In my previous interview with Adel Firth-Mason, we learned of her passion for delving into the past of her family. If you missed the interview just click here to read Genealogy – Growing Your Family Tree.
Now Adel shares with us her tips on starting the journey of discovery and growing your family tree.
Start the discussion
Speak to family members and talk about their memories from childhood, and stories from their own parents and grandparents.
Become a Super Sleuth
Obtain transcriptions or certificates of great grandparents and earlier (or more recent if you have no details) that will provide dates of events, and other information such as places of birth, names of children, parents’ names, etc.
Check Births, Deaths and Marriages online for years of events and districts (free for some states in Australia and a record can be purchased online from some states).
FamilySearch is also a free site especially useful for overseas Births, Deaths & Marriages (BDM) from early times. It is associated with the Latter Day Saints Church (as is Ancestry).
There is a privacy period, so most recent records might not be available, but for those who could vote in Australia in 1977: you will be there in the electoral rolls, and perhaps the marriages of your parents (in BDM online).
Check the TROVE site which allows you to view early newspapers and publications by typing in key words (it’s free). Type in WW1 and WW2 into your search engine for names of those who served, and view their records.
Utilise Social Media
Check Family History in locations on Facebook. Join Facebook groups – type in genealogy or DNA or family history, or Ancestry, or Family Tree, etc, and you will find a fantastic number to go through. Google is great for finding information too.
Subscribe to Genealogy Groups
If you can afford to, pay a subscription to one of the leading genealogy groups e.g. Ancestry, and/or Scotlands People, etc (depending on country of interest).
Always double-check information provided with a secondary source if you can, as sometimes information can be incomplete e.g. a placename might only be the country of origin whereas another record will include the county, or it could be misspelt, or information might be omitted, and so on.
And Adel’s Main Tip?
Expect the unexpected! Be open to adventures that unravel and reconstruct the lives of your own ancestors, and of whose DNA you are made. Anticipate brick walls sometimes, but know there will be many times of revelation and excitement in the journey of finding out your own personal family’s past.
In the final post of this Genealogy series, Adel discusses DNA testing in your quest to find out where you came from.
Now time to use your investigative skills and start growing your family tree!
Let’s Keep Sizzling!
24 Comments
Already starting looking at Family Tree! Thank you for the resource!
Oh great Gigi! Next week DNA testing.
Oops, i mean Family Search!
I knew what you meant 🙂
I have always been fascinated by my predecessors and have been using Ancestry for a decade now. I cannot believe I’ve never heard of Trove before. I cannot wait to see what, if anything) I find awaiting me there!
Now back to the Blogger’s Pit Stop!
zoom zoom zoom!
Hi there! It can be addictive can’t it and you seem to have stuck with it for quite a while. Have you found any famous or infamous people in your past?
I’ve never been all that interested in my family’s background but I know my husband has an uncle who has gone back several generations and researched theirs. It’s a fascinating journey seeing where you sprang from and what their lives were like back then.
It is fascinating Leanne. Apparently I had some family who went to the US as Doctors during the Civil War and also one came to Australia and was in charge of the Women’s Prison on Maria Island in Tasmania.
Yes and it can be super time consuming! I think the complications of language have made it difficult for me to get that far, but my Sicilian family has done a lof of the work for me.
I know Carol, I left it to my two cousins and they are addicted. I would like to explore my husband’s family who are from Italy and the former Yugoslavia however I think the records would be a little ‘shaky’ because of the war.
This is great – my daughter wants to do this so I’m going to share the post with her! And Pinning! Thanks. Visiting from the Blogger’s Pit stop!
Oh great thanks Helen! It is interesting and would be lovely for you both to discover your heritage together. Thanks for visiting and also pinning, have a lovely day.
I can’t even tell you how much I have thought about doing this. I would love to learn more about my family tree.
I think many of us would like to Helene – finding the time is the problem as it can become quite addictive!
I love researching. My only regret slowing down when I started my family because so many family members died during that twenty years.
Yes that can be a problem Debbie as it is great to have first-hand knowledge. I’m a great believer in making sure I tell my kids things about their families now before I’m not around anymore. I’m sure you will get back into it and ancestry can certainly bring up some surprises. Thanks for stopping by and hope you visit again.
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I’ve researched quite a bit of my American ancestors but I haven’t found anything about them overseas although I’ve been told they came from Ireland, England, Germany and beyond. I also have Native American ancestry but difficult to find anything about them as well. Never heard of Trove or Family Search, will check them out. I saw you featured at Blogger’s Pit Stop and would like to invite you to join us at our Blogging Grandmothers Link Party every weekend.
Hi Michele how are you? Thanks for stopping by to comment and I’d love to join the Blogging Grandmothers Link Party. I’ll pop over now. x
I have done a lot of searching of my family tree. My grandparents on my mom’s side was easy but not on my dad’s side. Grandparents died when I was very young and they changed the spelling of their name. I might check one of the sites you suggest. Thanks for all of the ideas,
Bev
It can be addictive can’t it Bev? I hope you get some leads on your dad’s side to make your search complete.
My hubs is obsessed with his family tree. He’s chased his line back beyond Chaucer! How cool is that?
As for myself, my grandparents have kindly done most of the leg work for me. Then a year and a half ago I did the ancestry DNA lineage and curiously found that I am not Scottish as my geology has, and that I have no one form the Scot side in my ancestry bank…on my Scots side the closest relative I have is my first cousin, after that that surname diminishes….guess there’s a funny uncle somewhere along the line. 😉 So a new mystery for me to solve!
It is so interesting to learn but it can be very addictive as my family and friends who are really into Ancestory have found out! I have Scottish and Irish in my blood as well. Good luck with the new mystery – exciting!