RESEARCHING, TIPS AND TACTICS |
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Tracing family lineage is now easier than ever, thanks to the Internet. The Social Security Death Index, which draws on more than six billion death-benefit recipient records starting in 1937, is now available on-line and is just one of many sources. Scores of other Web sites make it easy to find information. However, be forewarned that much of what is on the Web is akin to signposts, that is, lists of documents, but rarely the documents themselves, and much of the information posted on the Internet is posted by volunteers who transcribe cemetery headstones or newspaper obituaries – with predictable error. If you are interested in genealogy and want to pursue a family in your lineage, you must be willing to commit to a search that is bound to be both labor-intensive and time-consuming. To start, you must first decide on a data-collection system to record each new twig on the family tree. Computers, with their ability to organize massive amounts of data, are much preferred to cards or other manually inscribed data sheets collated into three-ring binders. Remember that for each generation back, the number of parents’ doubles; so that by the time you hit twenty generations, your database is up to more than a million. Once you have a system, record everything you know about your family. Then interview relatives, oldest ones first, obtaining exact full names, dates, places and as many details as they can remember. Copy all official documents: birth, baptism, marriage, and death certificates, school and medical records, Bible inscriptions, property records, and military papers. Genealogy unites families who have become splintered in today’s mobile society. Research not only provides unexpected results, but also opens new avenues of communication. Who knows, you may get to know your family in an entirely different light after reading this Heuer family history or through conducting your own research. |