Your Family’s History and Genealogy in a Website
There are several hundred websites dedicated to documenting family trees, history, and genealogy. If you intend to create your own, there are a few things you need to know before you begin using a website to document your family’s history.
The first factor is the purpose of the website. You can feature one family alone or an extended family starting at present and onwards. A genealogy which attempts to trace family roots all the way back to ancestors can also be done. In case you choose the latter, the site can serve as a means to document the progress of your genealogical research.
For genealogies, gathering information is the first step. The easiest way to do is to collect documents, records, pictures, and family heirlooms. You can visit the attic and basement or start browsing through file cabinets and storage areas. You can also ask relatives for anything which can help. Aside from physical materials, what they remember by heart can also help. You can interview relatives while in the process of collecting items.
For further research on family trees and genealogies, you may also visit public record and local archive offices most especially if your family lives generally in one region. Over the web, there are also various sources for researching about genealogies. Some offer services with associated fees while others provide them completely free. Merely utilizing search engines may even bring up information too especially if family members have contributed something significant in history.
To make things easier, you can work on a single surname and move on to the next when you have gathered as much information as you can about the first. You may follow the steps outlined here and go back from the very first step when you’re done with one last name. It is also important to know that you must work backwards. Start with the most immediate family and going further back to the oldest, and so on.
All information you have gathered should be entered in a family tree chart of a pedigree. There are free charts or outlines of these online which can be used as a reference so you can create and design your own. You can fill up the chart or outline one by one as you come across more information about your family history. Make sure to cite references and sources as well of all information found.
Once a significant amount of detail is recorded, you may now start a website to document your family’s history. A website is preferable over publishing a book since it gives you an opportunity to constantly edit the details and add more information as you go along. It becomes a work in progress. Also, the Internet opens door for you to share about your family to the world. Who knows, someone may stumble upon your site and add valuable information about some of your family members and relatives.
Finally, make sure to have a significant write up about everyone listed in the family tree. A random listing of everyone’s name and important dates in their lives is not enough. Add more relevance by writing about the person’s contribution to the world and influence in society, if any. Also, have permission from parties involved before you even publish their name and information online due to privacy reasons.
Categorised as: Website