Family research is an exciting adventure. Genealogy is the study of your family's history. What you are today can be attributed to those who came before you. Think of how different your life might be, if your great-great grandfather had decided never to leave the old country? What might have happened had he stayed behind and not made the decision to leave. Would you even be here? During the past 300 years - wars, financial collapses, religious persecutions, disasters, famine, and disease forced many people to leave their homes and migrate to America. The United States, perhaps more than any other country in the world, is a land of immigrants. While today we take the modern conveniences of air travel and super highways for granted, coming to America before 1900 was a time consuming rough trip. You were at sea for weeks and sometimes months. For most, coming to America was a permanent change of homeland. For many, the thought of ever going back was but a dream. What was it that made your ancestors decide to come to America? Did they come over with the Pilgrims? Were they part of the mass migration of people from Ireland who came during the Great Potatoe famines of the 1840s and 50s? Who were they? What were they like? When were they born? Whom did they marry? Where did they die? Family research (genealogy) seeks to answer these questions.
Even though you'll likely spend a lot of time collecting records. It's the story behind the facts that makes genealogy interesting. Knowing that your ancestor came to America during the 1700s and settled in Pennsylvania are just facts. Finding out that he came over with a brother who died while on board ship. Now that leaves a lot of questions that beg to be answered! What was the cause of his death? Did he have a family? If so, did they survive the passage? And where did they go? Your family's history comes alive when you stop to consider that your ancestors were little, if any different from you. They too had dreams and goals they wanted to accomplish, but they lived in a time when becoming ill, even with the flu, might mean death. Serious injuries, pneumonia, accidents, diseases and epidemics ended many lives prematurely. In the mid-1800s living to the age of 50 was considered a long life. Make it to age 60 and you were considered elderly. Living to the age of 70 or beyond was unrealistic for most people. Today, because of advances in medicine, most of us expect to make it to 70.
Genealogy is the tracing of family lines from child, to parent, to grandparents, to great grandparents and so on. The most significant events in peoples lives are their birth, marriage and death. Why? Because whatever else they might do during their life, it is influenced by one of these significant dates. That's also why you'll find this information prominently displayed on family trees, pedigree charts, and family group records. Although you can keep your initial research in a three ring binder, eventually you'll find the amount of data you collect cumbersome and will want to start using genealogy forms. There are dozens of genealogy charts and forms available. Information on how to fill out Family Group Records, Pedigree Charts, Family Trees, etc. can be found in most beginning genealogy books. A collection of the most often used 50 Genealogy Forms is available from us. Knowing where a person was born, married and died provides clues that can lead to a lot of other information. Land deeds, probates, wills, tax records, church records, cemetery records, military information, etc., all can be found much more quickly if you know the birth, marriage and death information for an ancestor. But what do you do if you don't have any of this information?
When all you know about your family's past is that they came from a specific state. Finding them can become a time consuming task. This is where the U.S. Federal Census Records can be of help. Federal censuses have been conducted every 10 years since 1790. The censuses from 1790 - 1840 list the head of household with statistical information on the rest of the family. Beginning in 1850, they list every member of the household and provide information on sex, race, gender, place of birth, value of property, etc. Though the constitutional purpose of federal censuses was to determine representation in Congress; their value to the family researcher cannot be over stated. They show the family as a group unit, something that no other record does. In addition, they often provide key information needed to guarantee you are following the correct family line. For example, when researching common names such as John and Mary Smith, knowing that they had twin sons named Zebadiah and Ulysses can provide the critical link that makes certain you are on the right track. All the federal census records through 1870 have been indexed. (We have a complete collection of the indexes in-house and can do a Census Index Search within minutes of receving your order.) Beginning in 1880, indexes on microfilm called Soundexes exist for each census year (except 1890). The Soundexes were developed during the Depression years, as one of the many projects instituted by the Works Progress Administration. The information from the federal censuses was written on 3 x 5 cards. The surname of the head of household was converted to a Soundex Code and the cards were then hand sorted by the code and thereafter by the given name of the head of household. After sorting, the cards were microfilmed for permanent storage (16 mm). What are Soundex Codes? An in-depth explanation of what Soundex Codes are and how to use them can get complicated, so we will bypass that discussion for now. Instead, the important thing to remember about the Soundex, is that it is an index to the federal censuses (1880, 1900-1920) on microfilm and that it groups like-sounding names together, even though they may be spelled differently. We have access to all the soundex microfilms and can do a Soundex Search for you. Having us do the search is not only faster, but will save you money! Please note: All of the information on the soundex microfilm is also on the original census record (and more). Because of this, we recommend that you have us make a Census Page Photocopy, if the Soundex Search is positive (instead of a copying the Soundex Card). For an additional fee, an abstract of the household can be faxed to you if you would like to receive same day results. Please refer to our facts sheets on Federal Census Records and Soundex Searches if you would like to learn more.
As a hobby, genealogy often becomes a life-long passion, tracing family lines can become addictive. In this short introduction, we have purposely avoided the more mundane tasks in genealogy and have instead tried to focus your attention on the major sources of information: Birth, Marriage and Death records (often referred to as vital records) and of course the U.S. Federal Census Records. Other sources of information exist but until you find out where your ancestors were born, married or died, locating any additional records will be impossible.
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