Author: treesearchnz

One of the key facets of any genealogical investigation is the management of family records, whether in the form of old photographs, certificates and registrations (births, marriages and deaths), family correspondence and the like.

These will often be found tucked away ‘somewhere safe’, and rarely looked at. But to someone newly involved in researching their ancestry, they can be of enormous value.

It is of paramount importance that as much of this material as possible is preserved, not only for your own use as you dig up the roots of your tree, but for future generations as well.

The best (and most obvious) method is to scan such documents and store them on your computer. Depending on the amount of material involved, this could be quite a time-consuming process, but it will mean all of your precious documents will be more readily accessible. Another major advantage is that scanned documents are much easier to share amongst family members.

The usual format for scanned documents is as a pdf (portable document format), but photographs may be better saved as image files (jpg, png, etc).

Each scanned item should have a note attached to it explaining what it is, identifying the persons involved (in photographs, for example), dates and places if known (or at least an approximation if not).

The scanned documents should be stored in separate folders (by type) and then by family names and each should be clearly titled (document type, names and date) to assist in future location and identification.

Don’t forget to create backup copies (using USB memory sticks, for example), which can then be distributed amongst other family members and also stored safely elsewhere.

Finally, the original documents themselves, once identified and sorted, should also continue to be stored safely, in a place known to other family members.

By far the most important sources of knowledge of your family’s history are family members, usually grandparents (and if you’re lucky, great-grandparents). But too often, interest in your own genealogy does not arise until after these information sources are no longer around.

It is therefore of the utmost importance to seek out and record this knowledge while you can. Not only will you learn about names, places and relationship details, but even better, you will learn family stories and histories that enable the bare bones of the family genealogy to be fleshed out and brought to life.

Here are a few things you could do in order to start preserving this valuable ancestral information:

• Talk to the older generations of your family;
• Go through family photo albums and ensure you know who everyone is (too often names and dates are not recorded with these images) even if it’s just a matter of jotting down details on the reverse of the pictures themselves;
• If there is a tradition of recording important dates (births, marriages and deaths) in a family bible (or similar), then take note of this information and confirm where and how it all fits into the family’s history;
• Take an extra step and create a database of your known family history – from this you could rough out a family tree which could in turn become the starting point for future research.

treeSEARCH is always happy to provide advice or other assistance, so please don’t hesitate to contact us!

Many websites will allow you (for a fee) to build your family tree on-line. But once you have completed your tree, how do you then enable the content to be seen by your family members as a properly documented archive?

The answer is the Genealogy Report.

treeSEARCH can use the gedcom (GEnealogical Data COMmunication) file that can be generated and exported from your tree’s host website and from it create a lasting, easily-understood document outlining your family history.

The Report includes the following information in a clearly-presented, logical format:

• Paternal and maternal family trees (direct line);
• A detailed listing of everyone in your tree by generation (whether descendant, peer or ancestor), which includes key highlights (such as dates of birth, marriage and death, residence and occupation);
• Individual group family trees;
• Fully indexed and cross-referenced to show the relationship of each person to the Home person.

For more information, please use the Contact tab to send an email to treeSEARCH.

One of the more interesting occurrences you might find in a family tree is that of inter-marriage between relations, particularly cousins. This is a more common event than you might suspect, although usually the marriages are between more distant cousins, since in many places, a marriage between first cousins is either illegal or severely frowned upon (depending on your social status, of course!).

The classic example of such a marriage is that between Victoria (Queen of England) and the Prince Consort, Albert.

Victoria HANOVER, born in 1819, married Albert of SAXE COBURG GOTHA (also born in 1819) in London in 1840.

Victoria’s parents were Edward HANOVER and Victoria of SAXE COBURG SAALFELD.

Albert’s parents were Ernest of SAXE COBURG GOTHA and Louise of SAXE GOTHA ALTENBURG.

Victoria and Louise were sisters; so Victoria and Albert were first cousins – their respective mothers-in-law were also their aunts.

Inter-marriage is extremely common within royal houses – if you were to create a family tree for the English Royal Family, that single family tree would include all of the royal houses of Europe as far back as Charlemagne (742- 814)!

Discovering such relationships within your own tree can come as a surprise – as you are always working backwards through the generations, you may not realise that such a connection exists until a familiar name pops up when researching an earlier generation.

treeSEARCH can help researchers when they find themselves stuck (or up against the proverbial brick wall). So here are a few tips.

Let’s say you’ve found records for 2 or 3 people with the same name and birth year – how do you determine which one (if any) is your ancestor? The first thing to do is to trace each person through census records, and match the names with their families – this may provide a link with other known people in your family tree. Check occupations as shown in census records against a marriage certificate, for example. Check names of other members of the same family to again try and find matching links with known information.

Unable to find a birth record? In the UK, the registration of births was not made compulsory until 1875 – so look for parish records as well (if they are available). Always bear in mind that the name shown on a census may not be the same name as the birth record – sometimes a middle name was used, or a different version of the same name (Elizabeth/Bess/Liza; Helen/Ellen/Ellie; Jack/John; Mary/Maria, for example).

Can’t find an ancestor in the census or in electoral rolls? Check spellings and/or search using spelling variations, or search for parents, spouse or children.

The secret is to cross-reference your research as much as possible using the available information. If all else fails, treeSEARCH will be very happy to help!

Access the Contact tab to send an enquiry message to treeSEARCH.