Creating a Family Tree
by Dave Nation, Prairie Wind
Are you curious about your family’s history? If you’ve never spent the time to research your family tree it can be a fascinating hobby that reveals interesting details about the lives of your ancestors, how and when they came to this country, and how you may be related to others.
The first thing to do is collect what information you already have about each branch of your family. There may be photos from family albums, Bibles with birth dates of family members, or official documents like birth certificates, obituaries, military records or even family trees made by others.
The next activity could be to produce an ancestor chart with basic information about each generation of your ancestors in an organized way. There are paper charts to help you do this where you may enter each person’s name, date and place of birth, and date and place of death.
Another way of doing this is to use a computer to keep track of the information you’ve collected and do further research online. Depending on the software you decide to use, you may be able to take advantage of information collected by other relatives about your ancestors.
FamilySearch.org is a free service supported by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You can create a free account, then enter information interactively about each generation of your ancestors. You can also do further research online accessing official records, and other information already online about your family members.
If you prefer to keep your tree completely private, a good option is a stand-alone software product called Family Tree Maker. It can be used to enter your information on your local computer and do research on the internet to find additional information.
Lastly, Ancestry.com is a popular product that generally requires a software license although free guest accounts are also available. A tree created online with Ancestry can either be completely private or sharable with the public. Living individuals are normally hidden from public view.
Whatever method you use, documenting your family tree can be a satisfying experience and help you understand and relate to generations that came before you.
