Researching Family History

First published in the UK 25th April 2023.  Genre Non-fiction. File type PDF. 74 pages. File size 7 MB. Minimum 17 illustrations. Practical tips and advice for the beginner. Available in other formats, please ask.

Introduction

Step one, document what you know. Whether that is from your own knowledge and experience, or stories, anecdotes and conversations when you go and visit your family and relatives. Of course, all of these so-called facts that are remembered need to be checked, double checked and verified with the appropriate documentation and sources. Visiting elderly relatives will pay immense dividends not only for them, but also for the family historian. Once they start talking it sometimes seems that they cannot stop. This will provide many insights into not only their lives, but also into the lives of other family members. Family members who they have grown up with. Once again be careful to verify with the sources that what they remember is in fact correct. It wouldn't be the first time that someone’s name had been used, or even misused perhaps in an informal way but their formal name was something quite different. So, someone who might have the initials EJ for Evelyn Joyce was actually called Joy on a daily basis. Joyce by everyone in the family more formally, even though her first name recorded on the birth certificate was Evelyn.