Advertisement
Hello to everyone! I am as amateur as you can get! I know the names of my grandparents, with a couple of questions thrown in regarding Hardy and Carter...dad told me that they were really "O"Hardy and "Mac"Carter. I know the names of three of my great grandparents. Is that a good start? I hope I will find encouragement and advice here, as well as make some new friends. At going on 56, I am planning on going back to college soon to become a historian and I would like to "minor" in genealogy, if that's possible.
posted by:
|
California
|
Advertisement
Advertisement
-
Re: ABig Hello From a Rank Amateur!
Sat, February 11, 2006 - 10:01 AMIt's an excellent start!! Anything's a good start. You may be amazed to find someone in your family with TONS of information. I had what I thought was a slow start (maybe 100 people, very spotty information -- it's still spotty), then I found a cousin who had info. on 660+ people! And, she was 60+ at the time, so I reluctantly agreed to take "whatever she had" (thinking it would be shoeboxes of handwritten details), and it turned out to be in the most common computer format!
I've also stumbled on a total stranger who ended up having pictures of my father when he was 3!! You will be amazed.
Stay as organized as you can. Get one of the main types of gen. software, and enter what you know. Get a magazine (like "Famiy Tree Magazine", and it's not affiliated with the program) so you're getting support and new ideas frequently.
I now have (some) info. on over 2200 people in my family, going back across a total of 15 generations, I think it is.
GOOD LUCK!!
-
Re: ABig Hello From a Rank Amateur!
Sat, February 11, 2006 - 1:26 PMI've been using legacy software which is free - they have an upgrade for $30 or so, but I haven't felt the need yet. You can download it - I think it's made by millenium software.
I was amazed at what I have found - even just by searching yahoo or google. I stumbled upon a distant cousin of my mothers and she has tons of info. Another of my mom's cousins found an old family bible at an auction which was a find.
Good luck! -
-
Re: ABig Hello From a Rank Amateur!
Mon, February 13, 2006 - 8:27 AMAlso, you will reward yourself if you're pretty careful attributing sources of information that you find, rather than just entering stuff "you hear." You don't need to go crazy. But, use one of the types of software that you easily identify a source (a bibliography entry, is how I think of it), then cite that source as you add information to your files. You cut out a newspaper article, you know the name of the paper, page, date, where it's currently available online, the author of the article. Enter that into the Source information, then cite this source if you use information into your files. Later, you will SO thank yourself! -
-
Re: ABig Hello From a Rank Amateur!
Mon, February 13, 2006 - 5:34 PMThank you for the advice. I am so not financially able to buy software right now but I am curious about it. Where do you get such things? Is it software or hardware, come to think of it? What kind of price do they come with? I also just joined genealogyseekers and I entered information about my family. Someone came back with some information on my paternal grandmother. That was SO exciting! I also wrote information about a family mystery in case someone was interested in helping me find any information. I don't know if that is considered bad form or not. I tried finding any further information by going through rootsweb through free links but either couldn't figure them out or they genuinely have no information. It is confusing and frustrating. -
-
Re: ABig Hello From a Rank Amateur!
Tue, February 14, 2006 - 8:01 AMThe main software I use is Family Tree Maker. I'm using 2005, but I have the 2006 version. It's like $30 for the software, not a big investment, but get it (or something) when you can afford it.
www.ftm2006.com . You really need something to enter your information, to keep yourself organized, but there are free tools you can use to get started. Also, I suggest you pick up a gen.-oriented magazine, maybe especially an issue that focuses on software, and see what a good deep article says.
OH! If nobody's pointed you to Cyndi's List, start there: www.cyndislist.com/
-
-
-
-
Re: ABig Hello From a Rank Amateur!
Wed, April 5, 2006 - 10:08 AMDeath certificates are an excellent scorce of info. If you know your grandparents or great grandparents name, get a copy of their death certificate. It will confain the name of their parents.
Always remember that for genealogy purposes, it is the county that they were born, died, or married in, not the county that they lived in. It is the county where the record can be found.
