Here is a step by step tutorial / lesson on how to start building your Family Tree; I have included my very own personal tips and tricks that will come in handy if you decide to transfer your findings into a genealogy software.

1. You will begin by documenting all the information you know off-hand; fill in the attached Pedigree form (click the word pedigree) as best you can.
2. Now you will look around your home for hidden resources: family heirlooms, documents, letters, photo albums, Bible (some contain a genealogy chart at the beginning), school records, phone books, diary, church directory, telephone directory etc.
3. At this point you will create a system for gathering and recoding your data; the basic questions you must always seek to answer for each person you add to your Tree, and how will you record it. See Basic Questions.
4. You will now go through each item (resource), extract information from it and record it. Most importantly you will document the source (where you found the info) for every piece of information that you record (diary, school record, death certificate, Bible, you etc). Do not make any corrections in your notes; record misspellings, incorrect dates etc. exactly as written. Also make note of any source (s) that confirms info already in your Tree.
5. Once you have extracted all that you can from yourself and your personal belongings, you will then branch out to other members of the family; interviews.

Basic Questions – remember to note your sources:
(1) Full name (maiden / nick name / pet name / title)
(2) Name change – state the reason (adoption, paternity, marriage etc.)
(3) Appearance – what did they look like (i.e. black, mulatto, green eyes, mole on face, hunch back, white etc.)
(4) Date and place of birth – witnesses, godparents
(5) Date and place of death – witnesses, cause, where buried
(6) Education- what schools did they attend, where and when
(7) Occupations – what jobs did they hold, where and when
(8) Marriages – to whom, when, where, how (banns, certificate), witnesses
(9) Military Service – when, where, why (enlisted, drafted, flee country etc.)
(10) Church – affiliation, when, where, role if any (deacon, minister, choir, teacher etc)
(11) Travel – when, where, why, how
(12) Affiliations – political, clubs, offices held
(13) Awards – when, where, why
(14) Addresses – when, how long, lived with whom or near whom, or near what

Example of note taking:
Jane Isabella Smith b. June 16, 1956 Big Bong Island, Naga Naga. d. Nov 20 1999, bur. Canada. Source: John Barry Smith son of Jane Isabella Smith; email.

Now one thing to remember is this, if you exchange a lot of genealogy emails with John you should mention, the subject and date of the email. Why? Let’s say three years from now, you find some errors in your Tree, you may have to re-examine your old notes, by adopting a consistent method, you will know exactly where to look and/or whom to contact for another interview.

Written by Antoinette Forsythe Copyright © All Rights Reserved, Image Credit: Caribbean Ancestry by CaribbeanAncestry.com Copyright © All Rights Reserved.

How was my Mother’s Day for 2010? Well, I didn’t receive a bouquet of fresh flowers. I’m pretty sure I’d remember breakfast in bed. Dinner and a movie, nope, didn’t get that either. I’m looking in my closet and there are no gifts that made me say, “Wow this is great son; a gal can never have too many flowered printed blouses from the 60’s; these will keep mommy young! All I need now is a hippie to go with the whole ensemble.”

The only thing left is the dreaded Hallmark card with those cliché Mother’s Day poems of famous quotes; ugh!

What did I receive for Mother’s Day? Well, you’re looking at it; my 18 year old son gave me a hand-made card with his own words thoughts and feelings. Words that made me feel appreciated, valued, loved, honored, understood and respected; I received the best Mother’s Day gift in the whole wide world; something without a price tag, from the heart and soul; priceless!

I love you son; thank you for making every day of my life worth living.

Love Mom

Written by Antoinette Forsythe Copyright © All Rights Reserved, Image Credit: Mother’s Day 2010 by Keelan Forsythe Copyright © All Rights Reserved

I recently visited FamilySearch.org’s beta site and what a mess; this entire project needs to be reassessed; it is riddled with errors; natural man made disasters!

FamilySearch.org has begun the process of transcribing the data from their microfilm collection into an online searchable database. Here are the errors that I have spotted thus far:

• Surnames – In cases where a birth record does not contain a child’s surname, the transcriber assumed the child took the mother’s surname name; this is a huge mistake and you will only catch it if you know the child.
• Given Names – Males are assumed as females and vice versa based on the name; the transcriber has assumed the original registrar made an error and/or has assumed the name is gender specific.
• Misspellings – Surname misspellings are being corrected and should not be as the error is often carried over onto other official documents and/or it can become the name they continue using. The corrections should be written in brackets if being done or mentioned as a side note.
• Dates – Dates of birth are incorrect in some case off by years
• Informant / Witness Roles  not defined – Witnesses and / or informants to births are being listed as the father;  another huge mistake. Sometimes the informant is a friend, the person present at birth, a relative, the midwife or the person in charge of the child; the information could be anyone but we don’t know what their role is becasue this information is not being provided to us via text or a link to view the actual document.
• Certification – We are only given the certificate number but not the letters that go with it (i.e. “55” instead of the entire certificate number “LE55”). The letters are a must as it is the actual certificate number. It is also useful for distinguishing between two or more women having the same name and giving birth in the same year. It also helps to clarify the data found in the indexes.
• Locations - Districts, towns and parishes are not correctly matched. For example, you may see “Spanish Town, Westmoreland, Jamaica” and if you don’t know any better, you will take this as fact.
• The district of registration is being mistaken for the place of birth and they are not always one and the same.
• Missing Documents – There is no image (link to view the actual document) so we are denied the opportunity to see valuable information; date, name, occupation, residence, parents, actual age at christening, parents married or not, mother’s maiden name, witnesses, informant etc; confirm the data transcribed.

I use Ancestry and Family Search (LDS mormon genealogy site) religiously; I could not do without them and truly appreciate their efforts. I am extremely grateful to FamilySearch.org for making their online data available for free; they are not another money grabbing genealogy corporation. However, I am now forced to use them as I use my own site (CaribbeanAncestry.com), with great caution; as long as the information being presented is not supported with its documentation (so I can verify for myself), I must take it as hearsay or an assumption; I cannot take the transcriber’s interpretation as fact.

I have sent a letter to Family Search regarding the errors; I strongly suggest that  you do not use their beta site (http://fsbeta.familysearch.org) until they correct these errors and take steps to ensure they will not be repeated.

Please share the experiences (positive or negative) that you have had with these two  sites. Also share your suggestions and tips that we can use in the meanwhile to get around these issues.

In the days of old, family histories were passed down over the years by word of  mouth without error;  I’ll continue to use my mother’s oral history for my family tree research; modern day resources for genealogical research has got nothing on my mamma!

YouTube

Written by Antoinette Forsythe Copyright © All Rights Reserved, Image Credit: Secret… by Vince Alongi Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License

Me The Clueless Depressant – What an idiot! Everybody on the block knows when this man leaves for work and when he comes home from work; why the hell doesn’t he just put up a sign saying hey thieves rob me now! Why does his doorbell have to be so damn loud! I’m trying to get some sleep! What the hell?!?!

Out of the Mouths of Babe – Ma (laughing), that’s not a doorbell.

Me The Clueless Depressant – What do you mean? It’s that moron down the street! His stupid door chimes every bloody morning when he leaves for work; it drives me crazy!

Out of the Mouths of Babe – Ma, it’s the school bell; it doesn’t ring like a regular school bell. It sounds like a door chime and rings every half an hour every single day, on the weekends, and even in the summer time.

Me The Clueless Depressant – Whaaaat! Are you serious? Oh my goodness! Are you sure? Ha ha ha ha ha ha haaa! Man, I really need to leave the bat cave more often; damn depression; talk about detached. That is hilarious, and here I am calling the man a moron; who’s the moron now! Haaaa ha ha ha ha; that’s one for the books!

Written by Antoinette Forsythe Copyright © All Rights Reserved, Image Credit: Cat or Alien by kaibara87I Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.