Genes Reunited Blog
Welcome to the new Genes Reunited blog!
- We regularly add blogs covering a variety of topics. You can add your own comments at the bottom.
- The Genes Reunited Team will be writing blogs and keeping you up to date with changes happening on the site.
- In the future we hope to have guest bloggers that will be able to give you tips and advice as to how to trace your family history.
- The blogs will have various privacy settings, so that you can choose who you share your blog with.
Official Blogs
The British Newspaper Archive
Read about historical events at the time they were happening. Perhaps you'll discover your ancestor in their local newspaper?
Looking for those final 16 Ancestors?
This week we're going to help you achieve success with your family tree much like the England football team have with the world cup. Kick starting genealogy can seem like an overwhelming task, as more often than not you're unsure of where to begin. Or perhaps you've already started and have come across a few stumbling blocks during your discovery. Either way we have a few useful tips to help you.
It may sound obvious but, start with yourself and gather any information you have about your family. Then the next step is to begin asking relatives, older and younger - as they too may have inherited photographs or documents that could be of use to you. It is important to document all the information you gather, regardless of how irrelevant you may think it is.
Once you have collated all this information register yourself on our website so that you can begin creating your family tree. After registering you will notice the tree starts in the 'Immediate Family View' with just you in it; you can then begin adding your partner, children, parents etc. Allowing you to grow your tree quickly with the relatives you know or have discovered through asking your family. (Note: You can move around your tree by clicking on a person and then adding in their immediate family).
The tricky but exciting part is adding your ancestors. At this stage, if you're struggling to find them you'll find it extremely useful to try variations such as swapping first names and last names, particularly if the individual has a common name, like Smith.
Don't forget, mistakes can be made on the original record or during the indexing process. Don't assume all information is 100% accurate. Bearing this in mind if you are stuck at this point try entering the surname in the first name field, or the given name in the surname field - this will help you explore more avenues.
Also, remember misspellings and incorrect transcriptions can also be reasons to explain why you can't find your ancestors under their expected surname. For example, recently when researching Ozzy Osbourne's family tree I noticed Osbourne had several different spellings and so to find the right information I had to enter several different variants to ensure I received the right results.
So remember, simply by following these basic tips you'll see your family tree grow rapidly in no time.
Have fun finding your family!