What are your research habits? When you sit down to work on your family history, what are the routines that you follow to get you started?

I know I am assuming that you have routines, but I am guessing that you do. Just like you have morning routines for the morning prep. Alarm goes off, hit snooze, goes off again, get up, shower, brush your teeth, get that morning coffee. But what about research time?

I think it depends doesn’t it? How much time you have or when you researched last or….whether you are researching before or after 1850.

For those ancestors born after 1850 I would guess we all go very quickly to one of our favorite databases and look for census records.  I asked AI, “What are the steps for researching ancestors from before 1850?” It gave me a pretty good list but maybe more importantly, it gave me the resources it took the steps from. Here are the general resources it used: MyHeritage, FamilySearch, Family Tree and St. Louis County Library in MO. I checked each item and sure enough came up with the AI steps.

So, what do you do? Here are the steps I found from the above resources:

1. Study the region – geography and history of the people, (my add on – weather history such as draughts, huge storms, etc)
2. Research historical records – Redbook, probate, vital records, county court records, land, military records, etc.
3. Use early census data
4. Bureau of Land Management General Land Office – BLMGLO
5. Trace Relationships
6. Expand search – church, tax. FAN (family, associates, neighbors) Club, Town records, cemeteries, etc

A few items left off the AI list: get organized including clearing your desk, identifying your focus question, start with what you know, and set up your note page in preparation for all you will find and maybe look for but not find.

I am sure that you all have go-to sites where you look for all the above. Do you also have some sites that might not be places you typically go but that might be great for this research session? Do you use Cyndi’s List?

I asked an HQRL librarian what she used and here are some of her go-to sites: American Ancestors, county genealogical and/or historical societies, Midwest Genealogical Center, NARA, Allen County Library, larger libraries in larger cities, Chronicling America (newspapers), and county or city histories. Googling can give some suggestions as well. Family Tree Magazine each year comes up with a list of top sites, free and subscription.  This is just to name a few.

Whew! So Step 1A – get those pencils sharpened and that cup of coffee and get to work. Oh yes, go to HQRL and also, sign-up for classes at HQ (What is your name? and Dutch records in March).

Heidi Geise, education@hqrl.com