So you want to “do” your family history?

In the past few years I’ve spent a fair bit of time in various libraries and historical facilities across Australia. When I’m there I regularly hear a number of people come in and expect the staff or librarian to perform magic for them.

In listening to and observing these exchanges there’s a few things that I think make it so much easier and will help you achieve a much better outcome.

Know what it is that you want to achieve

I don’t think that “I want to know about my great grandfather” really cuts it. It’s too open-ended and you could end up anywhere, let alone knowing where to start. Try to figure out what it is you want to do, know or find? Is it that you want to complete your family tree? Would you like to find when and how your great grandfather came to Australia? Would you like to know where an ancestor is buried? Would you like to know who used to own your house? Would you like to know where someone lived, went to school, was born etc.?

The reason for knowing this is that it’s going to make your job a lot easier as the place to start or focus will differ based on what it is that you want. If you don’t know then it’s possibly too early to start – take some time to think about it.

Do your homework

Another thing that I’ve observed is that people attend the library or facility with very little to no information already obtained. I can assure you that unless you are super lucky, knowing that your great grandfather was named “John Smith” and he came from Scotland is not going to make life easy. If you can, find out as much as you can before you start.

I’d recommend knowing as much of the following as possible:

• First, second and last name. (Very important)

• Date and place of birth – even year or decade will help.

• Spouse’s full name.

• Parent’s names.

What’s in a name?

Knowing as much of the full name of a person is the most important part. I’ll give you an example from something that I will publish shortly.

You can be excused for being a little confused with names and relationships between family members especially in nineteenth century Britain. Consider that only six Mercers or Lockharts (related families) really had anything to do with Australia (New South Wales, Van Diemen’s Land and then Victoria), we see the following:

1. George Dempster Mercer

2. George Duncan Lockhart Mercer

3. John Henry Mercer (actually known as Henry)

4. William Drummond Mercer

5. George Duncan Lockhart

6. William Mercer Lockhart.

Now bear in mind that these are six completely different but related people, all of whom had a presence or involvement with the settlement and development of Port Phillip.

In the course of my research, I have consistently seen confusion between George Dempster and his son George Duncan, between William Drummond Mercer and his nephew William Mercer Lockhart, and between George Duncan Lockhart and George Duncan Lockhart Mercer whose names except for one inclusion of “Mercer” are identical. Not confusing much at all really, is it?

Use some software

If you’re going to “do” your family tree then you’re going to need a tool to record it. I’ve seen someone use excel and do it all in that. What they produced was excellent but the amount of work that went into preparing it, let alone maintaining and updating it was horrendous.

Personally, for online recording we use Ancestry.com for genealogy work. We also use the associated Family Tree Maker for offline recording, notes, printing etc. There are others out there but this our choice and is one of the more common. It’s a good choice in Australia because institutions like Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV) and NSW Public Records have a relationship with Ancestry and publish some of their record sets on the platform.

Some of the trees that we’ve put together have over 3,750 people and over 5,000 records. Can you imagine doing that in excel? I’ll have to admit that I’m using the “we” here but in truth my fantastic wife is the expert at this part of it. But can you imaging trying to manage and maintain that many people, relationships and records. Do yourself a favour and use something designed for the purpose to manage your tree.

A recording and filing system

One of the secrets I’ve shared with a few is to use and follow a structured filing process. The reason for this is that you can end up with thousands of records and finding them again is key. Use a structured approach and file in it accordingly. Don’t be scared to start small and build it up as you go breaking bigger files into smaller ones as they grow. Come up with a structure and a system that works for you. And follow it!

Personally I use detailed folder structures for each “project”, or book as it is more for me these days. I also make sure that it’s backed up every day and that I have another copy on an external drive that I update regularly.

In addition, I like to get some things on paper. So in order to manage this I get a set of plastic sleeve folders for each project. You can get these from all sorts of places, one being Officeworks. Use these to file your papers whether they be copies of birth, death and marriage records; land titles; maps; pages from books; and printed out trees or manuscript. But make sure you file things in a way that you can find them again.

Don’t download everything – it’s a digital world

When I first started in researching people, places and events - let’s call it “history” - I used to like to download or print everything. A few things happened. I needed so many folders and storage places that it became expensive and impossible to manage. My consumables bills (paper, toner, etc.) went through the roof and then I had to remember where it was.

That’s when I realized that a lot of things don’t need to be printed or even downloaded. As long as I kept a record or a reference I could back to them quite easily. So today I very rarely download or print anything from Trove, Government Gazettes, PROV or SLV. Again a structure and a process is the key.

Writing the story

If you’re going to go one step further in your research from preparing the tree to telling the story think about what you’ll use to do that. One good option is something like Word or other word processing packages out there.

For the slightly more serious about it and especially where it will be long and complicated, or you like to work in an unstructured fashion think about some writing software. There’s plenty of options, my choice is Scrivener for a few reasons. First, it was written for the Mac, but has been ported to Windows now. Second, it was designed for the writer and allows me to write in a completely unstructured manner and then pull it together later. Third, it’s easy to use.

Regardless of what you choose, get your thoughts, ideas and notes into your software as soon as possible.

Use and keep a notebook

Even in this digital age it’s a must. Use and keep a good old notebook. Make notes on your thoughts and ideas; keep a to do list; record things to follow up; make your list for things to get at the library etc. I see a lot of people using a scrap of paper and always wonder what they do with them all and how they ever find them again, as inevitably you’ll want that note you made again.

Never go to the library or facility without your notebook, a pencil and a memory stick. Get used to using a pencil, never a pen as no library or records facility will let you use a pen. Pencil marks on a record can be removed – ink can’t.

Some resources

Websites

There’s some websites out there that you are going to need and use. I couldn’t even get close to listing the websites that you’ll need and come across because there’s a. so many but b. new ones every day. But there are some “go to” ones.

http://www.ancestry.com.au/

I’ve already talked about this but there’s no doubt whether you want to use it and subscribe you’ll need it. Remembering that you can do this for free at SLV or PROV. A bit more on that below.

http://trove.nla.gov.au

Under the control of the National Library of Australia, the Trove service is without a doubt the website I use the most. Within it is it’s online digitized newspapers – from across Australia. An absolute joy and fairly easy to use – searching’s a bit like google but has some quirks. More on searching below but Trove is an absolute must for births, deaths, marriages, shipping records, reports, articles etc.

http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au

This one’s a little more specialized and you might not even need this, but this site, through SLV is the archive for all Government Gazettes in NSW / Port Phillip and Victoria back to the beginning of it all.

Facilities / Libraries

Geelong Heritage Centre

For those in Geelong or with Geelong, Bellarine Peninsula and Western District ancestors this is a must. In a new facility on Geelong CBD it’s a must.

http://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/heritage/default.aspx

State Library of Victoria

This is my “go to” place for pretty much anything in genealogy, history, family history, books, maps and resources in Victoria. Get yourself a library card and enjoy – especially their free (for Victorians) access to a wide range of online records and sources.

http://www.slv.vic.gov.au

http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/explore/family-history-resources

Public Records Office Victoria

This one’s a little more advanced but there’s a fair chance you’ll end up here as well. The repository of public records in Victoria.

http://prov.vic.gov.au

Other tools of the trade

Digital camera

I started using a digital camera to record images. You’ll find that in a lot of cases you cannot photocopy so you are going to need a camera. In a number of cases I’d prefer a photo anyway as I can store it digitally in my filing structure as mentioned above. I soon decided that the camera on my iPhone was just as good and in some ways better to use. Today, unless it’s a field trip to a new location or an outside location I travel only with my iPhone. Another tip: if you’re going to spend a bit of time at a location get an external battery for your camera / phone. It makes life so much easier and removes the need to look for a power point.

Memory stick

Increasingly we’re living in a digital age so use the memory stick to download and capture records. You’ll need this at most facilities these days.

Keep at it – it takes time!

There will be days and times when it all seems too hard and you just cannot find what you’re after. But stick at it. Ask for help. Think laterally. Enjoy the process! And don’t think that you’ll do it all on one day, or in one visit unless it’s something pretty basic that you want to know. It takes time, it take iterations as you narrow things down, learn more and move through the process.

That’s it for this post.

Get amongst it and have fun out there!

Chris