Genealogy Blog – Learn How to Research Your Family Tree

Archive for the ‘Genealogy By Country’ Category

Ireland is an exotic tourist spot. It is popularly known for the myths, magical incidents and legendary stories associated with it. Numerous tourists from all round the world are magnetized to view this bewitching place. The wonderful Ireland cities with a horde of interesting activities for young as well as the old and the scenic splendor with which the country is blessed have always been inviting people from all round the world. Ireland is thus deemed to be an ideal place for vacationing.

Ireland like many other places on earth has something for everyone. You can tour the place individually or with your family, there will be no deficiency of fun and amusement. For instance there are water and other sports for kids and adults, rock climbing for the teenagers and other enthusiasts, beaches, botanical gardens, museums, castles and all other attractions that are more than enough to keep you glued to the place.

Ireland is a country that has a rich culture and heritage. The reflection of the tradition of the place can be perceived in the lifestyle of Irish people residing in different Ireland cities.

Dublin is an eminent Irish city. It is regarded as the heart of Ireland for more than a few reasons. Dublin is a mirror to the Irish history. It has the many historical monuments that have preserved the priceless Georgian art and architecture. The Custom House, the Gate Theater and the Garden of Remembrance parade much of Georgian architecture. There are also many worth visiting modern art galleries and museums that add to the creative ambience of the place. Apart from this the nightlife of Dublin has always entertained its tourists to best and fullest.

The Irish Midlands are known by way of bifurcation into various provinces or counties. These counties are individually famous for some or the other attraction. For instance County Cavan has got recognition due to the River Shanon that flows towards its south, the Killygeen forests and the fascinating activities like fishing, horseback riding and hiking etc. in there. While the County Offaly is popular for its superb science center and ravishing plant and animal life.

Moving on to the Northern Ireland region, what is most welcoming here is the capital city of Belfast. Belfast is seen terms of its directions i.e. north, east, west and south Belfast. All the areas have respective allures. If south Belfast has beautiful Belfast gardens and the famous Ulster Museum, the north Belfast has amazing Neolithic caves in the Cave Hill Country Park and the Belfast zoo. Besides Belfast, there are several other counties of Northern Ireland region that have always gained tourist attention.

South Ireland area is again a combination of different counties. County Mayo here is a land of lakes and cliffs. This county has some remarkable historical sites that are often a source of information. The County Clarke of this region has multiple lures. There is fishing, boating, mind-boggling stalamites and stalactites in the caves of cliff of Moher, dance, music and theater. The Bunratty Folk Park adds to the amusement sources of this place.

Similarly there are other provinces like Northwestern County, which again is subdivided in a number of other counties, Southeastern and Southwestern Counties that too are sectioned in numerous counties.

Finally, Ireland is not just a destination for the rich. Accommodation and other facilities are available for all classes of people. A holiday to Ireland with planned budget can be a dream come true for many people.

Few people working on their family tree take the time to familiarize themselves with historical events that were surrounding their ancestors. Most Americans have a basic knowledge of history but do not consider how those events shaped the lives of our ancestors.

The Effects Of War

The most obvious example is war. Your ancestors were undoubtedly affected by and were probably involved in the civil war. Perhaps they moved to a different state during or right after the conflict. The reconstruction went on years after the war and affected people in the south deeply. There were outbreaks of violence that continued long after the war.

In many cases an ancestor will be killed in action and the wife is left to raise the family by herself. Kids were sometimes sent to their grandparents or other relatives to be raised. Look for clues in the census regarding how the ancestor is related to the head of household. Understanding what the circumstances were is key to figuring out exactly what was going on in their lives.

The Homestead Act

If your family members were farmers which a lot of people were, you may have noticed that a lot of them owned 160 acres of land. Was this just a coincidence? Was that just an acceptable number that most people chose? The answer is that Abraham Lincoln as part of the Homestead Act gave anywhere from 160 to 640 acres of land to each willing individual with the stipulation that the person would agree to stay on and improve the land. Then they were required to file for a deed in the end.

Arriving In The British Colonies

When did your ancestors arrive in the colonies? Check and see what the population of the colonies were at the time of their arrival. It will probably surprise you. If they came early enough, they may have been part of the first 100,000 people here or perhaps even less.

Check to see what was going on in the country they just came from. Were their reasons for leaving because of conditions in their native lands? Was it due to religious reasons? Many saw the colonies as a religious refuge because they were being persecuted in Europe. There was hope for a new start in a new land.

If you want to know more about your own family than look to see what was going on around them. It will answer questions as to why they moved around when they did and made the decisions they made.

Creating A Rich And Fascinating Family History

When you take the information you have gathered on your family tree, try to include as much about what was going on around your ancestors. Doing this will add a human element to the tree instead of having only a list of names and dates representing your history.

Imagine how fascinating it would be to read a story about your family’s history when you include these facts. You will begin to imagine your family members as they struggled through hard times. Look up what company or what division your ancestor served in during war time. In many cases you can find out exactly what that unit was doing, what battles they were involved in and you may find photos people have uploaded onto the internet that you did not already have.

Brush Up On Your History

It wouldn’t hurt to brush up on your history. You don’t have to go all out and head back to school. There are a lot of resources out there. If you’re working on a particular relative, start by looking up the events during his or her lifetime. You can find timelines on the internet that will illustrate what was happening in politics, science, art, etc…

When I tell people the date of my first ancestors arriving here they look at me shocked and ask what was going on that early in this country. It’s nice to write down some references so people can get a better visual of the subject’s life.

Connecting With A Historical Society

The role of a historical society is to provide information about a particular region or city rather than of individual people. They gather information in the form of maps, records, stories, etc… The society will take this information and sometimes publish their findings in periodicals or online.

Connecting with these societies and using the information they have gathered can be a great resource for use on your own family tree. The information can be used to coincide and enhance your own research.

I found a relative that was working alongside her entire family in a cotton mill. After doing some research about the area and that mill, I discovered there was a fire that totally destroyed the structure during that same time period.

Knowing this information allowed me to figure out why these people moved from the area and migrated to different parts of the country. The information gathered about the town was key to figuring this out.

Everyone is connected to historical events. Finding out how is the fun part.

The Family History Library of Mormons in Salt Lake City has been always popular for the Genealogists. However, not all genealogists have the chance to get there.

For instance, if a genealogist is located in Sydney, Australia, he needs to travel a mere 12, 890 km. Aside from the fact that it will be a bit time consuming, and it will also be harsh in the purse.

Good thing, Family History Centers (FHCs) was founded. FCHs are branch libraries of Family History Library. And there are 3,400 FHCs that are operating in 64 countries.

These FHCs circulate a hundred thousand rolls of microfilm to its centers monthly. These microfilm rolls, along with the books and other resources of genealogy do not require the genealogists to travel a long distance anymore.

The FHCs are generally located in the easiest driving distance. This is because these centers are situated both in major cities and smaller communities.

Included in these centers are massive records that are of great genealogical value. Like for instance, census, probate, church records, vital, land and immigration.

There is no need to worry for any fee. FHCs records are accessible for the public for free. These are facilitated by volunteers from the church and community. They are the ones who lend assistance and answer the queries of the visitors.

FHCs are also funded by Church congregations in the locality. For this reason, these are usually situated in the church buildings.

These FHCs are also referred as satellite libraries. And other available resources here that are helpful for the search on genealogy include the genealogy records, family tree databases, genealogy books and maps and family histories.

Most of these FHCs contain massive book collections, series of microfilms as well as microfiche. And all of these may be viewed in any time.  

Although, there are many instances wherein the FHCs cannot release the records requested by the researcher instantly. Some of these records are still requested by the FHCs from the main library, which is the Family History Library situated in Salt Lake City.

The request is done by the volunteer in the local FHC. Also, borrowing materials from the main library will require a small fee, roughly, $3.00 to $5.00 each film.

Normally, the records that you requested will take about 2 to 5 weeks before it arrives to the FHC in your locality.  The record will remain in the local FHC for 3 weeks. Hence, you would have that span to view and study the record.  

If you feel hesitant to visit the FHC because of the thought that these people might persuade you to join in their religion, then don’t be. The Mormons, also known as The Latter Day Saints, believe that family is perpetual.

Therefore, they really encourage and support the family to track their ancestors.

It is a part of their mission to share the records they have accumulated to all the people, religion is not an issue.

The importance of family legacy can never be over emphasized. Do your children know their heritage? Who are your ancestors? What were their traditions? What religion were they? What beliefs did they have? Did they fight for a cause and what was it about?

Each of us has a story from our ancestors or even our very own story to tell. If these stories are unwritten, then how are your children going to know of their ancestry, of their parentage, or even family traditions of the past? Are these stories and traditions going to be lost to your children simply because you failed to put them on paper? It’s up to us to write these experiences down.

You can turn your family history into a variety of interesting stories. Remember, conflict is part of our lives and makes for an interesting story. Don’t leave out what your ancestors suffered and for what cause. You want your children to be proud of who they are. We must share these stories with them.

First, collect your thoughts; write down any experiences that you remember. Talk to family members and discuss memories. Do research of that time period and find out what the country was going through, and insert it in the history of your ancestor. The turmoil of a country helps you to understand what your family went through and why they suffered. Did they live during the depression, and if so, how did it affect them?

After writing down all you collected, then organize it into a story. You can make several short stories, making the history into segments. Or you can write the whole history as a continuous flow. There are a few things to carefully avoid in writing. Also, there are always exceptions to every rule. Remember that it’s best to feel the “spirit of the law” rather than the “letter of the law.”

AVOID:

1. Opening a story with weather

2. Using a verb other than “said” for dialogue unless needed such as: “shouted,” “whispered,” or “whimpered”

3. Using too many adverbs – Show! Don’t tell!

4. Using detailed descriptions of people, places, and things—you don’t want to lose the reader

Happy writing and if you need any help just e-mail me and I’ll give suggestions if I can. Your children will be grateful once they’re grown. They’ll want to know their heritage, what their ancestors stood for, what they believed in. Make your family legacy something your children will remember, something they will be proud of.

Birth records are records of birth of an individual that are maintained by the local registrar of the county or by the health department. These are developed on the sources of information provided by the hospitals.

These days, birth records are created electronically and carry the information about the date of birth of the individual with his or her name. It also carries other relevant information such as the name of the parents, their address and occupations, information on siblings, race, etc.

Can anyone access birth records?

Birth records are public records that can be accessed by any citizen of the country. They can be obtained by approaching the registrar of the particular county or the health department, whoever is involved in maintaining the birth records in that particular state.

Birth records can also be perused over the internet through sites that allow you to make a search of such records online for any purpose. The access of these records online can help you only if you are looking to go through the records and not to obtain a birth certificate. So going through the birth records on the internet can only be helpful if you are looking for information regarding the person for genealogical purposes or for conducting a background check on a person.

Checking birth records on the internet can help you if you are not sure of the county or state which carries your records. This can help you locate the exact county and some other vital information that you may require when you are approaching the county to provide you with a birth certificate.

Although birth records can be accessed by anyone either with the vital records department or through an online search, obtaining a certified copy of the birth certificate can be performed only by the person listed on the birth certificate or by the parents of the individual.

The certified copy of the birth certificate can be used as a legal document to provide proof of age when applying for a driving license, passport, for insurance purposes and for whatever purpose that may necessitate such a document. As this can be used as a legal document, anybody apart from the individual or their parents cannot obtain a certified copy of the birth certificate. However, they can apply for an uncertified copy that is available to anyone but cannot be used for legal purposes.

Therefore, your birth records though accessible by anyone who wants information about you or to an extent about your parents has the safety net of preventing anybody and everybody obtaining a certified copy of the birth certificate.

There are other countries that conducted census records prior to 1790, but the United States was the first nation to mandate a census in the Constitution. Article One, Section Two states that at least every ten years an “actual Enumeration” needs to be taken of the population.  Now the single most sought after document by genealogists, the census has provided valuable information about ancestors to help countless researchers complete their family genealogy.

In 1790, Federal Marshals had the job of visiting every house and recording their findings. The first census only contained six questions: name of the head of house, number of persons in the household, number of free white males over the age of sixteen, number of free white males under the age of sixteen, and the sexes and colors of everyone in the household. Since then every decade has produced another census. Each census has improved with more information making it easier to trace your ancestors.

Over the years, the census has changed according to what issues were important to our ancestors at the time. By 1820, the census began to take into account women and “free colored persons” to show how our economy was expanding. By 1850, the census contained “social statistics;” which gave us insight to schooling that people had obtained, crime in that time period, and taxes. Later “Enumerations” reflect the ”melting pot” that America was becoming thanks to the increasing number of immigrants. The 1900 census asks if foreign born, year of immigration and whether they have the ability to speak English or not. In 1920 the year of naturalization was polled.  To find out what questions were asked for each census, download blank census forms.

The United States census can help you discover facts about your ancestors and fill in missing event information, helping to build your family tree. Among the information you can discover: birth dates, birth places, place of residence, occupations, income, immigration years, naturalization status, and more.  Another benefit of using the census is finding families, giving the genealogist the ability to add missing ancestors, such as children and grandparents.

Censuses are available as Population Schedules.  There are also Special Census Schedules that included: slave schedules, state records, agricultural schedules, mortality schedules, manufactures, social statistics, defective classes, and others.  The state and mortality censuses in particular just might help you with tracing your ancestors.  Mortality schedules were recorded 1860, 1870, and 1880.  Census takers were directed to secure additional information for persons dying within the 12 months preceding the census taking.  For each person, the following information is listed: name, age, sex, marital status if married or widowed, state or country of birth, month of death, occupation, cause of death, and the length of the final illness. These schedules may be the only record of death for some individuals, as many states did not require recording of deaths until the late nineteenth century and gravestones or cemetery records may be nonexistent.

Some Noteworthy Tips

Census records can help you to pinpoint when someone was born by noting the date of the census and the person’s age.  When you find them in more than 1 census, you might find that their age changed from one census, giving a clue as to when they were born within a couple of months.  You can then update your information for that ancestor and use a tighter time frame for their birth.  Rather than an approximate year, it might now be an approximate time frame within a couple of months.

When looking for your ancestor, remember to look for them using different spellings.  Many census takers often wrote the name the best they could from the way it sounded.  People who have indexed online databases have erroneously made mistakes in recording names and information, too.  The mistakes can be either transcribing the common handwritten letter or mistyping the record.  If you can’t find what you are looking for, search using abbreviations, variations, phonetic spellings, nicknames, initials, or substitute letters that are commonly mistaken for other letters.

If you are looking at copies of microfilms, don’t overlook the other people on the same page or the page before or after your ancestor.  Many times, relatives lived in the same household, or within houses from each other.

If you are looking at an index, remember that counties grew and developed over time either as land was expanded or as borders changed.  This can be of importance to finding other ancestors as documents such as Wills, Taxation lists, and Deeds are often filed by county..

When you find a person you are looking for, remember the possibility of someone with the same name living in the same area.  Verify the information belongs to your ancestor before you record the source and its details.

Consider all reasonable matches when performing searches. Don’t assume the first “close” match is the right person or family. Before 1850, people were not listed by name.  Don’t assume the oldest male in a household is necessarily the head of household or that everyone is a family member. The family could have raised children other than their own.  Listing more children than expected in a household could also indicate a prior marriage. Missing family members, or a family structure vastly different from what you expected, could be a clue that you found the wrong household.  Make clear notes in your records as to why you think the information you found fits or does not seem to be your ancestors.  Keeping good records will help you stay focused and on track for future searches.

The 1890 census records are almost completely destroyed and others have been lost. The best place to find what is available for each county is through Family Search.

The 1940 census will be made available to the public on April 1, 2012 by the National Archives and Records Administration.

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