Genealogy Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 04-25-2022

Hundreds of genealogy websites help you research family origins and movements; online is the place to be for genealogy research. Among many specialized websites, Helm's Genealogy Toolbox is the oldest comprehensive genealogy and local history index. The links on this site point to other resources available to assist your research. Some common myths and misperceptions about genealogy might surprise you.

Article / Updated 10-04-2021

The allure to visit the graves of your ancestors is an innate part of what makes you a human being. Discovering how to find a person’s grave can seem like a daunting task. Because family trees can become complicated or lost, it may be difficult for you to locate the grave for each and every one of your loved ones. However, there are resources available to help you find a person’s grave. You can start by sleuthing your family tree. There are websites like Ancestry.com that will make the process much easier for you, but it will cost you a fee. Collect vital information to find a person’s grave If you are hoping to find the grave of a specific relative, then you will need to have some vital record information: Full name (first, middle, last) Date of birth Date of death Location of death You can find full names and birthdates on family bibles or baptismal and census records. Ask the members of your family if they have any old family documents. Sometimes, the abbreviations can be difficult to decipher. This list of genealogy abbreviations can help. The date and location of death can be found in local newspaper obituary archives. Most archives have been converted into digital files and can be easily found through the newspapers’ websites. If you’re really lucky, you will already have the birth and death certificates of the loved one in question and can set off to find the grave without needing to seek out other documentation. Use vital information to find a person’s grave Armed with the proper vital information, you can now take a few different routes to find a person's grave: Contact funeral homes that were in business during the time of death and see if they have any records of your ancestor: In most cases, you will be told which cemetery to search. Contact the city or county clerk’s office: Ask for the Vital Records Department. If you get a recording, leave a message and wait seven to ten days for a call back. (In some states, like Arizona, vital records are private or sealed and you need to prove you are a relative of the deceased and pay a fee for any information.) Go online to a burial website dedicated to locating gravestones: BillionGraves.com and FindAGrave.com are the two leading sites for this purpose. Volunteers take photos of gravestones and regularly upload them to both of these sites. Simply enter the vital information and the site will tell you where a person is located and will usually include a photo of the gravestone. How to find a person's grave after you find the cemetery Once you’ve established whether the person was cremated or buried and which cemetery contains the grave, take the time to look up the cemetery’s website. Most modern cemeteries have websites with maps making relatives and family plots easy to find. If the cemetery is small and has no website, you will need to contact the caretaker or administrator and ask them for the location of the grave. Keep in mind, no two cemeteries are the same. Because plots are purchased and families are often buried together, you will find that there is no logical pattern to where grave sites are located. The standard cemetery map breaks down locations into blocks, lots, and sections. These numbers can be found engraved on the side of most gravestones. For example: The red area indicates that a grave would be located in block 1, lot 4, section 6 of the cemetery. After you have found the resting place of your lost relative, you may choose to lightly clean the headstone with a dry brush, trim grass, plant flowers, do charcoal rubbings, take photos, or just visit on Memorial Day. Do not use cleaning agents on gravestones because headstones are porous and can be easily damaged by chemicals. Check here to learn more about genealogy.

Article / Updated 04-12-2019

If you have a paid subscription to Ancestry.com, it gives you an additional feature of the online family tree that is worth mentioning — Member Connect. The Member Connect feature actively looks for other people who are posting information about your ancestor on their online family trees. After finding a potential match, Member Connect lists the member's name on the tab. To find members who are researching one of your ancestors, follow these steps: Go to Ancestry.com and log in. Near the top of the landing page, you will see a box titled Recent Member Connect Activity (see the following figure). If Ancestry.com found any recent activity on your family lines, the results will appear in this box. Click the appropriate link for the action you wish to take. The links in the results will vary. If someone posted an article or document related to a person you're researching or matching a surname in your list, you can click the link to see the item. If a person posted a general interest or listed a surname that matches one of yours, the link will lead to that person's profile. There may be other links present next to a person-based entry too, such as View Family Tree or Send a Message. These links help eliminate a few steps in the process if you're only interested in his family tree or messaging him. Ancestry.com subscribers see links to the family trees containing the related information about the ancestor. Nonsubscribers see only the number of records, sources, and photos available on that family tree.

Article / Updated 10-30-2017

Your computer puts the world at your fingertips. Discovering all the wonderful online genealogy resources that exist makes you feel like a kid in a candy store. You click around from site to site with wide eyes, amazed by what you see, tempted to record everything for your genealogy — whether it relates to one of your family lines or not. Because of the immense wealth of information available to you, putting together a research plan before going online is very important — it can save you a lot of time and frustration by keeping you focused. Millions of pages with genealogical content exist on the Internet. If you don't have a good idea of exactly what you're looking for to fill in the blanks in your family history, you can get lost online. Getting lost is even easier when you see a name that looks familiar and start following its links, only to discover hours later (when you finally get around to pulling out the notes you already had) that you've been tracking the wrong person and family line. You're probably wondering exactly what a research plan is. Basically, a research plan is a commonsense approach to looking for information about your ancestors online. A research plan entails knowing what you're looking for and what your priorities are for finding information. If you're the kind of person who likes detailed organization (such as lists and steps), you can map out your research plan in a spreadsheet or word processor on your computer, write it on paper, or use a genealogical software tool. If you're the kind of person who knows exactly what you want and need at all times, and you have an excellent memory of where you leave off when doing projects, your research plan can exist solely in your mind. In other words, your research plan can be as formal or informal as you like — as long as it helps you plot what you're looking for. For example, say that you're interested in finding some information on your great-grandmother. Here are some steps you can take to form a research plan: Write down what you already know about the person you want to research — in this case, your great-grandmother. Include details such as the dates and places of birth, marriage, and death; spouse's name; children's names; and any other details you think may help you distinguish your ancestor from other individuals. Of course, it's possible that all you know at this time is Great-grandma's name. Survey a comprehensive genealogical index to get an overview of what's available. Visit a site such as Linkpendium to browse for information by name and location. Using Great-grandma's name and the names of some of the locations where she lived will allow you to see what kinds of resources are available. Make sure that you make a list of the sites that you find in a word processor document, in a spreadsheet, or on a piece of paper; bookmark them on your web browser; or record them in your genealogical application. Also, given that websites come and go frequently, you may want to consider downloading the web page for future offline browsing. Most web browsers allow you to download a web page by selecting Save As from the File menu at the top, and then providing the path to the file where you want to save a copy. Prioritize the resources that you want to use. Browsing a comprehensive genealogical index may turn up several types of resources, such as sites featuring digitized copies of original records, transcriptions of records, online genealogy databases, or an online message board with many posts about people with the same last name. Prioritize which resources you plan to use first. You may want to visit a website that contains specific information on your grandmother's family first — rather than spending a lot of time on a website that just contains generic information on her surname. You may also want to visit a site with digitized original records first and leave a site with transcribed records or a database for later use. Schedule time to use the various resources that you identify. Family history is truly a lifelong pursuit — you can't download every bit of information and documentation that you need all at once. Because researching your genealogy requires time and effort, we recommend that you schedule time to work on specific parts of your research. If you have a particular evening open every week, you can pencil in a research night on your calendar, setting aside 15–30 minutes at the beginning to review what you have and assess your goals, then spending a couple of hours researching, and ending your evening with another 15–30 minutes of review in which you organize what you found. Here are a few resources that can help you sharpen your planning skills: Crafting a Genealogy Research Plan Sample Family History Research Plan Basic Genealogical Research Plans (National Institute)

Article / Updated 10-30-2017

Your question at this point is probably, what is the Helm Online Family Tree Research Cycle? All great projects start with a plan, and starting a genealogical project is no exception. A well-thought-out plan can help you make efficient use of your time and keep you focused on the goals that you've set for a particular research session. Not everyone enjoys coming up with a plan. Finding your ancestors is the fun part — not the planning. So, to help speed things along, the Helms have come up with a basic process that they hope helps you make the most of your research time — the Helm Online Family Tree Research Cycle. Most of this plan is common sense. The figure shows the six phases of the cycle: planning, collecting, researching, consolidating, validating, and distilling. Sticking with the family tree motif here, we liken the cycle to the steps you take to plant and sustain a tree: Planning: The first step in planting a tree is figuring out what kind of tree you want and then finding a good place in your yard for the tree to grow. This step in the cycle is the planning phase. In genealogy, the planning phase consists of selecting a family that you know enough about to begin a search and thinking about the resources that can provide the information that you're looking for. Collecting: After you plan for the tree, you go to a nursery and pick a suitable sapling and other necessary materials to ensure that the tree's roots take hold. The second phase of the cycle, collecting, is the same — you collect information on the family that you're researching by conducting interviews in person, on the phone, or through email, and by finding documents in attics, basements, and other home-front repositories. Researching: The next step is to actually plant the tree. You dig a hole, place the tree in it, and then cover the roots. Similarly, you spend the researching phase of the cycle digging for clues, finding information that can support your family tree, and obtaining documentation. You can use traditional and technological tools to dig — tools such as libraries, courthouses, your computer, and the web. Consolidating: You planted the tree and covered its roots. However, to make sure that the tree grows, you put mulch around it and provide the nourishment that the tree needs to survive. The consolidating phase of the cycle is similar in that you take information you find and place it into your computer-based genealogical database or your filing system. These systems protect your findings by keeping them in a centralized location and provide an environment in which you can see the fruits of your labor. Validating: To ensure that you're providing your tree with all the nutrition and care that it needs, you might pick up a book or watch a gardening show to confirm that your actions will nurture the tree. The validating phase in genealogy allows you to do the same with your research. By using additional research tools and by finding multiple sources, you can feel more confident that your discoveries are placing your research on the right track. Distilling: After your tree takes root and begins to grow, you need to prune the old growth, allowing new growth to appear. Similarly, the distilling phase is where you use your computer-based genealogical database to generate reports showing the current state of your research. You can use these reports to prune from your database those individuals you've proven don't fit into your family lines — and perhaps find room for new genealogical growth by finding clues to other lines with which you want to follow up. Using this research model makes looking for genealogical information a lot easier and more fulfilling. However, this model is merely a guide. Feel free to use whatever methods work best for you — as long as those methods make it possible for someone else to verify your research (through sources you cite and so on).

Article / Updated 10-30-2017

To be a good genealogical citizen as you work online, you should keep a few things in mind, such as maintaining privacy, respecting copyrights, and including adequate citations. Mandatory lecture on privacy Sometimes, genealogists get so caught up in dealing with the records of deceased persons that they forget one basic fact: Much of the information they've collected and put in their databases pertains to living individuals and, thus, is considered private. In their haste to share information with others online, they often create GEDCOM files and reports, and then ship them off to recipients without thinking twice about whether they may offend someone or invade his or her privacy by including personal information. The same thing goes for posting information directly to websites and in blogs — genealogists sometimes write the data into the family tree or include anecdotal information in their blog narratives without thinking about the consequences to living individuals. They (and you) need to be more careful. Why worry about privacy? You may invade someone's right to privacy. Social Security numbers of living individuals could end up in GEDCOM files that are available on the Internet. People who didn't know that their biological parents weren't married (to each other, anyway) could find out through an online database. Your relatives may not want you to share personal information about them with others, and they may not have given you permission to do so. The same is true for photos and video clips. Just because you're gung-ho to show the world the group photo from your family reunion does not mean that every one of your parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins feels the same way. So don't share the information or the image without the permission of everyone involved. Genealogists aren't the only people who visit genealogical Internet sites. Private detectives and other people who search for information on living persons frequently use genealogical databases to track people. They are known to lurk about, watching for information that may help their cases. Estranged spouses may visit sites looking for a way to track down their former partners. Also, people with less-than-honorable intentions may visit a genealogical website looking for potential scam or abuse victims. And some information, such as your mother's maiden name, may help the unscrupulous carry out fraud. For these reasons, it is illegal in some states and countries to share information about living persons on the Internet without first getting each person's written permission. When sharing genealogical information, your safest bet is to clean out (exclude) any information on living individuals from your GEDCOM file or report when sharing it with others and include only the data that pertains to people who have long been deceased — unless you've obtained written consent from living persons to share information about them. By long been deceased, that means deceased for more than ten years — although the time frame could be longer depending on the sensitivity of the information. You may also want to keep in mind that the U.S. Government standard dictates that no record covered under the Privacy Act is released until it's at least 72 years old. Respecting copyrights Copyright is the controlling right that a person or corporation owns over the duplication and distribution of a work that the person or corporation created. Although facts themselves can't be copyrighted, works in which facts are contained can be. Although the fact that your grandma was born on January 1, 1900, can't be copyrighted by anyone, a report that contains this information and was created by Aunt Velma may be. If you intend to include a significant portion of Aunt Velma's report in your own document, you need to secure permission from her to use the information. With regard to copyright and the Internet, remember that just because you found some information on a website (or other Internet resource) does not mean that it's not copyrighted. If the website contains original material along with facts, it is copyrighted to the person who created it — regardless of whether the site has a copyright notice on it! To protect yourself from infringing on someone's copyright and possibly ending up in a legal battle, you should do the following: Never copy another person's web page, email, blog, or other Internet creation (such as graphics) without his or her written consent. Never print an article, a story, a report, or other material to share with your family, friends, genealogical or historical society, class, or anyone else without the creator's written consent. Always assume that a resource is copyrighted. Always cite sources of the information in your genealogy and on your web pages. (See the next section in this chapter for more information.) Always link to other web pages rather than copying their content on your own website. If you don't understand what copyright is or if you have questions about it, be sure to check out the U.S. Copyright Office's home page. Two U.S. Copyright Office pages of particular interest at the site are Copyright Basics and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). Citing your sources It is very important to cite your sources when sharing information — online or through traditional means. Be sure to include references that reflect where you obtained your information; that's just as important when you share your information as it is when you research it. Not only does referencing provide the other person with leads to possible additional information, but it also gives you a place to double-check your facts if someone challenges them. Sometimes, after exchanging information with another researcher, you both notice that you have conflicting data about an ancestor. Knowing where to turn to double-check the facts (and, with any luck, find out who has the correct information) can save you time and embarrassment. Here are some examples of ways to cite online sources of information: Email messages: Matthew Helm, [ or 111 Main Street, Anyplace, Anystate 11111]. "Looking for George Helm," Message to April Helm, 12 October 2009. [Message cites vital records in Helm's possession.] Newsgroups: Matthew Helm, [ or 111 Main Street, Anyplace, Anystate 11111]. "Computing in Genealogy" in soc.genealogy.computing, 05 June 2006. Websites: Matthew Helm, [ or 111 Main Street, Anyplace, Anystate 11111]. "Helm's Genealogy Toolbox." January 2004. [This site contains numerous links to other genealogical resources on the Internet. On July 12, 2010, located and checked links on Abell family; found two that were promising.] With a note like the preceding one in brackets, you expect that your next two citations are the two websites that looked promising. For each site, you should provide notes stating exactly what you did or did not find. Although most genealogical software programs now enable you to store source information and citations along with your data, many still don't export the source information automatically. For that reason, double-check any reports or GEDCOM files you generate to see whether your source information is included before sharing them with other researchers. If the information isn't included, create a new GEDCOM file that includes sources.

Article / Updated 10-30-2017

The process for generating a family tree or report should be similar for most genealogical software. RootsMagic Essentials is the software used here to demonstrate the process of creating reports. Before you can generate a report, you have to find the person who will be the focus of that report. Here's a quick refresher on how to get to the appropriate person's record: Open RootsMagic Essentials and select the family file for which you want to generate a chart or report by highlighting the filename and clicking Open. Usually, you can open your software by double-clicking the icon for that program or by choosing Start →   Programs (or Start →   All Programs) and selecting the particular program. Highlight the name of the person who will serve as the focus for your report. On the Pedigree tab, highlight the name of the focal person of the family you select. For example, if Matthew wants to generate a report for his ancestor Samuel Clayton Abell, he highlights the Samuel Abell file. On the Reports menu, select a chart or report. Some report types are not available in the RootsMagic Essentials version. You have to purchase the full product to generate them. Select the content to include in the report. You can choose whether to generate the report on the current family or only selected people. You can also choose what information to include (such as spouses and children, photos, and notes) in the output. And you can manipulate some formatting options, such as layout, title, fonts, and sources. Click Generate Reports. RootsMagic Essentials generates the report and displays it on your screen.

Article / Updated 10-30-2017

There are a few things you need to know about receiving GEDCOM (GEenealogical Data COMmunication) files. Just as you would be careful about trusting information written out in a report or chart, you need to be careful before importing someone else's GEDCOM file into your genealogical database. If they have wrong information about an ancestor you share, you could corrupt your whole database and set you back in your efforts. Lucky for you, there's an application that can help you identify inconsistencies in a GEDCOM file. This helps you find information that may need to be corrected before or shortly after you import the file into your database. It's called gedantic. Here's how to use it: Open a web browser and head over to gedantic. Click the Select File button. Search in your computer directory for a GEDCOM file. Select the file and click Open. The gedantic program runs against the file and generates a report of potential problems. Across the top of the report are categories that will help you restrict the types of inconsistencies into a manageable number. The categories are All, Problem, Families, Missing Data, Individuals, and Sources. Click on a blue box identifying a potential type of problem in the file. This generates a list of things to review or double-check in the file to determine whether you need to fix or clean up something. For example, you can see a list of Children of Young Parents for one of Matthew's Helm-Proven GEDCOM files. You want to review the people identified on this list to see if there might have been an error on the parent's or child's date of birth to ensure they are correct.

Article / Updated 10-30-2017

Most genealogical databases subscribe to a common standard for exporting their information called GEenealogical Data COMmunication, or GEDCOM. Making a GEDCOM file using most software programs is quite easy. This is true for RootsMagic Essentials, too. If you have not yet downloaded and installed RootsMagic Essentials, you should do so. After you have the program ready to go, try this: Open RootsMagic Essentials. Usually, you can open your software by double-clicking the icon for that program or by choosing Start →    Programs (or Start →  All Programs) and selecting the particular program. Use the default database that appears, or choose File →  Open to open another database. After you open the database for which you want to create a GEDCOM file, choose File →  Export. The GEDCOM Export dialog box appears. Choose whether you want to include everyone in your database in your GEDCOM file or only selected people. You can also choose the output format and what types of information to include. Then click OK. If you choose to include only selected people in your GEDCOM file, you need to complete another dialog box marking those people to include. Highlight the individual's name and then select Mark People →   Person to include him or her. After you select all the people you want to include, click OK. In the File Name field, type the new name for your GEDCOM file and then click Save. Your GEDCOM file is created. After a GEDCOM file is created on your hard drive, you can open it in a word processor (such as WordPad or Notepad) and review it to ensure that the information is formatted the way you want it. See the figure for an example. Also, reviewing the file in a word processor is a good idea so you can be sure that you did not include information on living persons. After you're satisfied with the file, you can cut and paste it into an email message or send it as an attachment using your email program.

Article / Updated 10-30-2017

A social networking type benefit of a paid subscription to Ancestry.com is the LifeStory feature. LifeStory in Ancestry Family Tree allows you to create an online timeline and retelling of your ancestor's life, giving color and context to it. Using records and information you've collected, in conjunction with information about historical events and areas, LifeStory builds a narrative for the ancestor. Interested in adding a LifeStory for one of your ancestors? Here's how: Go to Ancestry.com and log in. Select the Trees menu at the top of the page, and click on the family tree that contains the ancestor for whom you want to create a LifeStory. For example, if you want to create a LifeStory for William Henry Abell, you select the Abell tree from your drop-down. Click on the box in the tree for the ancestor, then select Profile. Click on William Henry Abell's box. As he is currently the main focal point of this tree, his box is in the center of the page. Near the top of the page, there is a menu bar with options for Lifestory, Facts, Gallery, and Hints. The page defaults to the Facts view. Click on the LifeStory feature in the menu bar. The LifeStory generates in the form of a timeline. On the timeline are events about which you've entered information. There are maps of locations found in records for the ancestor, and historical facts that add color. In the example (see the following figure), the LifeStory for William Henry Abell has basic information about his birth, death, parents, and marriages, as well as general information and maps on the locations where he lived. The LifeStory also includes general information on the First Kentucky Derby, as William Henry Abell lived nearby in Kentucky at the time of the first derby. There is also an entry for the Great Lakes Storm in 1913 because William Henry Abell was living in Illinois when that weather system took its toll on the Midwest, so he may have been affected. Choose which content to keep in the LifeStory. If you see wrong information about your ancestor or wish to update something, you can choose to Edit the entries that come from facts you've entered in Ancestry.com. If there are general historical entries that you don't want to include in your ancestor's LifeStory, simply click on the Ignore button next to the entry. It will disappear. Use the Add drop down at the top-right of the screen if you wish to add photos or videos to the LifeStory. This allows you to select media that is already attached to the profile record for the ancestor.