended from Russian princes. Have you ever wondered if any of these old family stories are true?
Tracing your family's roots can be a complex and time-consuming task. In the past, the painstaking research and detailed record keeping have kept many people from pursuing genealogy, or forced them to hire expensive professionals.
Computers and the Internet have helped to change all that, by making resources readily available and simplifying the record-keeping process. Thanks to technology, genealogy is quickly becoming one of the most popular--and most rewarding--hobbies around.
Organizing information
Amateur and professional genealogists alike have benefited from the development of specialized software that can help you organize your research. A good genealogy program will help you:
- Keep records.
- Sort and search for information.
- Check for errors.
- Produce and print a variety of detailed reports, charts, and family trees.
- Create a scrapbook .
- Upload your research to the web.
- Decide which direction your research should pursue next .
For the novice, many programs offer instruction in the basics of genealogical research--like how to cite your sources and what methods to use to track your ancestors. In general, genealogical software reduces the amount of time you have to spend on paperwork, leaving you free to pursue the fun stuff--finding those elusive branches of your family tree!
Genealogy online
You've searched for years in libraries and genealogy clubs for clues about your great-great-grandmother's parents. Frustrated, you turn to the Internet. Two weeks after posting a message to a bulletin board on a genealogy Web site, you get an e-mail from someone across the country who has the information you need. You now have the missing piece you've been seeking for years!
The biggest boon for genealogists in recent years has been the rise of Internet communications. Vast resources of genealogical data are now available to family history hunters with the click of a mouse.
- Online databases offer quick access to genealogical resources such as census reports, immigration records, and birth and death indexes. They can't tell you everything about your ancestors, but they can provide a good starting point for further research.
- Search engines like Excite or Yahoo!, along with specialized search tools for genealogists, can turn up links that lead you to missing ancestors or reference materials you might have otherwise overlooked.
- Electronic bulletin boards and mailing lists serve as forums where you can swap information with other genealogists, or share experiences and advice with others pursuing their own family histories.
- E-mail makes it even easier to contact potential sources, or keep in touch with family members and other genealogists pursuing similar family lines.
Many genealogical sites on the Web offer a combination of these services, along with tips and tricks to get you started on your family search. More than just information repositories, sites like Ancestry.com, Family Search, and RootsWeb support bustling online communities where you can share the company of other family genealogists. You can even put up your own Web page so you can publish your results to share with your family or the world.
Armed with tools to quickly track down information, and the software to keep track of what you find, there's nothing stopping you from starting your own family history exploration. Who knows what surprises you'll find hiding in your family tree!
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