Tip #2 - Beware of circular references
Tip #3 - DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT
Tip #4 - Give credit where credit is due
Tip #5 - Try to keep your hobby (fanaticism) in perspective
Tip #6 - Keep your emotional responses in perspective, too
Tip #7 - Organize your information
Tip #8 - Get family information from family members
Tip #9 - Spend your money slowly and wisely
Tip #10 - Be willing to share
Tip #11 - Patience is not only a virtue, but a requirement
Tip #12 - Pace yourself
Tip #13 - Sue's Tip - Respect the privacy of "living individuals"
Tip #14 - Another of Sue's Tips - Know where your data is going
Tip #1 - As I stated earlier, just because it's in print,
either on the internet or in a book, doesn't make the information correct. People can make mistakes (yes, Martha, me, too). I have found mistakes in transcribed information, and when I got a copy of the original document, it was easy to see why the mistake had been made, but I knew what I was looking for and the person transcribing the old handwriting interpreted it as best they could. A lot of people have spent literally hours trying to transcribe old documents, and the writing can be very hard to decipher. Take any information you find as only a possibility, until you find additional information to support or disprove it.[Top]
Tip #2 - Beware of circular references. By this I mean, you find someone who has information that you're looking for, and their references seem to be supportable - until you find out that their reference is to someone else's data, and the someone else has actually used YOUR data as a reference. Try to find out what documentation they have that supports the information you find.
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Tip #3 - DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT.
Whenever you do run across information, write down where you found it, i.e., book name, page number, author, website, URL, etc. It is really
frustrating to run across a piece of information, then try to remember where it was that you found it three months later. Remember when you had to write those research papers in school, and how you had to cite your references? It's not too much different from that, except you're not getting a letter grade on the results. The real test is how easy it is for you to put your hands on the documentation again. Make back-tracking easy on yourself, and at least write down minimal information so you can find the information again.
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Tip #4 - Give credit where credit is due. This is kind of like Tip #3, except it's more toward acknowledging the hard work of someone else. If you've gotten information from a family member, or have come across the information some other way, give credit to the person who made the information available and understandable. I know of a few people who are really upset by other people using the information that they have gathered, and claiming that
the information is a result of their own research. Guess what well of information just dried up? The sad part is that it's not only dried up for you, but for other people as well. And if anyone thinks that digging up this kind of information by yourself is easy, then you either haven't been doing this for very long, or you're really foolish. Do yourself, and others, a favor and acknowledge the work of someone else as the work of someone else.
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Tip #5 - Try to keep your hobby (fanaticism) in perspective. Not everyone in your family is going to be as enthralled as you are about your research. In fact, most of them might believe you're either a little touched in the head, or just plain nuts. And they probably don't want to hear (over and over and over) about what you've been able to unearth. When you see your listener's eyes begin to glaze over, it's time to shut up about the genealogy. Don't expect your family to be thrilled about what you find, either. I can say, with a great deal of certainty, that the majority of my own family sees no value in knowing about their genealogy (this has borne true in other branches of my Stark family, too). Whatever your reasons for researching your genealogy, keep in
mind that they are your own personal reasons, and a lot of people see absolutely no value whatsoever in what you're doing. Some people, for their own reasons, may object (strongly) to sharing information with you, too. Respect their reasons, whatever they are.
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Tip #6 - Keep your emotional responses in perspective, too.
You are going to find (lots of) information that conflicts with your own. So what? The person who gathered the information could have made a mistake, or (remember Tips #1 and #2) you might have made the mistake. In any event, it's not going to do you, or anyone else, any good to get mad or upset about conflicting information. You certainly don't want to ridicule someone else's work, just because it doesn't agree with your own. Let's suppose you find conflicting information, you write to them letting them know you
think they're a dummy, and make them mad. Then you learn they have more information than you, they were right, and you've just alienated someone who might have been able to help you. You've just made a dead end in your research, at least for a while. Keep an open mind about the information, be prepared to challenge it, but challenge it in a way that keeps dialogue going between you and whoever you're corresponding with. Keep in mind, too, that you could be wrong! Just because the information came from Aunt Martha doesn't mean that Aunt Martha was right, or that the person who wrote the book you used as a resource had their facts straight. Don't lose your emotional perspective.
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Tip #7 - Organize your information. It doesn't matter how you organize your research, just find some way to organize it. I've only been doing this for a short time, and I've already accumulated a lot of paperwork (who said that computers would do away with paper?). I bought myself a small filing box (you can get them in the office section of any department store or office supply store), a lot of tabbed folders, and some colored paper. I have my information sectioned, and use the colored paper to seperate different categories. This works for me. Another family member keeps his information in big, 3 inch binders (he has 40 of them). How you organize your information is going to depend on what is logical to you. The bottom line, though, is to get it organized in some way that is logical to you, so you can locate information when you want it.
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Tip #8 - Get family information from family members.
You have to start somewhere, right? Start with your own family. Get information from your parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents, and in-laws. They will probably be able to give you all of the initial information you need to get started. If your family is one that has a Bible that has been used to record births, deaths, marriages, and so on, even better. Copy the information and use that as your starting point. If you're really lucky, there's at least one person in your
family who is extremely organized and knows all of the birthdays of everyone in your family. You can use them as a starting point. Come up with a good sounding excuse, though. You don't want to have them thinking you're bonkers right away (see Tip #5). Find out, too, if there are any old letters from deceased family members that you can read. You can not only learn more about these people, but you might learn of family connections you didn't know of before.
If you have some family members who are up there in years, try to get some stories about the family. I can't speak for everyone, but learning about my ancestors from stories that I've gotten from my older family members are real treasures. It's also exciting to share those stories with others when you share your information. It seems to make the people more alive, and the information is no longer just dates and numbers, but real events that occurred in an ancestors life. Sometimes the stories will not reflect on your ancestors in a way that you like, or may raise some skeletons you don't want displayed. At that point, all I can offer is to follow your own convictions. Keep in mind, too, that there might be some painful memories
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Tip #9 - Spend your money slowly and wisely. (Boy, if my Dad could hear that one!) Not counting the computer that we already had, I've spent less than $50 on genealogy club memberships, copies, and research. I have over 1,300 individuals in my database. That works out to less than 4¢/person. What I have spent some money on is software for organizing my information. Anyone need a copy of the DOS version of Brother's Keeper? If you must spend money (HAVE I GOT A DEAL FOR YOU!!!), spend some time looking through the software links, and find a program that will do all of the things you want with the data you have. Join your local genealogical club (most will be tickled to have you), and use their resources (as a member, the resources are usually available at no cost to you). Check out your local library! The library I use on a regular basis has the indexes for all of the marriages from 1890-1940, and copies of all of the transcribed cemetery listings. Search the internet for names. You can find a lot of information (keep Tip #1 in mind). And it's all FREE!!! All it takes is a little of my time to go through the books and websites. Best of all, if I get a tickle from a wild hare, I can follow that tickle wherever it leads me, and it's not costing me anything but a little time, and I'm still learning something along the way. Use the free resources available.[Top]
Tip #10 -
Be willing to share.
Genealogy data is meant to be shared (my opinion). This is information about your family, both the family you were born into, and the family you've married into. Sharing the data you have will give you the opportunity to learn more about the individuals in your database, maybe get some pictures, make some new friends, and find relatives you didn't know you had. On the practical side, it can really save you some time! When I originally started doing this, it was to help an aunt organize her information. The original hand-written information she sent me contained less than 300 names (a lot of writing for her!). Today, we have over 1,300 names, and it's still growing. I didn't find all of these individuals myself - a great number were sent to me by people who found my information, and were willing to share to share the information they were able to gather. I've been lucky
to find people willing to do census lookups, and, in turn, have found information for other people. I've received most of the pictures I have of ancestors from people I've never met, but they found my information and were willing to share what they had. Sharing the family information, and finding relatives, is one of the things that makes this so much fun for me.[Top]
Tip #11 -
Patience is not only a virtue, but a requirement. You are going to need to be patient! If you're mailing off for information, it may take 6 weeks or more before you get anything back. And, don't be surprised if you get back a letter that says that the information you're looking for isn't available, can't be found, doesn't exist, etc. It can be frustrating, not only waiting, but not finding what you're looking for. It's going to happen. Shrug it off, and go on. If you share your information with someone else on the internet, be patient about seeing it get updated, posted, changed, etc.
The recipient could have received 60 names from someone else that they are trying to get updated or entered. And if you've just sent an additional 60 names, they now have 120 new names to add. Be patient.[Top]
Tip #12 - Pace yourself. Believe it or not, your search is going to take a lot of time. It takes time to go through records, books, websites, talking to people, etc (do you know how quickly three hours can pass in the library when you're looking through old newspapers??). When you get information about people, it takes time to enter the information into whatever form your database takes. If you're doing all of your records by hand, take time out to let your hand muscles relax. If you're keeping records in a computer, take a break every now and then. It is time-consuming, whichever method you're using. For example, it takes me about 3-5 minutes per person when adding people in my database. Once I get them typed in, I want to make sure that they are "linked" correctly, my references are correct, my spelling is correct, and so on. Now, multiply that time by 60 names, and you've got 3-5 hours of time sitting at the computer entering information. Don't try to do too much at any given time. Realistically, many of the people you may be entering are more than likely already deceased. They aren't going to care if it takes you a few days to get your database updated. And the living person who sent you the information needs to read Tip #11.[Top]
Tip #13 -
Respect the privacy of "living individuals". Ask permission to use their names and block ALL dates of living individuals on the net. If you're putting your GEDCOM file on the internet, use one of the programs on the Software page to "clean" your GEDCOM of living individuals information. If you're making reports to send to others, and your report software doesn't automatically "clean" the dates, export the data to a GEDCOM file, run one of the programs to "clean" it, then open a new file with your genealogy software with the "clean" GEDCOM to do your reports from. And when you are sharing your data, read Tip #14 before you send it. [Top]
Tip #14 - Know where your data is going. Sorry to say, there are people who write and ask, "send me your GedCom" on a certain family and not always for genealogical purposes. Make sure this person is actually a family member. You don't want someone to publish your work for $$$ or bother a living individual in your family. Find out what they have first: names, dates, etc. and correspond a few times before sending them your file. I don't begrudge anyone the opportunity to make a buck, but I don't appreciate someone gathering information to sell under false or misleading pretenses. I personally feel that family data should be freely available to family members, and I don't appreciate someone else taking my information, and information that family members have shared, and selling it to anyone else, when they have pretended to be "family". [Top]