It can be difficult to get started working on your genealogy research. New genealogists may not have a clue where to begin. It can be overwhelming to think about how many hours of research are ahead of you. Fortunately, the National Archives have created a Genealogy Tool Kit that can help you get started. The National Archives is the shortened version of the full name of the organization. The whole name is The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). This is the official archive of historical documents for the United States. Genealogists can access these records to learn more about … Continue reading →

Ready to start your own genealogy blog? There are plenty of good reasons to do it. Genealogists need to be careful not to steal content, or break copyright laws on their blog. It is also wise to make sure that your blog doesn’t contain information that can lead to identity theft. Many people think that the best way to start creating a brand new blog is to jump online, put together a WordPress blog, and think of a catchy title. In reality, your blogging experience will be much more successful if you take the time to think about what you … Continue reading →

There is a page on Facebook that is called “How to Trace Your Ancestors”. It seems to be designed to help new genealogists learn how to do some basic aspects of genealogy, how to get started, and what to do. A closer look at the links on the Facebook info page raise some questions about how good this really is for brand new genealogists. Genealogy is a hobby that is growing in popularity. As such, there seem to be new genealogy websites popping up all over the place. It isn’t unusual for these types of websites to try and attract … Continue reading →

Genealogy, like many other hobbies, has a bit of a learning curve to it. The first thing that new genealogists discover is that there is so much more for them to learn about genealogy. Before you get completely overwhelmed, you should check out the “New to Genealogy” website. You have to start somewhere. Even people who currently are professional genealogists were once beginners with genealogy. There is no reason why you cannot try your hand at genealogy. Don’t be intimidated by the fact that you are new to this hobby. All genealogists made some mistakes when they were new to … Continue reading →

Are you brand new to the exciting, and addicting, hobby of genealogy? There are a lot of people who think it would be fun to dabble in their family history, but who then do not know where to begin. Before you get overwhelmed, or confused, by all the resources that are online, read over this quick list of helpful hints for the beginning genealogist. A good way to get started is to find out what you already have. This will prevent you from wasting hours tracking down information that is already right there, in your own home. Gather together all … Continue reading →

It seems as though nearly everyone has a personal blog, and genealogists are no exception. All bloggers, no matter what their subject matter, need to be careful of things like copyright law and proper attribution. Think before you publish that blog post for the entire internet to see. You might be doing it wrong! Some will use their blog as a way to tell a story about the interesting things they discovered while doing genealogy research. Other genealogists want to use their blog as a place to collect information about their ancestors. It’s fine to tell your own stories about … Continue reading →

If you are just starting out on your genealogy journey, you may be tempted to jump right in and start looking through records in search of your ancestors. There is a very important first step that you should take before that, though. That step is simply to check and see what research has already been done. This very first step of the beginning genealogist’s journey may sound unremarkable, but it can actually get you to the “good stuff” sooner than if you skip it and start from scratch. There is a good chance that you are not the first person … Continue reading →

If you enjoy doing genealogy research but you wonder what kinds of things you can do with the information that you have diligently been digging up, you may want to put your research on hold for a bit and try doing a genealogy-related project. Creating a family tree to display in your home or give as a gift is a popular genealogy project, as are genealogy scrapbooks and written family histories. There are plenty of products that are available to help you get started on any of these three projects. There is a huge selection of beautiful family tree templates … Continue reading →

Genealogy is no longer something done by retired people, as a way to pass the time. It’s become quite popular in the last few years. You wouldn’t think that a hobby that involves looking for names, dates, and records would be something that a lot of people would find interesting, and yet, it is. This is due to a variety of reasons, all put together. Part of what is making genealogy so popular is it’s accessibility. Want to start looking up records that connect to your ancestors? There are several genealogy websites that you can choose from, and become a … Continue reading →

It can be intimidating to start working on the genealogy of your family. The sheer amount of data you would need to track down, gather, and make sense of can feel really overwhelming to a new genealogist. Before you start wondering about just how many hours you will be required to devote to your new obsession.. I mean hobby… you need to understand something. You probably know more about your relatives and ancestors than you think you do. People who are new to something tend to make the kind of mistakes that are not made by those who have a … Continue reading →