The following
article by the Clan Sennachie, Grahame Thom which was
originally published in the Society’s magazine Clach na
Coileach, Volume 7, Number 2, 2013, pages 34-37. It has been
added to the website earlier than usual to allow members to
use the various links. (On
this page most logos also act as
links).
Family History Research
****
About three years
ago I was honoured by the Chief appointing me as the Clan
Sennachie (Genealogist). Since then I have received and responded
to over 40 enquiries. But what is interesting is that
only a small
number were from members. A summary of each enquiry and
my response appear on the Clan website, go to the Clan’s home page,
click on Genealogy, then Genealogy research
(link).
They make interesting reading.
****
Also on the
Genealogy page if you click on Family Trees (link),
besides the Chief’s tree, you will see that there are only eleven trees
submitted by members; not enough. The main purpose of
placing your tree on the website is to publicise your genealogical
interests, as someone may respond and you may find a
new cousin who
may join the Society.
****
Typical Family Tree
All this seems to raise the possibility that not many members
have been researching their family history. To help members do this there is
a good deal of advice and other suggestions on our Clan
website within
the Genealogy section.
These days the
amount of genealogical data and other relevant material on the
internet is massive and it gets bigger everyday. Even if you
have done some research some time ago, it usually pays to
review your
research online regularly. And it makes the task of a
beginner that much easier. Even our esteemed webmaster found some new
information recently.
****
However, I need
to give two warnings. Firstly not all answers can be
found on the internet, and probably never will be. And
secondly, the bane of all serious researchers, is that many
sites have errors, especially where researchers have created their
family trees on sites such as ancestry.com.
So the old
advice, of checking the original source document, still
holds.
****
Given all this,
and based on recent research I have done for members and
others, I thought I would try to encourage all members to either review
their research or start their family tree, by giving some
simple steps
just to see if there are any instant results on the
internet. The following steps apply regardless of where you live
or where your ancestors came from. That's the beauty of
the internet, it has only one boundary. Either you will get a
result or you won't. But the chances are quite high that
you will find
something.
****
I can hear some
members saying “but I don't know how to use a computer” or “I
don't have a computer”. If you have used a computer and don't have
one, you will probably find that you can access the internet
at your local
library. If you have never used a computer, approach a
member of your family who can, and ask them to go through the steps
below. This exercise involves all your
ancestors.
****
For members who
have not done any family history research, take a piece of
blank paper and write at the top the full name of your father and
half way down write the full name of your mother. Under
each name add
their birth, marriage, and death dates, and the places where
those events took place.
****
Now do the same
for your grandparents; a page for each couple. And if
possible do the same for your great grandparents. This could
result in seven pages of information. If your parents
and grandparents are still alive, ask them for these
details about their parents and grandparents. If an
exact date and
place are not known, record the best guess for a year and
location. It could be that within the family there may be old
documents that can reveal some information.
****
Searching
the internet
****
There are many
thousands of family history websites; many are free to access
and others charge a fee or subscription. This exercise is
about using just four free websites, namely:
The search
techniques for the first three are the same and you should try
each one using the same names you have recorded on each piece of
paper. Do not use too
much information when searching. For this exercise and using the
Rootsweb site above (an image of the search box appears below)
enter a surname
and given name, together with just the name of the
spouse. Click on search and view the results. If any of the
entries look a possibility, click on the name and this will
take you to a page in someone’s family tree. What is revealed could
be enough for you to decide if the page relates to
your
family. You can use the same technique by accessing the
Family Search and GenCircles websites above.
****
**** Now using your favourite search engine, enter one full
name from one of your sheets
of paper, with that name in quotes. This may be enough to see if
the results reveal any positive outcomes. If not,
using the same
name in quotes, add another piece of information, such as a
place name; then view the results. You can try this for all the
names you have recorded on the sheets of paper, and you can
either print
off any relevant finds, or write the results under each name.
****
Much will depend
on how common or rare your names are. Just imagine how
many results you will get if you were searching for a John Smith whose
wife’s name is Mary Jones.
**** Example of a search
**** Using the GenCircles website above, search for Robert
Thom and spouse Bullivant -
my grandparents. There is just one result and it relates to a large tree
placed on this site by a cousin. If I were viewing this for the first
time, I could introduce myself to Peter by email, which would
most likely result in an exchange of very useful information and
save me a lot of time researching. But appreciate my earlier
warning that the person who created the tree is only human and
there could be errors.
****
Also a more
interesting set of results can be achieved by using
Google and searching for “Robert Thom” Bullivant.
If you
undertake this exercise and you find some relevant results,
please contact
me by email as I should be able to assist you further with your
research. It is a fascinating pastime.
