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In this article I’m going to share with you my Ultimate Beginners Guide to Professional Genealogy Research Online.
In this post I am focusing exclusively on genealogy research online. This is a beginners article designed to help you start organizing, strategizing, blueprinting, and masterminding your genealogy research online, as well as introducing you to more advanced ideas.
I am not discussing how to research in libraries, churches, archives, historical societies, etc. (all the non-internet stuff), although they are an important subset of genealogy research proper.
Just know that there is a wealth of information out there that is NOT on the web, what percent I cannot tell you but I bet it is well over 50% (and shrinking everyday). Let’s jump right in and get you some strategies and best practices straight away.
INTRODUCTION
Before we begin, let’s look at the term genealogy and its associated sibling family history. For the lay person the terms are interchangeable; however, there are slight semantic differences worth mentioning. Generally speaking, GENEALOGY predominantly deals with dates and names; FAMILY HISTORY is a slightly wider net that deals with the stories behind the dates and names.
So, for example, say you have an ancestor who was born in Virginia in 1840 and later died in Tennessee in 1890.
In terms of your GENEALOGY, you might identify this person as your great-grandfather b.1840, m. 1860, and d.1890 along with information about his mother and father as well as any siblings you might find on a census.
In terms of your FAMILY HISTORY you might start asking the following questions:
“Why did he leave Virginia?” “And why did he end up in Tennessee?” Digging a bit deeper into history you might also surmise that he was 21 years old at the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, and ask: “Did he fight in the Civil War?” “Which side did he fight for, knowing that Tennessee is known as the Volunteer State?”
You might have a juicy story on your hands!!!
1. BEING A GENEALOGY RESEARCH ONLINE “SOURCE HOUND”
The wonderful thing about being a researcher in modern times is that we have that thing that people all over the world are utilizing right now to read articles such as this, it’s called “the internet.” You might have heard of it, you may be on it right now.
You should aspire to be a SOURCE HOUND and always know what sources are out there, both on and off the net. Also know that sources, especially the smaller ones, come and go. Through constant research and organizational techniques you will be constantly up to date on where to find information.
Now, let’s subdivide that packing crate, so to speak.
• Big and Small Sources
Break your internet sources down into BIG and SMALL sources.
The BIG sources are the obvious and ubiquitously popular genealogy websites such as Ancestry and Family Search; your big sources should be those sites which you use frequently as your primary genealogy research online sites. So if you ask yourself: “I wonder if my ancestor came through Ellis Island?” The sites that you would immediately jump to in order to start a basic search, they would be your big sources.
Other BIG sources that I use are specific Rootsweb pages and FindAGrave.
Many big sources such as Ancestry require a subscription, the fantastic thing about Family Search is that it is completely free and many of the records they have at Ancestry are actually outsourced from them! Not to say that Ancestry is useless, both have elements that the serious genealogist/family historian needs, as evidenced by the fact that I pay for an Ancestry subscription myself. Best place to start for free is Family Search.
SMALL sources are those sites that you might visit to find out more specific information about an ancestor once you have a general, genealogical profile created for them. Once you’ve found basic BMD information for example, you might try and search for land records or wills at a state or county archive, a genealogical society, or a family-run website.
Small sites can often lead to the discovery of a will, a deed, or any other document that has verifiable information and can furnish documentary proof about an event or vital statistic. Once you’ve exhausted leads on BIG sites, hit the SMALL ones. It’s kinda like shopping! If you don’t find what you are looking for in Macy’s, head over to a small couture shop.
On to a new question:“I wonder if my ancestor fought in the Civil War?”
• Examples of Big and Small Sources
A BIG site like Fold3 might help to document (or prove) that question via a Civil War muster roll, duty records, or a U.S. Southern Claims Commission record. Other great big sources that I use are The Library of Virginia and The National Archives; there are literally hundreds of BIG sites out there!
From BIG to SMALL. The best place to search out these smaller sites is the “big” site Family Search Wiki page or just a general Google search! (HINT: Ancestry’s search engine isn’t the best, one of my secrets is to just search Google when Ancestry doesn’t give me what I’m looking for. More often than not I score!)
SMALL sources would include the literally thousands of websites run by individuals or family collectives who compile and publish their personal findings on the internet. Such examples would be Family History Associations, Family Genealogy sites, State land records, County Courthouses, County or State Historical Societies, RootsWeb pages dedicated to a specific family line, etc., which are usually run by one or a few people.
Some of the best information can be found in Historical Societies and County Courthouse records maintained by a County Clerk, although not all of them have all of their records available online.
While these SMALL sites are great, take everything they publish with a grain of salt and make sure you document everything on your end! In fact, any well-constructed site will have some sort of disclaimer about the authenticity and accuracy of their information! There are a lot of well-intentioned people out there, just remember genealogy research online is about being a part of a community.
A great example of a disclaimer is found on the old Powell family webpage:
“I do not guarantee all of the information in this tree is accurate. I have visited many online family trees and ran across things that don’t quite match up. I would have no idea how to verify who’s [sic] information is accurate and who’s [sic] is wrong. I will be happy to change any inaccurate information if provided the proof. A lot of people have done quite a bit of research and I am one of many who are very appreciative.”
• TOP TIP 1 (Staying Organized in Genealogy Research Online)
Since you will be conducting genealogy research online, you must stay organized. I would suggest implementing a simple bookmarking system by creating folders within your internet browser (using the bookmark function) and then add each website that you find useful into that folder.
A TOP TIP that I use is to subdivide the folder with separators (dividing lines) which makes it easier to go back and visually sort through the over 50 bookmarked small sites I have! I also have to say that the small sites are the most fun sites.
I once found out that one of my ancestors founded his own town in 1879! It is now abandoned and on a site dedicated to ghost towns in the U.S. and Canada. Check out a small cross section of my internet browser bookmarks folder.
• The Time Frame for Genealogy Research Online
Lastly, in being a source hound always remember to pay particular attention to the TIME FRAME of the information for which you are searching.
The farther you go back in time the amount of available records decreases; naturally, this increases the difficulty in documentation as well as increases the need for more advanced research techniques. The more records there are the easier it is to corroborate facts; the less records there are the more difficult it gets.
Let’s break this down.
• THE 1900s. If you are searching for information on an ancestor in the early 1900s it should be relatively easy, there should be a few large sites where that can get you that genealogical information.
• THE 1800s. If you are searching between 1880-1900, your search should be fairly easy and there should be a bunch of sites, both large and small, to assist you.
• THE 1860s AND 1870s. From 1860-1880, it might take a bit more research savvy on your part, but not impossible. There are a lot of easily-accessible records on many of the big sites to be found, for example, with census records.
• THE EARLY 1800s. Once you breach 1850, things get a bit hairy! Researching from 1800-1850 in the US will require the use of more small sources and you may now have to add in non-internet sources at this point. It all depends on your family history, some lines are better documented than others, but hey, that’s why you’re here!
• THE 1700s. Going back before 1790 (the first US Census) gets kind of tricky. Even the first US Census is not that revealing in terms of vital statistics, it wasn’t really until 1870. You may need to start researching outside of the US at this point.
• A Few Websites to Help You in Your Genealogy Research Online
- Chronicling America – a free newspaper search site
- Internet Archive – a free database of published material
- State Archives – not all states have them, this is a good example from Alabama
- State Historical Associations – not all states have them, this is a good example from Texas
- Find-A-Grave – the search function is not very user-friendly but a great site
- Fold3 – the largest database of historical military records
- Genealogy.com – they have a neat forum searchable by surname
- Map of US – a cool site to look back at state and county formations over time
- RootsWeb – “the world’s largest online genealogy community” – great site!
- Ancestry.com – the best place to research, build a tree, and connect with others
- FamilySearch.org – the best free place to search for records, hands down
- MyHeritage / Geni – a great site for searching European trees and DNA
- Find My Past – a UK-based site for genealogy and family trees
- National Archives – England and the UK’s national repository of historical documents
- Other External Links – always pay attention to the external links made available on any research site you visit, especially the smaller, family-run sites!
2. DOCUMENTATION STANDARDS FOR GENEALOGY RESEARCH ONLINE
Documentation standards are crucially important in genealogy research online!
There exists the temptation to just ‘add in’ an ancestor without actually being able to verify their relationship, this can have disastrous consequences later on if you are not careful. Simply ‘adding in’ an undocumented ancestor creates a snowball effect that negates every other relationship attached to that erroneous person downstream.
It’s like thinking you’re hiking south but actually going north! Besides, you will actually be claiming another person’s ancestor that is not your own, oops! Okay, that was me on my soapbox!
• Be Rigorous Yet Flexible
Documentation standards should be quite rigorous; however, there is a lot of flexibility in how you approach and handle these potential ancestors you are thinking of admitting into your family tree.
For example, I have been trying to locate the father of one of my 3rd great grandfathers (b.1817) on my maternal side for a few years now. I THINK I know who he is in that I have a very likely candidate.
I even have a cousin who has been researching for over 30 years, way more experienced than I am, who is certain that this potential person is the one, and based on all available information looks like the right person. However, I do NOT have documented “proof!” This person does NOT go into the family tree database.
Just because this ancestor does not pass the rigor test however, I must be flexible and keep researching. He does, nevertheless, go into a file I keep exactly for these types of situations as a “lead.” Which brings us to “proofs” and “leads.”
• The Difference Between a “Proof” and “Lead”
What are good documentation standards? What are the ‘best practices,’ so to speak? Ultimately, what constitutes a PROOF and a LEAD?
A PROOF: is the ability to corroborate an ancestor with a PRIMARY SOURCE document. A proof connects a known ancestor to the one you have as your lead. A proof is what you can prove!
For example, if I found a will with the person who I suspect is my 4x great-grandfather naming my known 3x great-grandfather and his siblings in the location I knew they lived with all of their ages matching the year the will was written!
That would be a PROOF, and if I found that I’d be jumping for joy!
A LEAD: a potential ancestor who you can document in the same temporal and geographic space as the person you are searching for, yet cannot provide PRIMARY SOURCE documentation for.
Back to our example, if I found that my potential 4x great-grandfather was living in the same town in North Carolina as my 3x great-grandfather, was of the correct age, has the same surname, etc., yet have not found any will, deed, census, or primary sources to corroborate the two , I MUST classify the candidate for my 4th great grandfather a lead rather than a proof.
Don’t give in to the temptation to simply ‘add in’ leads without proof. And so I would keep researching!
ANOTHER TOP TIP – BEWARE of the INDEXED RECORD!
Often on Ancestry you will come across a nondescript indexed record (see image below), this may or may not be an original, primary source. Be careful with these, you have to dig a bit further and find out what the index record is attached to: an original copy in a library, an Ancestry user submission, etc. You should always dig behind these records.
• Primary Sources in Genealogy Research Online
Primary sources include (but are not limited to): censuses, wills, deeds, letters, military records, headstones, tax assessment records, draft cards, DNA, non-population schedules, immigration ship manifests, family bibles, church records, marriage certificates, newspaper articles, written period histories, etc. As a disclaimer, not all primary source material is 100% accurate, as any genealogist will tell you!
Dates might off a few years, names misspelled, transcription errors occur, etc.; however, don’t let that put you off, it’s just a part of the game. Tragically, whole record sets have been lost due to war, fires, or other disasters; the most well-known is the 1890 US Federal Census, most of which was completely destroyed and no longer exists.
• Corroborating Multiple Sources
Corroborating multiple sources is another method of maintaining your documentation standards.
If you have several sources that are ‘iffy’ leads (not proofs within themselves), then corroborating those sources together might help you either (a) furnish proof; (b) lead you to an educated guess; or (c) eliminate that person as a candidate.
Often, eliminating people as candidates is better than not knowing if they are an ancestor! It’s like a detective eliminating someone as a suspect.
For example, in the search for that 4x grand father, there are several families in the area I am researching with the same last name who I have eliminated based on census data and published family genealogies; it is a positive because I can now narrow my field of search just like any good detective would.
I call this RESEARCH REDUNDANCY! You might want to try it. The article outlines the irony of why it’s important to track records for families that aren’t yours in your research.
Another example of corroborated data is with a female ancestor of mine whose name was spelt five different ways on five different documents.
I wondered: “is this the same person?” Through corroborating a will, two censuses, a marriage record, and a published family history I concluded they were. However, in this situation I created notes attached to this person to document how I arrived at the conclusion I did and which of the five names was her real name.
Actually, it is still an educated guess (a lead: category (b)), at this point as to the original spelling of her real name!
• TOP TIP 2 (Staying Organized in Genealogy Research Online)
- Record each source as you collect them – attach them directly to the person.
- Attach notes to people for both leads and proofs – this will help you remember why you attached them to your tree.
- Question all 3rd party sources – inaccuracies will inevitably be there, you should follow up on these and dig through them.
- Acknowledge and cite each source as you use them – this will help you in the long run to keep all your information straight.
- Be clear and collegial – if your family tree is publicly accessible, others might rely on the work you have done.
• From Organization to Emotion
Take pride in knowing your family history! Having the highest documentation standards may take time if you are new to genealogy research online; however, don’t let it put you off or make you feel discouraged. There are plenty of helpful and passionate researchers out there who are more than willing to help so don’t be afraid to ask.
Learning to document is a skill set that is cultivated over time and can easily be developed by example and practice. The pride that you will have looking at the proven relationships you have established in your family tree is nothing short of life changing.
3. PROFILING YOUR ANCESTORS
Profile you ancestors by starting with biographical information about them. Start with BMD dates (next section).
Using what Ancestry.com has to offer can help immensely in profiling your ancestors. They have a family tree program online that is available to input all the information you need to keep track of records, communicate with others, research through your tree, explore DNA matches, and it’s also visually appealing. Finding that picture of an ancestor is the Holy Grail!
Family Search also has a family tree function on its site, but it’s not nearly as pretty!
There are also programs like GEDCOM out there – chances are, if you are familiar with GEDCOM then you are most likely at least an intermediate genealogist!
• BMD Dates in Genealogy Research Online
The best, and most obvious, place to start is with your BMD dates.
B = birth, M = marriage, and D = death. Typically, one writes “b. 1822” as a conventional standard. Likewise, you would also abbreviate: “m. 1843,” and “d. 1889.”
Genealogical dates are traditionally written [D]D/Mmm/YYYY.
So April 17th, 2015 would be entered into a database as 17 Apr 2015. Months are abbreviated with three letters (Mmm) either in all caps (APR) or the first letter capitalized (Apr). Days, on the other hand, can conform to one’s own personal preference. The brackets above ([D]D) indicate that a preceding zero is optional in dates such as 07 Apr 2015, which can also be written as 7 Apr 2015. I like to use the preceding zero (07 Apr 2015).
Either way you should maintain a regular and consistent pattern.
In the case that you do not know the exact day, month or year an ancestor was born, you can get a bit more creative in your descriptions. You can enter “born before 1822,” or simply “bef. 1822” both of which are acceptable standards. The abbreviation “aft.” is used for after, and “abt.” used for about.
For example, if you have an ancestor for whom you do not have a document stating an exact date of birth but you DO know that the date of birth of his or her first child was in 1880, then you can write “bef. 1880.” Or, knowing that people usually got married by the time they were 20 and started having children, you can also write “abt. 1860.”
• BMD Dates for Males and Females (Surnames and Maiden Names)
For male ancestors, it is usually easier to find this type of BMD information. That is because men’s surnames do not change during their lifetime.
For our great + grandmothers going back in time, it may be more difficult finding out information about their maiden names and families. However, it is not impossible and definitely an enriching search.
Back in 2012, after helping to researching my direct line of grandfathers (helping my cousin out who is also my mentor), I felt like I really wanted to find out more about all of my great + grandmothers! Who were they? Where would those surnames take me? What sort of allied families would they reveal?
I’m glad I did because as a family historian and person, I’ve grown immensely through that sub-field of genealogy research.
After you have the general profile set up (BMD dates) it’s time to fill in the remaining years as best as possible.
As a genealogist, the birth and death dates tell you a lot. Also, pay attention to your ancestors’ BMD places too. Which brings me to another point that I see all too often. Never forget that there are usually at least 10 other people with the same name as any given ancestor in the same area you are researching! The probability is always there that you might not be searching for who you think you are.
For example, if you know your ancestor was born in North Carolina around 1867 and you are searching the 1870 US Census data and get a hit with a person with the same name as who you are searching for, make sure that census record came from North Carolina and not Illinois!
You may be saying “that’s not a mistake I’d ever make,” but trust me it happens quite a lot! Also, you should try and narrow down which county your family lived in.
• People (Families) Moved A Lot!
I have found that people moved a lot, at least my family did.
Always keep in mind that you will probably need to take into account that just because a family was on the 1870 Census in North Carolina doesn’t necessarily mean that they were there in 1860, neither in 1880! Never assume they were. The good thing is that you know where your family ended up, it’s about tracing the path they took to get there generations prior.
Here are a few general rules of thumb when it comes to dates.
As a general rule of thumb, from birth till about 20 (more or less) people lived at home. From 20 till 25-30 people started having kids and buying property. They also went to war. From about 30 till about 50 they appear on census data with children, move, buy and sell property, appear on wills, etc. Later on in life they pass on and are usually interred somewhere. It’s still how we live our lives today!
Each of these aggregates creates a trail of information and signals to you where you should be looking for your ancestors. These are great starting points.
• Genealogy Research Online Through the Eyes of History
Finally, always look at dates through the eyes of history.
For example, 2015 was the 150th anniversary of the Civil War (1861 – 1865) and reminds us that so much of what our ancestors did in the U.S. can be contextualized by the events happening during their lifetime. If I see an ancestor has a death date between 1861 and 1865 I immediately question whether they died as a result of the Civil War.
Fortunately there are tons of military records out there for both the Union and the Confederate sides. The same holds true for any conflict that was fought going all the way back to the Revolutionary War.
Knowing how states were formed and the counties within them also helps and should be kept in mind during your genealogy research online.
For example, if you are researching your family from West Virginia and you are searching for an ancestor who lived prior to the Civil War but can only find matching records for surnames living in Virginia, then knowing that WV did not become a state until after the Civil War would serve you immensely!
I have seen ancestors of mine who appeared to move from one county to the next in rapid succession only to find out that during those years the county lines in the portion of the state they were living in were being redrawn and new counties added. They never actually moved, the county lines were being redrawn around them!
Knowing the historical context only makes you a stronger family historian.
• TOP TIP 3 (Staying Organized in Genealogy Research Online)
If you subscribe to a website like Ancestry you can upload documents, save them to your shoebox, and even customize your homepage.
With Ancestry you can have access to records anytime you like. However, even the most seasoned family historians do not leave all of their information in just one place!
A TOP TIP is to keep ORGANIZED files on your ancestors on your hard drive (I also keep them backed up on an external) so that you always have access to any bit of information you need at the time you need it.
Genealogy research online is like detective work; it is like running your own small, personal library so excellent organizational skills are essential.
Being a family historian or genealogist is an information game. I have a general genealogy file broken down into projects. Each project has a separate file folder that is further broken down into subfolders organized by SURNAME. Within those subfolders are more specific subfolders by location or “leads” or “proofs,” and so on and so on.
It’s like “how deep does the rabbit hole go?” Well, one of my project folders is well over 50GB!
And finally, always try and avoid the top 5 genealogy research mistakes, I call them “Greenhorn Goofs!” Read the article below to arm yourself against such rookie madness.
I hope you found my Ultimate Guide to Genealogy Research Online useful and I hope it leads to amazing discoveries about your ancestors which truly are discoveries about yourself.
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