Trace Your Family Tree on Your Lunch Hour
1. Google your ancestors.
"Genealogy googling" requires solely Net access and a few facts about your family tree. Take advantage of Google's ability to combine search terms and realize precise phrases. Enter an ancestor's name in quotation marks, plus a location (as in "sampson doyle"" hamilton ohio). Be specific regarding the place, you'll invariably widen your search. Also try using initials and nicknames, putting the last name 1st and googling 2 suspected spouses' names, every enclosed in quotes.
2. Search inside books.
Use the same search ways as above, however now, with Google Book Search. Not each book searchable here will be previewed in total on screen. Google "snippets" provide you access to solely a few lines from a book; you may still need to track down the particular title at a second hand bookstore or the library.
3. Check your DNA.
Use your lunch hour to order a check kit from a genetic genealogy service. Once the kit arrives, you'll be able to swab your cheek, package your sample and run it all the way down to the mailroom, and still have most of another lunch hour left. When you get the results, pay another lunch looking for matches in DNA databases.
4. Download digitized military records.
Online genealogy sites provide key Revolutionary War and a growing variety of Civil War records, plus selected files from other conflicts. You can view bounty-land warrants, Civil War POW records, WWI and WWII draft registration cards and more.
5. Request a death certificate.
Another task you'll accomplish on a lunch hour is ordering (and perhaps downloading) a death certificate. Typically, obtaining an ancestor's death record requires writing to the proper government agency (with a fee), then waiting. First, link to the very important-records workplace within the state where your ancestor died. Verify that deaths were recorded at the time and follow the directions for making an invitation (you'll need to contact the state archives or a county very important-records workplace).
However maybe your ancestor's record is online. Missouri, for instance, catalogs deaths from 1910 to 1957 with links to certificate images. Arizona offers a database of deaths (1844 to 1957) with PDFs of the certificates. Many states, like Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio, have online death indexes, as will Chicago's Cook County.
6. Interview a relative.
Lunch hour is excellent for a local family decision, or to create an appointment for a extended decision or a visit. Your conversation with Aunt Ethel may simply flip to her favorite family stories. You even might have some questions prepared.
7. Order records on microfilm.
If your workplace is close to a Family History Center, you have got time to nothing over and order microfilmed records (regarding $5.50 per roll) from the Family History Library (FHL) in Salt Lake City. If it's too way, use your noon break to set up your next microfilm foray by searching the FHL's on-line catalog. I like to start by clicking the Place search and entering a place name to work out out there records. When you discover one thing helpful, click Read Film Notes for the film number, then take it to an FHC once work.
8. Be part of a genealogical or historical society.
We don's mean simply your local group: Membership in a society for the area where you're researching (at the state or county level, or each), will pay off big. Many societies have Web sites with databases and message boards that allow you order publications, raise regarding native cemeteries, get insider recommendation on circumventing that courthouse hearth, and see if someone can do a fast record lookup. Link to societies nationwide from the Federation of Genealogical Societies' Web site, Cyndi's List or USGenWeb's state and county pages.
9. Watch, listen and learn.
Grab headphones and munch your lunch whereas enhancing your genealogy IQ. On Roots Tv, you can view professional interviews, documentaries, genealogy lectures, how-to videos and a lot of at your convenience. Also surf over to Family Tree Magazine's video channel for demos, library tours and more. Then tune in to an advice-crammed podcast like GenealogyGems, the Genealogy Guys Podcast or our terribly own Family Tree Magazine Podcast.
10. Make new genealogy friends.
Social-networking sites like Geni and FamilyHistoryLink are a hot trend in genealogy. If your Facebook page already keeps you busy, add a genealogy application like FamilyBuilder's Family Tree to your profile. Most genealogy sites allow you to store and share your family trees; you even could be in a position to forgo ancient genealogy software. Use the networking options to collaborate with members of the family and different researchers, share discoveries, post family photos and set up reunions.
11. Use the library.
Surely you have got a list of analysis to-dos you can tackle a few at a time on lunch hours at a close-by library. But you furthermore may could be able to place that library card to work remotely: Many library systems let users access databases from home (or the office) simply by typing in a valid card number.
12. Update your family tree.
Internet sites like Ages-On-line, Ancestry Member Trees, Family Pursuit and Shared Tree allow you to dispense with boxed genealogy software and build your tree online. Besides securing your pedigree files within the event of a computer crash, storing your family tree remotely means that you'll access your information from anywhere.
13. Make a copy your family tree files.
If you brought your digital data to the workplace, lunch hour provides the proper time to make a copy your laborious work. An external hard drive can be had for $a hundred or so. Simply plug it in to the USB port on your laptop and drag over your files. Another option is making on-line backups. Free services offering modest amounts of Internet-accessible storage space have proliferated quick; some higher-known ones embrace 4Shared, Dropboks and Openomy.
Author Resource:
Charles Ramirez has been writing articles online for nearly 2 years now. Not only does this author specialize in Genealogy Family Trees, you can also check out latest website about
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