Start with yourself and work back.
Beginning with ourselves allows us to first work with the known in the present time and then work back. We record and gather together sources for ourselves, then our family unit, then the extended family, then start reaching back in time. We keep our standards for ourselves first: we try to gather sources to prove we are who we are (passports and other official government identification records showing our full names, our birth date and place, our portraits, and any identifying marks ), who our parents were and proving we were related to them (birth, baptismal documents), and how we were related to other members of our family (their birth, adoption, marriage, death or funeral records). Wills and land records can be especially valuable to officially show our connections and our locations.
| □ | 1. Gather together your own genealogical documents, including your birth record, any marriage documents, passports, and so on. | |
| □ | 2. Gather together a selection of photographs and include gently pencilled-in descriptions (who, what, where, when) on the back of each one. | |
| □ | 3. Document and photograph your heirlooms, favourite objects, or pieces of furniture. | |
| □ | 4. Collect samples of your writings, artwork, music, or photograph your creative work in the kitchen or the garden. | |
| □ | 5. Value your land records, tax returns, business documents, and interesting financial purchases or files. |
Start with yourself and work back, continued.
If we moved, we might have records documenting from where we moved, to where, and when (passports, immigration records, moving records, land records).
Start with the known and work towards the unknown.
Gather together all the important documents and other sources you already have. Record what you already know and mention what you may have witnessed. If quoting from memory, remember to also record as much as you can about your source (for example, your mother's memories of her childhood told to you as a child). Value the diaries and logs you made at the time of your own life events. Start to mention whether you were an actual eye witness to an event or whether you were told about the event by a witness.
| □ | 6. Gather together your own diaries or logs or other records made at the time of life's events. | |
| □ | 7. Record your memoirs looking back in time. | |
| □ | 8. Gather together any written memories of other members of your family. | |
| □ | 9. Gather together or begin to collect recorded memoirs and documents of your own family. Interview family members. | |
| □ | 10. Gather together all newspaper clippings, obituaries, or family bibles kept, even if you are not yet sure who is who. |
Start with the present and work back in time.
Genealogy works best when we can build our research upon the most recent, provable, and concrete. We remember to record the present, find all documents we can to properly support our records, and then use these sources to trace back into the past.
Work slower if you can
The temptation for a new researcher is to rush through to gather as much as possible in as little space of time as possible. Unfortunately, the rushing can take us into wrong directions, especially if we are still new to the field. We can end up trusting everyone to have correct information or complete family trees, without knowing anything about the validity or the quality of their sources. It is too easy to combine two individuals into one (or visa versa), include a complete stranger in our family tree by virtue of surname and location alone (especially if there is some celebrity status involved), connect the wrong ancestor with the wrong spouse, or the wrong child with the wrong set of parents. It happens all the time, unfortunately.
| □ | 11. Keep relevant personal correspondence received from extended family or close friends, but protect the privacy and copyright of the living. | |
| □ | 12. Visit, telephone, or write extended family. Gather together family trees or family histories already made by others. | |
| □ | 13. Practise being a good sport and a proper researcher in genealogy: "Cite" your sources, i.e., record the source's origins. | |
| □ | 14. Accept that there may be conflicting information. Keep track and be truthful about unresolved conflicts. Time will often solve the mysteries. | |
| □ | 15. Use modern technology (computers, internet) if you have them, but set goals, remember your goals, and move forward cautiously. |
Even long and well-established family histories can turn out to be very misleading and -- sometimes -- even completely false. Just because something has been repeated thousands of times by thousands of people does not necessarily make it true. The only way to find your way in the maze of genealogy, is to work backwards step-by-step, proving each identity, each relationship, and tying each event to each correct person. With experience we learn which sources are usually most trust-worthy and more likely to be true and, conversely, which sources need to be treated as possible clues only.
Therefore, the talent in genealogy is to slow ourselves down and become more focused in our research. It is comparable to taking a leisurely walking tour around an English village, instead of driving by at break-neck speed, rushing by to get somewhere else... usually rushing towards a final, preconceived destination that we imagine must be our goal. We need to learn that the journey is our goal.
So, I wish you well and Bon Voyage on your journey. Seize the day and enjoy its moments as fully as you are able.