Family History Research Overview

There are two ways you can research your ancestors, there's manual and there's digital. We need to understand and learn both. I usually do digital research, it's what I'm comfortable with and it can yield quick results. However, not everything is online or in a digital format. If that's the case you need to know where to physically look for what you want.

The Manual Search

Marilyn Kelly Fielding's Apron

 Searching manually can be difficult and can take a lot of time but it can also be fun. I love looking through those items that have been passed down from my ancestors and finding out the stories behind those items. Why were they passed down? Why were they special? Who did they originally belong to? For example, when my grandmother passed away I was lucky enough to get her aprons. Whenever we went to her home she was always cooking and she always wore them. This is something I will pass to my girls.
I also love the feeling of finally finding something you've searched a long time for. The work you put in when researching manually is worth it and in my opinion, can be more rewarding than finding something on the computer.

If you search manually, I recommend:

1.  Search for what you can get easily and through things you may already have such as journals or photo albums.
2. Talk to living relatives. Find out if they have any information such as birthdates, marriage dates, or places they lived
3. Obituaries and other news articles. 
4. Church records to find birth and baptism records, marriage record, and death information.
5. Government records to find official land information, wars they may have served in, and birth, marriage, and death certificates.

The Digital Search

The digital search can be easier and faster but comes with difficulties of its own. The biggest issue I have found with a digital search is knowing what is true and what is not. You need to keep in mind that anybody and everybody can put something online so I recommend keeping to sites you know and trust. Family blogs or informational websites can hold valuable information as to dates, places, and stories but if they don't have credible sources listed take the information and research it yourself. These types of websites can give you a great starting point but you may not want to take it at face value.

For a digital search, I recommend starting with these (not in any particular order):

• Ancestry.com
• FindAGrave.com
• BillionGraves.com
• FamilySearch.org
• FindMyPast.com
• MyHeritage.com
• Search engines

When you use a search engine you need to be careful. This is what I was referring to above but it can still give you fun information. For example, when I Google "Richard Nettle 1815" I find a link to a book called "The Salmon Fisheries of the St. Lawrence and Its Tributaries". It was written by one of my ancestors, Richard Nettle.

You'll also notice in my screenshot links to other people that is not my ancestor. Just be careful and make sure you verify what you find with what you already know.