Sunday, March 8, 2020

2020 Genealogy Class 1

On Tuesday, March 10, 2020, we will start our genealogy class, Researching Your Family History, at the Brevard Library in Cocoa, Florida. We'll be in Meeting Room 4, in the Genealogy department on the 2nd floor from 9:30 to 11:00. I'll be using this blog to post information for the students.

The first class is Getting Started and will introduce the basic forms used in genealogy research: the Family Group Sheet and the Pedigree Chart. A third form useful in genealogy is the List of Sources for Research to keep track of where we have looked and what we have found. We will also talk about looking for family records and how to cite our sources.

In the course syllabus there are many links to useful web  sites and it's my plan to put  some of them on this blog as clickable links. Here are some links for the first class:

Looking for blank forms? Start at Cyndi's List. It's also a good site to search for anything genealogical. Another good site with links is Linkpendium. Both are free.

One of the most important sites we use is Family Search. There, besides doing genealogy research, you can find blank forms . You need to register for an account on the site before you can access, but it's free. he web site address is Family Search . Another important feature of this site is the FamilySearch Wiki.  It's a wonderful learning site and it's free.

The Genealogy Department at the Cocoa library has many good How To books including Emily Croom's Unpuzzling Your Past, which we recommend. We will be taking a tour of the Genealogy Department in Class 2 and learn how to use all their great resources. Besides books on all areas of the country, they have subscriptions to some genealogy magazines. One of the best is Family Tree Magazine which every year publishes lists of the Best Genealogy Websites. They have blank forms and much more on their website at FamilyTree Magazine.
          
We're also going to talk about Thomas MacEntee's Genealogy Do-Over and Go-Over programs so here is a link to his 12 Steps to Better Genealogy Research: Genealogy Do-Over  .

In conclusion one of the best places for learning how to use the most popular research sites is the free Family History Guide. You can learn to use Family Search site and the pay sites like Ancestry, MyHeritage and Findmypast. They also have research pages for over 65 countries and all 50 U.S. States as well as several ethnic groups. There are links to thousands of top family history articles and videos. You could spend a month on this site!

Hope to see you Tuesday.

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