Weekly Online Lesson Online Lesson Archives Grade Level: 7-12 Subject: Research

Researching Your Roots

Where does your family come from? Who are your ancestors? Were they poor or wealthy? Were they peasants or royalty? Did they work hard or live a life of luxury and ease?

Nearly everyone agrees that the family is the central and most basic institution in society. Knowing about your ancestors gives you a connection with the past, and helps you understand who you are today. It gives you a sense of tradition, a sense of importance in carrying on the family line.

Tracing and documenting your family lineage is called genealogy. Today more people than ever are seeking out their family past—researching their genealogy. The trend is in part fueled by the Internet and the ease with which family records are now accessible. As the phenomenon grows, more genealogy Web sites are springing up across the Net.

In this lesson you will find out how to begin researching your genealogy, and you'll visit several great genealogy resources on the Web. With Mother's Day coming up—if it weren't for mothers we wouldn't even have ancestors—there's no better time to start looking to the past.

Exploring our Roots

NBC's national news anchors recently completed a week-long exploration into their individual family histories. You can read a special report about their family research at the MSNBC site called Exploring our Roots. When the site opens, start by reading the complete guide for beginners, prepared by the authors of Genealogy Online for Dummies. This page outlines the genealogy research process, teaches you what you should be looking for, and lists a number of good resources where you can begin your search.

Next click the link our reporter tries it himself and read the story by Alan Boyle, an MSNBC correspondent who has been personally researching his family history since 1977.

Now that you have a good foundation for what genealogy is all about, click NBC's roots and read the family histories of some of NBC's news anchors: Matt Lauer, Katie Couric, Al Roker, Ann Curry, Jodi Applegate, and others.

Genealogy.com

Genealogy.com is an online source of family history information sponsored by The Learning Company, Inc. The site features free resources for both beginners and experienced family historians. Start by reading the Step-by-Step Genealogy "How-To Guide, a three-step introduction to get you started. Learn how to start collecting family information, how to organize the information you gather, and how to fill in the missing pieces.

For more specific and detailed instruction on genealogy, enroll in Genealogy.com's Online University. Here you'll find links to 37 different lessons on specific topics. The lessons are well-written, easy to follow, and absolutely free for anyone who wants to learn the information. For now, enroll in Lesson One: Mapping the Course and Equipment for the Hunt.

Now that you have a good handle on things like Family Group Sheets and Pedigree Charts, try using some of the online search capabilities of the site. If you know the name of an ancestor you want to look up, go back to the Genealogy.com search page and enter the first and last name of that individual. Click Go to start the search.

For example, if you were looking for an ancestor named Mary Ashmore, type Mary in the First Name box and Ashmore in the Last Name box. When you click Go the database will return a list of links for various possibilities.

USGenWeb

USGenWeb is group of volunteers working together to provide Web sites for genealogical research in every county and every state of the United States. The project is non-commercial and fully committed to free access for everyone (there's also an affiliated WorldGenWeb site).

One of the special projects you should visit at the site is called USGenWeb Kidz. Go to the How-To-Do-Genealogy page and browse some of the genealogy resources for written for a younger audience. Among other resources you'll find printable genealogy forms such as a Pedigree Chart and a Family Group Sheet, a helpful Glossary of Genealogical Terms, and a great article about Surnames.

FamilySearch

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) have a special interest in genealogy. The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, has over two million rolls of microfilm containing copies of original records from more than a hundred countries. They include vital, census, church, land, and probate records and other records of genealogical value. Branch Family History Centers™ that hold copies of these records are located throughout the world and are free for anyone to use.

Online access to many of the names in the library is now available at a site called FamilySearch. You can begin by searching for the names of your ancestors (if you have a name to begin with), or you can search by keyword (birthplace, for example). As you did earlier, enter as much information about the ancestor as you can. Here's an example:

Thomas Edison was born in Milan, Ohio, in 1847. What is his mother's maiden name? To find out, enter Thomas Edison in the First Name and Last Name fields, and then click Search. When the list comes back, find the record with the correct birth year and place. Click that name link to read the full record, which includes the names of his parents.

If you're not ready to search for ancestor names just yet, you can Browse Categories on the site. For example, you can search through Royalty and Nobility for information about coats of arms, crests, emblems, seals, etc. You can also read online works about the genealogies, titles, and histories of the noble class (including kings, dukes, duchesses, earls, etc.).

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