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Have you ever wondered about your forebears - where they
lived, what their occupations were, how many children they
had?
Over the last few years there has been a great increase in
the number of people who want to find out more about their
roots.
Genealogists are increasingly accessing information through
massive Internet-based databases. And new genealogy software
has helped reduce traditional historical documents to computer
compact discs.
Still, while the Web has helped broaden genealogy's appeal
to the masses, experts say, the resulting influx of newcomers
and their lack of schooling in genealogy's research techniques
are creating problems of accuracy. Posting unsubstantiated
family histories can perpetuate errors across the worldwide
computer network. Today, approximately 60 percent of the U.S.
population is interested in family history, up from 45 percent
in 1995. And about 35 million people have used the Internet
to research their family history.
Anyone interested in genealogy can easily find thousands
of Web sites on local genealogical societies, census data,
vital records, cemeteries and ethnic genealogy groups.
Looking for clues about your ancestors on the Internet is
worse than searching for the proverbial needle in a haystack.
But use the right tools and you'll be surprised at how lucky
you can get.
Begin with your own family. Find out who your great grandfather
is. Interview your oldest relatives, record births, deaths
and marriages.Create a 'family tree'. Focus on the male line,
if you so want, including siblings and wives.
Organising material is crucial, since you will be dealing with
a surfeit of data. Create dedicated folders in your computer
to store online documents, e-mail, scanned digital images and
others. Drawing out family trees on paper can be quite tedious
and may become impossible to maintain, especially because of
the frequent revisions the document is likely to undergo.
Search engines
These will play a seminal role in any search. If you don't
get what you want through Google, Yahoo! or Lycos, try specialised
search engines such as the International Genealogy Index (IGI),
an online database-cum-genealogy search engine run by the
Mormon church, available through the website familysearch.org.
The database contains close to a billion family names.
Genealogical software programs
Once you start gathering data, you are going to need the
help of genealogical software programs to help you organise
and sort the data.For starters, you can download free programs
at www.familysearch.org. These programs help you construct
your family tree and even organise and store images and video.There
are many such software programs available for download and
purchase on the Internet.
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