Question 1

How reliable is genealogy research?

Accepted Answer

There is a lot of guesswork and uncertainty in genealogy. No source is 100 percent reliable. People's 
memories are not always accurate. Family secrets are unlikely to be revealed - adoptions and divorces are often covered up. you will find many errors with birth and death dates. Census workers often misspelled first and last names. Government workers may have typos from entering incorrect data on documents whether by a machine or human transcribed text for researchers' access. 
Some mistakes are going to be unavoidable.

Question 2

What is genealogy?

Accepted Answer

Genealogy is the Study and tracing of Family History. It is a never ending story of life, the past and the present. Researching and collecting names of relatives both living and deceased is involved to establish relationships between them. You learn who your ancestors are, where they came from, how they came here etc.

Question 3

What are some of the reasons for Family History Research?

Accepted Answer

a.    To learn about your ancestors, how they lived, where they lived, what their life was like.          Find out if there were any important people in your blood line where your ancestors                came from.
b.     Medical reasons-to see if there was a history of illness in the family you need to know            about.
c.     Become aware of family members living now that you you don't know about. (example,
        finding my father's family)

Question 4

What tools do I need?

Accepted Answer

a.   Pen paper, pencil
b.   Camera for taking pictures of persons, places and things. Make copies of certain        pictures, documents, etc. that you can't have the originals of.
c.   Recorder: used to record interviews, sounds, etc.

Question 5

Where do you begin?

Accepted Answer

You start with yourself then work back in generations.
a.    Were you named after someone?
b.    When and where you born?
c.    What were some of the things you enjoyed doing through your life from childhood to              now?    
d.    Whar are your parents names?
e.    What are your siblings names?

Question 6

What is a Pedigree Chart?

Accepted Answer

A pedigree chart is an ascendant chart. It starts with you and moves back through the generations of your ancestors. { parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and so on.
This chart only shows your ancestors, there is no room on a pedigree chart for siblings, multiple marriages, etc.

Question 7

What is a Family Surname Table?

Accepted Answer

When you have names from relatives, a Family Surname Table is the basic worksheet used for genealogical research. It shows how you accumulate your ancestors names for your pedigree chart. You will end up with 32 direct line ancestral names out to your 2nd great-grand parents. Only one surname per column.

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