The One Thing I Do Before Starting a New Genealogy Research Project
All good genealogy projects start with known information. We use known information to lead us to sources and records. We then use those sources and records as steppingstones to lead us to unknown information. Probably without exception, if we use this method, we will eventually find ourselves researching a locality or a topic such as a religion, an ethnicity, an occupation, etc. with which we are unfamiliar.
As a professional genealogist, I specialize in 19th-20th century immigration, Italian, German, Irish, Chicago, and Midwest records. But doing genealogy professionally has led me to all kinds of genealogy research topics and localities. For various specific projects I have had to learn about Cherokee records, Swedish records, Canadian Records, English records, Welsh records, and Danish records, just to name a few. My client projects have taken me to records in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Ohio, Oklahoma, Montana, Arkansas, Arizona, Utah, Missouri, Wisconsin, Indiana. I have had to wrap my head around foreign languages, religions, military records, probate records, property records, court records, employment records, inquest records, pension records, and naturalization records. The databases I have consulted have reached far beyond the well-known sites such as Ancestry and Family Search. Usually at the outset of each project, these topics and places were new to me.
The best practice when your genealogy leads you to a new place or topic is to simply pause the search for records and take time to learn about that new locality or topic. Trust me, this is the more efficient way to operate than to treat all research topics the same.
So how do you go about this? Where do you look to learn more about a new locality or topic? Here are my favorite resources for furthering your knowledge when you find yourself in a new place, genealogically speaking.
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1. Genealogy Books
I like to invest in books when beginning with a new ethnicity, country, or broad topic. If I am looking at records in a new-to-me language, I find that books provide the best resource on learning to decipher old handwriting.
My library is full of genealogy books on various topics. Many I’ve read cover to cover but I also often refer back to them when I am working on a client project. Some of my most well-worn books include:
· Tracing Your Irish Ancestors by John Grenham
· Finding Your Chicago Ancestors by Grace DuMelle
· The Family Tree German Genealogy Guide by James M Beidler
· Italian Genealogical Records by Trafford R. Cole
· Locating Your Roots: Discover Your Ancestors Using Land Records by Patricia Law Hatcher
· The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy by Blaine T. Bettinger
· Discovering Your Italian Ancestors by Lynn Nelson
· Chicago and Cook County a Guide to Research by Loretto Dennis Szucs
· American Naturalization Records 1790 – 1990 by John J. Newman
· Courthouse Research for Family Historians by Christine Rose
2. Good old Google
I use Google quite often to find historical societies or websites that pertain to new research localities. Historical society websites often contain links to or transcriptions of county or town histories (which could even name your ancestor!). Sometimes you might find a gold mine of transcribed records that some enthusiastic genealogist has compiled and shared. For example, I recently worked a client project which led me to Termini Imerese, Sicily records. I found a website where I could access a huge database of transcribed records from that specific place. This saved me hours of painstaking research on FamilySearch. I was able to answer my client’s research questions much more quickly than I would have without that resource. Had I only spent my time looking for records and not researching the locality, I would have missed this amazing resource.
3. Cyndi’s List
Cyndi Ingle has for years been maintaining a free database of links for almost every genealogical research topic you could imagine. It’s a wonderful place to find out what is out there! At the time of this writing, Cyndi’s List boasts 317,000 genealogy links!
I love the FamilySearch Research Wiki for many reasons, but I especially love it for vital record information in a new-to-me locality. The wiki typically gives the approximate year when vital records began to be recorded in that locality and the approximate year when people generally complied with vital record laws! In other words, with this information, you can avoid beating your head against a wall looking for a vital record that doesn’t exist!!
5. Wikipedia
I know many researchers turn up their noses up at the mention of Wikipedia and I understand why – written by “contributors,” Wikipedia is not considered to be very authoritative. However, it can provide researchers with an easy to digest, basic understanding of the history of a place, or of a new topic. To me the best part of Wikipedia is found at the bottom of the article in the list of References. These sources are often more authoritative and give the researcher even more resources to consult to aid their understanding of the topic at hand.
6. Legacy Family Tree Webinars
I’ve mentioned before how valuable my Legacy Family Tree Webinar membership has been to my genealogical education. I find the annual fee to be quite reasonable, especially compared the cost of other subscriptions. As of this writing, there are 1,915 webinars from 387 speakers available on that site. Whatever research topic you are learning, there’s probably a webinar about it!
7. Facebook Genealogy Groups
Whenever you are “crowd sourcing,” you must take the information you find with a grain of salt. Just as Ancestry Public Member Trees can be full of misinformation, so too can Facebook Groups. That said, they can also be hugely helpful if you are trying to learn about a new topic or locality. Utilize the search bar when possible and read comments from helpful contributors. With a little time and observation you will probably learn which members provide the most helpful and accurate information. I personally am a member of several genealogy Facebook groups that pertain to various localities, ethnicities and other topics that have been important to my genealogy work.
So that about sums it up! Where do you go to find information about a new place or topic in your genealogy research? Let me know in the comments below!!