Start learning about your family tree while staying at home.
Start learning about your family tree while staying at home
With the rise in popularity of family genealogy shows, it's no wonder many people are taking time while self-isolating to discover more family members to be with — on paper, at least.
Winnie Horton from the Annapolis Valley community of Wolfville takes time each day to further delve into her family's history, homework assigned to her by her grown son.
His instructions were simple: “write a detailed history of the King and Horton families in any way you want, but it must follow some logic and chronology. Be creative in the structure and content. Include descriptions of who everyone was, photos when possible, and all content must be in your own writing. No cut and paste!”
Horton has embraced the project, and says she already had a lot of the information on her computer, but this was a good chance to consolidate it.
“There are two family lines I am following,” said Horton. “I can trace the King line, of which I am part of, back to John, who married Abigail Haty in 1658. My husband's Horton line is traced to the early 1880s.”
Although she already knew a lot about her own family as they were close-knit, Horton says doing this project has been a labour of love; especially when tracing the Hortons.
With extra time on one's hands, this could be the time to start digging into, or continue building that family tree.
GETTING STARTED
Juanita Rossiter, an Ontariobased archivist who is selfisolating at home in St. Peters Bay, P.E.I., says the first step is to talk to as many relatives as possible — a great starting task by calling family members while at home.
People tend to remember different things, she adds, so you shouldn't discount anyone in your family. Collect as much information as possible, including the maiden names of women in your family, communities they lived in, the religions or churches attended and the names of any cemeteries where they may be buried.
And don't forget family folklore, said Fred Smith, president of the Family History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, which aims to promote interest in and facilitate family history research.
Then turn to official records, as they always give the accurate stories. Start with vital statistics like birth, death and marriage records, then look at census returns.
Census records offer good insight, said Smith. These records list all the members of the household, where they live, where they were born and may include other information such as literacy, occupation, religion and more.
“I have found people in the 1945 census and then traced them back to the 1935, then 1921 census,” said Smith. “With this information, you can follow several generations because census records will list one person as head of the house and the others as wife, son, son-inlaw, granddaughter, etc.”
Smith says to also take careful note of ancestor's ages and the years they were born, as it is not unusual to see several people with the same name.
“In one branch of my family, there are five generations of men with the same name, but luckily, they were born at different times, and obviously, their wives had different names.”
Some provinces have more vital stats digitized than others, said Rossiter. In a non-COVID-19 world, many archives offer inter-library loans of vital stats on microfilm.
GET ORGANIZED
Once information is gathered, organize it in a way that makes sense to you. It can be done in a simple word document or spreadsheet. There are plenty of software platforms available to organize your family tree, Rossiter says, but you don't have to spend a lot of money on programs to record your genealogy.
Smith suggests Googling “genealogy software” and checking through the various web pages. Many of the programs have a free version that have all the bells and whistles locked. That may be all you will need but you can always buy the full package later. Everyone has their favourite program, he says, and in general one is as good as another once you are used to it.
The bonus in doing your tree digitally is it can connect with others who are working on another branch of the tree. This happened to one genealogist who went back three generations and suddenly had information going back 400 years as someone had digitized their search through old church records.
Other genealogists say starting family research is like going down a rabbit hole. Try to be methodical and stick with one person at a time or you might get scattered and confused, especially since the same names are often used.
The biggest thing Rossiter stresses is to keep track of where you find your information. Keep copies of primary sources and/or document your source. Working as an archivist, she has had clients say to her, "I got this information here at your archives, but I can't recall where I got it.”
“It's a question I dread,” said Rossiter, “as the archives I work at has records that can fill a stadium. Asking where one particular source has come from is not as easy to trace as one would think.”
In the end, Rossiter says there is only so much information one can gather online from home. At some point, you will need to go to an archive — either local or provincial, she said. Although it may seem daunting, there are people on staff to help genealogists with their research.
There are many reasons to get interested in family history, and just plain curiosity is a good reason, said Smith. If you have always wanted to explore your family histories but did not have the time, now is your chance — you may just discover some great stories.
GENEALOGY TIPS
• Gather and organize any notes you have amassed in the past.
• Talk to as many relatives as possible to gather names, dates, details and stories.
• Check online for digitized vital statistics such as birth, death and marriage records, and then census returns.
• Look at Library and Archives Canada website to familiarize yourself with research tips when looking at census material: https:// www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/Pages/census.aspx.
• Check customs and immigration websites for Canada and America, as when someone entered the country by ship, records were kept.
• Note all sources.
• Work on one family member at a time to avoid getting confused and going down rabbit holes.
• Try to find at least three historical documents before adding the person to your tree.
• Consider DNA genealogy. Although expensive, you can find where your ancestors originated from, find common ancestors and sometimes find long-lost relatives.
FASCINATING FAMILY STORIES
While doing his own research, Fred Smith discovered a unique story about his own family.
“My fifth great-grandfather got my fifth great-grandmother pregnant and refused to support her. She had to go under the care of the church wardens. She was well underage, even for those days, and she, along with the wardens, took him to court,” Smith recounts.
The man refused to appear in front of the magistrates and an arrest warrant was issued.
“When the constable confronted my fifth great-grandfather, his friends surrounded him, and the constable had to back off. This situation remained unchanged until a Royal Navy warship came into port and my fifth greatgrandmother brought the case to the captain,” said Smith. “She had guts.”
Captains of Royal Navy warships had the power to handle legal matters at the time, Smith said, so the captain read the original court records, empanelled a jury and found his great-grandfather guilty. He was issued a fine and had his wages attached, with the money going to a local magistrate who would see that it was used for the mother to raise the child.
“No one challenged the Royal Navy in those days,” he said. “In the end, all turned out well. Some years later, my fifth great-grandmother married a gentleman who owned a thriving business and had a fleet of ships and, in addition to a home in Newfoundland, he also had a home just outside Poole, England. Also, he accepted the child as part of his family. It is all interesting when you think this occurred five years before the Battle of Signal Hill, the last battle of the Seven Years War.”