Genealogy Research | Family History

Tracing Your Family History
A Step by Step Guide

Email/Letters

Email - is one of the fastest forms of communication and it can be a valuable tool in your genealogical research. There are email lists available that you can sign up for and be able to swap information with fellow researchers.

By signing up in “List Mode”, email comes to your in-box independent of other email messages, but it can clog up your in-box if you don’t stay on top of it. If you choose “Digest Mode”, email comes with up to twenty messages in a single email, which takes up less space in your in-box. Rootsweb.com has a comprehensive listing of email resources that are available to you. This listing can be found at http://www.rootsweb.com/

Phone Calls – You may find during your genealogy research that you have relatives that live in another state or those that you simply never met. In these cases, you may want to try to track down their phone numbers and call them to introduce yourself and let them know that you are researching your family history. Have a list of questions handy to ask them regarding your ancestors. If they don’t have time to speak with you, ask if you can send them a note with questions that you would like answered if possible.

Letters - Writing letters to relatives who live far away to ask for information to help your genealogy research should be considered if you couldn’t get a phone number to call them. For some people writing comes easily, while others have a harder time coming up with the right words. Letters must always be legible. Proper grammar and salutation is important, as is the correct spelling of family names. Keep your letters clear and concise as well. You may lose the receiver’s interest if your letter is too wordy or contains a glut of questions. If you take the time to write a clear and well-organized but brief letter, chances are it will be answered in a timely fashion.

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