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Return to the E-Agathas Main Page  Go to the RAND FAMILY TREE |
FINDING YOUR ROOTS Write down what you know. Free forms are available at rootsweb.com, http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com/get_started/charts_forms.html. Fill out Family Group Sheets for yourself, your siblings, your parents, your grandparents, and keep going as long as you can. Include FULL names, to the best of your abilities, and be sure to include maiden names for the females. It is much easier to keep track of your family if you use genealogical software. There are several on the market. I used Family Tree Maker for years, which can be bought through ancestry.com, but have moved to Roots Magic. And I may yet move onward... The Latter Day Saints Church offers FREE genealogy software, the PAF family-history atabase. I've used it, and I like it a lot. All you need to do is register your name and e-mail address, and here's the link to it: PAF Family History Software. The LDS has always been family-history intensive, and they have a great genealogical library in Salt Lake City. They have also made all sorts of information available online. Check out this LDS page for tips. Once you’ve got what you know in writing, take a look at what’s already online. For instance, I posted my particular RAND line at the free Rootsweb.com site, http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=rand100&id=I0806. (Note that the “Edgiva” is yours truly, but that e-mail address is not viable.) If you can’t figure out a connection from my “Norlandic Sagas - Rand”, do your own name search at the Rootsweb home page, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/. (And while you’re there, check out all the wonderful info they have available.) If you find something, check it out; see if that information rings true. There’s no guarantee ANY online family history will be 100% correct. Each is only as good as the research of the person who posted the information. It should always been taken as no more than a roadmap to your own research. If you don’t find anything about your family, no problem. You’ll just have to roll up your sleeves and do your own digging. Do as much digging as you can at the Rootsweb.com free site, and if you get to the point where you need to buy a subscription to ancestry.com (or genealogy.com, or wherever), buy it. If money is a sticking point, GO TO YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY. Almost all, if not all, take subscriptions to these genealogical sites. Also, ask questions of anyone older in the family, or younger, if they’ve shown an interest in your family history. If folks are reluctant to talk, be understanding. Leave them alone until you have dug up some positive information on the family. Share it--share your pride in it. They might be more willing to talk then. And if they are not, MOVE ALONG. I did all my genealogical research after my parents were deceased. It can be done. Census records. Libraries have these. (As do ancestry.com and genealogy.com, for a fee.) You've probably noticed that the LDS site has Social Security Death Records. Whatever you do, work backwards. The 1930 census is online, as are the earlier census records. You’d be surprised at what you’ll find in these records. For instance, the 1930 edition asks if men were veterans of any war, and which one(s). Free sites. There are many. Cyndi’s list, http://cyndislist.com/, has been around for years, and is great. Here’s another site to look at, because it tells how to do free research: http://genealogy.about.com/cs/free_genealogy/a/free_sites.htm. One of my personal favorite sites is sponsored by the National Park Service. It lists Civil War soldiers and sailors, Union and Confederate, and also has an article about black soldiers in that war. Go to, http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/. (Note. I can’t rewrite history. I don’t want to rewrite history. Many of my Rand relatives served in the Civil War, and I can do nothing about that. But I can find WHAT they did in the war. My purpose is to find the stories, be they good, bad, or in between.) Of course, these suggestions just scratch the surface of what can be done to start your research and/or link your Rands to others. GOOD LUCK and HAPPY HUNTING! -30- |
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No part of this website may be reproduced without written permission of the E-Agathas. You can reach the E-Agathas by writing to Martha_Hix at her yahoo.com e-address, and we will try to accommodate your questions and/or requests. But please don't ask for proof of information. All information, as far as the site owner knows, was put together with care and from the best information available at the time of the research. The information herewith is provided simply as a guide to your own research. Thanks. |
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Date
of this Report:
August 8, 2008
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