Adventures in Genealogy, Part 1
(Page 1 of 2)Author: Jesse Honn
Publication Date: 02/26/2007
Genealogy research is a rewarding endeavor that has been growing in popularity in recent years as a new generation becomes interested in their heritage. Computerized tools such as Family Tree Maker, Roots Web, and Ancestry.com (plus many others) help would-be genealogists get started, but there is a lot more to researching your family history than compiling a database of facts.
In this first part of a multi-part series, I'll provide some insight into my personal genealogy adventure and how it has unfolded. I won't attempt to cover all aspects of genealogy research here, as that can be found in many other sources, such as George G. Morgan's excellent book How to Do Everything with Your Genealogy. What I plan to do in the "Adventures in Genealogy" articles is give a short overview of my experiences in researching my heritage.
While I have been interested in genealogy for years, I actually only began my personal heritage research a few months ago. Certainly, I've had related experience working with various media and research methods for projects over the years, but putting this knowledge to use on my own family heritage didn't happen for whatever reason until just recently.
I began my research armed with a few computer tools and a phone. I e-mailed a few relatives, talked to my parents, and performed some searches on Ancestry.com. This got me started with a few names and leads to more information, but the real fun began once I had found enough information to take a few short trips to locales in my area that related to my research. I visited a few local cemeteries and funeral homes, went to small towns nearby where my ancestors lived, and started taking pictures and video of everything. (Continued...)