| Tracing
Family Histories
By Trevor
Dumbleton
One of the most
fascinating, and most rewarding pastimes you can engage in is tracing
family histories. By delving into the past of your family and the
families that have joined together to form that family, you can learn
about yourself, your parents, your ancestors, and the many people who
have been born, wedded, had children, and eventually ended up creating
that unique entity known as you. As well, you can learn much about what
those people did and the places from which they came.
Tracing family
histories can often be a difficult task. However, the best place to
start is by tracing genealogy. Without names to go on, any family
history is almost impossible to create. Thus, a full family tree should
be formed and formatted in order to figure out just who these people
were, when they lived, and where they lived.
Once you have
figured out names, the real digging begins. You need to find as much
information about these people as possible. Anything in the public
record is usually the best place to start. Legal papers can be a wealth
of information about the people from whom you are descended. Such items
as deeds, real estate papers, and loan papers can tell you a great deal
about the names on your family tree. If they bought land, they must
have worked it. If they applied for loans, they usually gave a purpose
for the loan. These are the meat of any family history. With a few
little details, you can start filling in a whole lot of blanks.
As well, old letters are very useful for tracing family histories.
Though letter writing is something of a lost art today, people would
often keep letters they received, especially love letters. These can
provide fascinating glimpses into the people who have gone on before
you, as they will often not only speak of their love, but they can also
provide interesting asides about where they were and what they were
doing. The addresses will tell you where those letters went. Return
addresses will tell you where they came from. They often told each
other where they were and what they were doing at the time. These are
not just pieces of paper, they are windows into the souls of your
ancestors.
Family Bibles are
akin to the Holy Grail for those tracing family histories. As these
were often large, decorative, sacred books, they were almost never
discarded. Thus, people often used them to store important documents.
It was like a large safe. Simply put those loan papers at Numbers 12,
and they were safe. As well, people often listed ancestry and
descendents in these books. The front page often contains a family tree
that can be used to find relations that are not in one's family
tree. And as the Bible was passed down from generation to generation,
it was filled out that much more, creating a complete history of the
family.
However, the most
important resource for tracing family histories should not be
overlooked. That resource is, of course, family members. Surviving
relations are a wealth of information. They want to talk about what
they did, where they went, how they felt about things, and what was
going on at the time. They can call up stories that they have not had
the chance to tell, and they will sometimes remember things they forgot
they knew as they tell their stories. Do not forget to ask your family
members about the family. They will be more than happy to help.
Tracing family
histories can provide wonderful scenes, compelling dramas, and stories
that are too strange to be untrue. When you compile the history of your
family, remember that you are learning about people. People who were
just as full of life and vitality as you are. So feel free to tell
their stories and don't forget to enjoy the fact that you are
letting your ancestors live their lives all over again.
http://www.familytreeshistory.com/
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