Creating a Family Tree

Some people find building a family tree gives them a sense of place within a historical context, others enjoy the idea of piecing together a puzzle, while others might use it to create a family medical history. No matter your reasoning for creating a family tree, you will find that personal computers and Internet-based resources have made genealogy searches so much more accessible to people. Building a family history is easier now that information such as marriage and birth records, cemetery burial records, immigration records, and so forth have, in many cases, been made into electronic files. Newspaper and magazine articles are also largely searchable online, as are social security and military service records. In addition to these kinds of sources, the basic framework for building a family tree can be found at commercial websites, which is a great time and effort saver.

Starting Your Search

Many Internet sites offer genealogical information; perhaps the best-known genealogical library in the world was first established by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1894. Much of the Mormon genealogical library is available online. RootsWeb.com also provides many free historical searches, as do genealogy.org and usgenweb.org. Other commercial genealogical resources include FamilyTree.com and Ancestry.com.

Getting Started

The free search engines are a great way to begin family history and genealogical research. Each provides access to additional websites and links that can help you narrow your searches by focusing on members of specific religions and races. Due to the overwhelming number of tools now available online for this research, it is suggested that you begin at one of the generalized websites. From our investigation, Ancestry.com and the Family Tree Maker® program seem to provide a reasonable approach to building a family history which includes the capability to add photographs, video, and audio clips to your tree. We suggest that you investigate a number of sites to compare resources before choosing the one that best suits your needs. It is good to prepare for your search with the following guidelines and subsequently use the suggested, available resources in research.

You can do a great deal to prepare for your search.

1. Get family members involved in the project to help you—family reunions, holiday celebrations, anniversaries, and birthdays are good times to enlist help.
2. Set up a form to better collect family information in an easy, organized way.
3. Enter names and information on known relatives.
4. Make an outline of the lives of specific family members.
5. Collect family documents.
6. Collect and scan photos for placement on the family tree.
7. Record your family history interviews. Use a video camera if you can and take note of information that comes out in the stories that could make searches easier. If you are planning to make audio recordings, Hallmark’s® Legacy Keeper kit ($50.00) provides an easy-to-use MP3 recorder/player to make digital recordings that can be transferred to DVDs for archiving. The kit comes in a storage box with a booklet of interview questions, instructions for using the recorder, organizing folders, and a photo album.
8. Put together a historical data base on your computer.

Resources for Constructing Your Family Tree

Creating a family tree has been simplified with the use of modern technology. There are now computer programs and Web sites that are solely dedicated to the recording and research of genealogy. There is no one simple way to go about this task, yet a suggested start is given below. If you need to research your family history, subscribing to websites such as Ancestry.com gives you access to both national and international records. The price for subscribing depends on how much data you need to collect and the length of time you wish to use the research site.

Genealogy Web sites available on the Internet can be used as tools for gathering information and recording and storing what you collect within an electronic framework. Family Tree Maker® ($39.95) is one of the leading programs for creating family trees. This program allows you to enter information, insert photographs and other documents, store audio and video clips, and create a family tree. You can either work on your tree right on the website or download the program to your own computer. For any Macintosh devotees there is also the Reunion software ($99), which true to type, provides all the same options, but also offers splashy layout options.

It is well-known that many diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, can run in families. This is true of even rare diseases such as hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell anemia. High blood pressure in one generation may occur in the next generation or even skip a generation and reappear. Information on the medical conditions of your parents, grandparents, and other blood relatives can help your doctor predict the disorders for which you may be at risk and take action to keep you and your family healthy.

The U.S. Surgeon General, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has launched a national public health campaign, called the Family History Initiative, to encourage all American families to understand the importance of family health history for their own lives and to gather whatever information they can. The program provides tools for families to enter and organize their family’s health history to share with their physicians.

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