Getting Started
Tracing your ancestry can be a very long, time-consuming
process, so before launching into the project it is important to
take some preliminary steps:
- Decide which line of your family you wish to trace: it is easy
to be sidetracked by coming across records of other branches of the
family, or unrelated families of the same name, and so waste time
and effort.
- Organise your research and decide on your aim.
- Get ALL the information you can from members of your own family
- names, dates and places. Even if some of this information proves
not to be accurate, it can often provide useful clues or pointers
in the right direction.
- Read one of the many guides to family history research which
are now available.
- Try to find out whether anyone else has done work on your
particular family. The best way to do this is to contact your local
Family History Society; most Societies keep a register of their
members' interests.
Useful Links
Websites with useful information and tips include:
Ask The Family
Websites with useful information and tips include:
Join a Family History Society and check whether research has
already been done
For general advice and contact details:
For an online searchable database of research into names and to
register your own research:
General Genealogy Websites
