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Collecting your research information and keeping it in an organized manner is essential. Here are 10 forms that will help you to accomplish that.

Finding a biological parent is sometimes difficult, depending on how much information that you already have. Below is a list of tips that can help you in your search.

1. DNA Testing: Start with an autosomal DNA test from companies like Ancestry, 23andMe, MyHeritage, or Family Tree DNA. These tests can connect you with potential relatives within 5-6 generations¹.
2. Adoption Registries: Register with adoption reunion registries such as Adopted.com or Search Angels. These platforms can match you with others who are also searching.
3. Genealogy Research: Use traditional genealogy research methods. Websites like FamilySearch and MyHeritage offer tools and resources to build family trees and connect with relatives¹.
4. Social Media and Online Communities: Join online communities and social media groups focused on adoption and genealogy. These can provide support and potentially connect you with people who have similar experiences.
5. Professional Help: Consider hiring a professional genealogist or a private investigator who specializes in adoption cases. They can provide expertise and resources that might not be readily available to you.
6. Legal Records: Request your adoption records and any other legal documents that might contain information about your biological parents. This can include birth certificates, marriage certificates, and other public records².
7. Support Networks: Engage with support groups and counseling services to help you navigate the emotional aspects of your search.

Remember, this process can take time and may bring up a range of emotions. It’s important to be patient and seek support when needed. If you have questions or need help, contact me.

FamilyTreeDNA is retiring the tree builder tool

After September 9, 2024, your FamilyTreeDNA tree will become read-only, preventing further modifications.

Link your FamilyTreeDNA account to MyHeritage for free now and gain access to improved family tree building tools, to continue growing your tree.

Ancestry.com has added a new membership called Family plan. It allows you to add up to 4 other family members to have access to your account. This is different from the DNA invite which allows you to give access to your DNA. This new plan allows family to sign in and use all the resource. To learn more about this click on the link: Ancestry® Family Plan Memberships

Many do not realize that of All Saints Day and All Souls Day are two different types of celebrations, but do have a common thread, they all are about “Those Who Have Died Before Us.”  Yes, these do have a Christian background to their history.

Catholics all around the world mark November 2 as All Souls’ Day. The day is celebrated annually and commemorates all baptized Christians who are thought to be stuck in the intermediate state of purgatory. While people who have committed mortal sin are believed to go to hell, those who have died with the guilt of lesser sins stay in purgatory to cleanse their souls.  All Saints Day is November 1^st when the Catholic Church honors its saints and martyrs.

All Souls’ Day is a part of the “Allhallowtide” season. Allhallowtide begins on Halloween, on October 31^st and continues with All Saints’ Day on November 1, and then All Souls’ Day on November 2. The date of All Souls’ Day was made universal back in the end of the 1200s.

This day was chosen to succeed All Saints’ Day, which is when a feast is held to commemorate those members of the church who have found a spot in heaven. Following this celebration, the church then prays for those souls who are believed to be suffering in purgatory.

It is believed that the prayers of the faithful on earth can help in the cleansing of the souls in purgatory, thus helping them to be able to ascend to heaven. All Souls’ Day is considered to be a day of prayer and remembrance. Churches hold masses for the repose of the souls of the dead on this day.

Different cultures mark the day differently. While North Americans usually perform extra prayers and light candles for the departed, those living in parts of Latin America visit the graves of their ancestors. They sometimes also leave food offerings for the departed souls.

All Soul’s Day is known by many different names around the world. It is called the ‘Feast of All Souls’ and ‘Defuncts’ Day’ in countries like Hungary, France, Italy, and Ecuador, and in the Mexican culture, All Soul’s Day is known as Dia de los Muertos or the Day of the Dead.

For those of you have done your DNA testing on 23andMe.com, you may want to read this article and then change your password.

https://www.wired.com/story/23andme-credential-stuffing-data-stolen

 
 Well you should have a pretty good start of on you family tree with all the information that you know about yourself, your parents, and maybe even your grandparents your family tree is starting to look pretty good. 
 
In this part we will break down a list sources that you can use to find information about members of your family tree.  
 
There are four areas of sources that we will be looking at:  
Documents 
Oral History 
Public Records 
Internet research 

Starting with Documents:  
You may have access to a collect of family documents such as letters, certificates, deeds, wills, awards etc. Each of these can be a wealth of information. Especially if they are from older ancestors, like grand parents or great uncles.  Photographs, family photo albums and even bibles can be a source. 
 
Oral History:  
You started out with your own oral history in a matter of speaking. You interviewed yourself and draw upon the information that you could remember.  You will need to sit down with others in your family, such as your parents,  aunts, uncles or older siblings and ask them for information. You may not have to opportunity to sit down face to face with someone, because they live too far away, so you may need to correspond with them via the phone, the internet or postal mail.  Not everyone is willing to share personal information, so be patient and thank them even if they don’t want to share.  You may want to read my article on how to interview a relative.  Some relative may have documentation that could be helpful to you. Don’t ask to borrow , instead ask if they would mind if you took a photo with your phone or camera. If using a digital camera, be sure that it is legeable to see or read.   
 
Public Records: 

These are things like birth, death and marriage records, deeds, census and military records to name a few. Churches has baptismal, marriage and burial records. City/town clerk offices carry birth, death, marriage records and land deeds.  Another form of public information is newspapers publish obituaries, memorial services, birth announcements, engagement and wedding announcements. Some libraries have a genealogy section that contains city directories,  and books that list family trees and other genealogical  information. Some have newspapers and census records on microfilm. Many states have a vital information office where you can look up birth, death and marriage records by year. Check with your city/town clerks office, local library and churches that you have in your area.  
 
 

Genealogical Associations are a very helpful source. You will need to check to see if there is one in your state.  These usually have many resources, such as books and microfilm records. Some have members that can help you with looking up information and some even have researchers that can do research for you.  They normally have an annual membership fee or a one time visit fee.  

Another place that can be very helpful for information is cemeteries. Some of them have a care taker that can be helpful in finding a grave. Some cemeteries have written  records.  Many times the cemetery is owned by a church, so they may be the record holder.  See my article on grave site seeking for more information.  

Internet Research: 

Since the creation of the world wide web, the access to genealogical information has been growing by leaps and bounds. Many government and state offices have records available on line. There is usually a fee associated  either a cost per document.  
There are a ton of genealogy websites that have  large data bases of many of the public records and many family trees that have already been created. Check out my article on overview of the top 5 genealogy websites. Many of these have a subscription or member fee.  The important thing to remember is when using resources on the internet that you may sure they are a reliable  resource.  
 

I hope that this information was helpful in understanding what you need to have for tools, what information that you should collect and where you can find the information you need to preserve your family tree.  

 Part 2 of beginners guide to genealogy 

What type of information Do you Need to collect 
 
Now that we have all the tools that will make this easier, let’s look at what type of information are we collecting. When you look at a family tree, you are looking at history that was written by your ancestors and by you and your descendants. Everyone no matter how short or long of a time they have spent on this earth creates a moment in time. They existed and that is all that is needed to make a mark on history. Yes some ancestors may have made great strides in life, that make their time on this planet a little more grand.  
There are certain  facts that are needed  in order to prove the connection to your lineage. Those are dates of birth, marriage  and who their parents and children are.  There are other facts that make the connection more complete such as  where they lived, what they did for a living,  deaths, and burial sites, etc. We will get into to this a little more in-depth shortly.   
So as you can see there is a lot of information that needs to be collected and kept in an organized fashion or you may get very confused as mix up dates and people’s information which would be a disaster.  
It is very important that you keep a good documentation on where you get your information from. This will help you to verify that the information is correct. If you have a question or conflict in information you can look back at that source to confirm its accuracy.  We will get more into this in Part 3 of Where to go to find your information. 

Here is an example  of some of the information you will be collecting to create and preserve your family tree. You will be starting with your own information and then adding the ancestors and then the descendants that you know.  

• Date of Birth your and where were you born (location) 
• Were you baptized? If so, when, where and who are your godparents. 
• Any other religious rites? When and where, performed by who?  
• Names of both parents and where they were from (nationality), their dates of birth, death and marriage(s) divorce(s). 
• Dates of  your marriage(s) and locations (if married in Church, who was present) 

• Name of  your spouse(s) and their parents, date of birth and where they were from 
• Names of your children, dates of birth and death,  and where. 

Other forms of information that can be added: 

• Education, where you went to school, college 
• Military information, what branch of the service, when, what was your rank, and where stationed? 

• Occupations, who you worked for, when, where  and what was your job title? 
• Sports, types, when and for how long, where  
• Achievements, or awards 
• Locations you lived, own or rent? 
• Accidents or life changing events (earthquakes, floods, etc) 

There can be other pieces of information you know or come across that will give an even better picture of yourself or someone else in your family tree. As you can see there is a lot of information that you can collect.  
 
I am assuming that you have decided what family tree you are working on, meaning your father’s surname or your mother’s maiden name. It is best to work on one family tree at a time. But if in your research you come across something on another of your trees, start a file and be sure to label it clearly what family tree it belongs to.  

Once you have completed your own information then do your father, then your mother, and then your siblings, collecting all the same information that you collected on yourself from the above list. You will be going back in your ancestry first to as far back as you can with the information that you know.  There will be things that you don’t know. That’s ok,  we will be covering other ways to find information in part 3. 

Depending on whether you are entering this information into a genealogy software program on your computer, in a word processing document or hand writing it on a pdf or notebook will determine how easy or difficult it will be to keep your information organized. As I mentioned early and will cover in more depth, always list the source where you got your information from. If it was from your memory then put down, yourself as source.  If it was from your mother or father then write down oral or verbal source from them.   
*As a side note to help with your organizing, if you are using PDF forms, be sure to number the pages and write the surname at the top of the page. If you are using a word processing doc or note, you will need to create a cataloging number system to things in order. Number each generation and sub number and letter each descendant. An example of this: 

1. Yourself 

2. Your first born child 

3.  Your second born child 

3.i their birth born child 

4. Your third born child 

In part 3 we will cover where do you go to find your information.