The Family Tree
- unknown -
I climbed our family tree and found it wasn't worth the climb
And so I scampered down, convinced it was a waste of time.
Some branches of the tree, I found were rotten to the core,
and some of the trees were full of sap and hung with Nuts galore.
I use to brag of my kinfolks before I made the climb,
But truth compels me not to tell of those not worth a dime.
And, I beg of friends who boast aloud of their ancestors great--
to climb their tree, and learn of those who weren't so straight.
I learned what family trees were like and then I scampered down.
They are like a 'tater vine' because the best is underground.

START  YOUR  FAMILY
TREE  NOW!!!

The emphasis is on NOW for a very good reason. Each Family member is a walking encyclopedia of names, relationships, dates and little family stories that no one else would know or least remember. The sad fact is that the longer you wait to ask for information the better the chance that that person will not be there when you decide to start. When that person is gone the book has been burned,

1. The place to start your genealogy research is with family members. Call or write your parents, grandparents, great Aunts and great Uncles, your parents' cousins, or any other "elder" family member you can think of. Interview them or ask them to write down all the information they can think of, including:

• full names
• birth dates & places
• marriage dates & places
• maiden names
• death dates & places
• place of burial
• military service
• interesting stories

I have to emphasize the importance of family stories. Too often genealogists can get caught up in "just the facts". Genealogy without little family stories is only history with names and dates. Everyone knows how boring it would be to read a phone book with names and numbers. The stories bring the person back to life for a few moments.

WARNINGS;
Now I have to add, do not take family stories as the gospel truth. How many dead ends do we follow because someone embellished the memory a little. At the same time, don't always take names or dates to be exact. If you are looking for Uncle Bill, remember it might be William. I almost got in a fight at a reunion because I had listed Ned's father's name as Edwin in a family tree. I tried to explain that "Ned was a common nickname for Edwin years ago. "His name is NED, and it's been Ned all my life and you better change it." was Ned's response. At the next reunion I handed him a photocopy of the Census page with his grandparents and his 8 years old father named Edwin.

For more info on collecting family stories, see Oral History Questions.

2. I think the next step is census records. These are usually the easiest records to access and often provide very good information. The first US Census was taken in 1790. They were taken every 10 years thereafter. Until 1850, the census recorded only the name of the head of household and specified how many members of the family were male, female, age 1-5, age 6-10, etc. Starting in 1850, you will find the names of all members of the household. Various other information was also provided in subsequent census'(see table below).

99% of the 1890 Census was destroyed by fire in 1921. Only a few counties remain from the states AD, DC, GA, IL, MN, NJ, NY, NC, OH, SD, & TX. There was also a Special Schedule of Union Veterans and Widows. Unfortunately, this was also partially destroyed. Alabama through Kansas,and about half of Kentucky's returns are gone. If your ancestor was from one of the remaining states, then you are among the lucky.

Because of privacy laws, the 1930 census is due to be released in the year 2002.