In order to create an accurate family tree, you have to do thorough research when looking at your family's history. I understand it might sound very time consuming, but if you ask the right questions when holding interviews you will be amazed at what you can learn. This route is one of the best ways to learn more about your family's past. However, before you start with everyone else, your family tree should begin with your own life story.
Just think of it as writing your own autobiography. You can use as little or as much detail as you like, but the goal here is to get a better feel for your interviewing process. It's important to figure out how to gather information from family members and make it as fun as possible. The more detailed you make it, the more personal it becomes and it will be a great piece for future generations to see. In fact, it's your best bet at keeping the family history alive for generations to come.
There will come a point when you have to decide how entertaining you would like to make your family tree. Thanks to modern day software you can add all kinds of various features outside of simple text. Whether it's photos, documents, sound files or even video files, each one of these can definitely spruce up your presentation. Soon you will see it's the added touch that will be intriguing to the rest of the family. You may even consider adding them to reports you create, scrapbooks or various other mementos.
As a guideline, below are some questions that you might wish to cover when creating your personal profile. Of course there is no need to answer all of these questions and there could well be other information that you would like to include. At the very least, I hope this list gives you some good ideas to get started.
* Do you have any idea how you got your given name? Is your name a family name or a new creation? * Do your given names have some sort of surname that was passed on by one or more ancestors? Is it tradition? * Do you have a nickname? * When and where were you born? * Did your birth include some sort of special circumstances? (e.g. born on a train; any medical complications; during a terrible storm; while your parents were on holiday abroad) * What do you remember early on in your childhood? * Do you remember the schools you attended growing up? When did you graduate * Did you have any special achievements at school? (academic; head boy or girl; school prefect; sports team captain; music; arts, etc.)
What Did You do after School?
* Did you attend college? If so, what did you study? Did you receive a university or college degree? * Instead of college did you sign up for the military? What branch? Did you have to go to war? What was it like? * What is your occupation today? Is it exactly what you wanted in a career * What other occupations have you had and what was the most rewarding? * Did you immigrate/emigrate? From where to where? Did you travel by ship/plane/train? * Can you think of a moment in your life that really meant the world to you? * If you were to write your own eulogy, how would you like to sum up your life or describe yourself?
Most of the time when you list questions like these you will have a flood of memories hit you all at once. Often times they are jumbled, which is why compiling a biographical sketch on your computer is important. This way no matter how many thoughts enter your mind, you can rearrange them when you have more time.
Once your notes are complete and you are ready to start building a family tree, you should upload them to a genealogy site. I know it will take time choosing which one is the best for you, but I found Mundia.com to be the most rewarding. It's a free site where you can just register and start uploading all your information. Best of all they have features that most other sites would try to charge you for them. Then of course you will be able to invite family members to the site and share your findings with them. Many of them will be intrigued and want to add their own stories as well as build memories to your profile.
Learn more about researching family trees. Stop by Mundia.com to find out all about how to draw a family tree.
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