Online Genealogy 101

Arlington Public Library

 Did you know?

Hillary Clinton+ Barack Obama+

Angelina Jolie= Brad Pitt=
9th cousins 9th cousins
Did you know?
 Did you know?
We are all related from someone that was alive
between 6000 and 1000 B.C.
 1
Genealogy Basics
• Gather information you already know
• Figure out what you don’t know
• Find where to find the information
• Compile the information from various
resources
• Make conclusions based on the
information
• WASH, RINSE, REPEAT
 2
Genealogy Basics
• Primary
• Ancestral Chart
• Family Group Form
• Source Summary
• Secondary
• Research Calendar
• Correspondence Record
• Other
• Census Forms
 3
Genealogy Basics
• Family Tree Magazine
www.familytreemagazine.com/forms/
• Bailey Family’s Forms
www.cs.williams.edu/~bailey/genealogy/
• Almost anywhere on the web and in
print…just make sure they are free!
 Genealogy Software
• New School
o GRAMPS
o Geni
o Kindo
o Ancestry.com
• Old School
o Family Tree Maker
o Legacy
o Personal Ancestral File
• GEDCOM - Genealogy Software format
Cite Your Sources!

Author
Title
Publication Details
Where You Found It
Specific Details
 Cite Your Sources!
• Death Certificate:
Ohio Death Certificate Index 1913-1937, The Ohio
Historical Society, online
<http://www.ohiohistory.org/dindex/search.cfm>, Death
certificate entry for Eveline Powell downloaded 12
March 2001.

• Census Record:
1920 U.S. census, population schedule, Brookline,
Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Enumeration District
[ED] 174, sheet 8, dwelling 110, family 172, Frederick
A. Kerry household; National Archives microfilm
publication T625, roll 721; digital image, Ancestry.com,
http://www.ancestry.com (accessed 28 July 2004).
 Starting to Search
10 Steps for Finding Your Family
Tree Online: A Blueprint for Genealogy
Research on the Internet, Kimberly
Powell, online About.com
http://genealogy.about.com/od/basics/a/
internet.htm (accessed 01 June 2008)
 Obituaries
Use with Library Card:
America’s Obituaries & Death Notices

Online Searching:
Legacy.com
National Obituary Archive (Arrangeonline.com)
 Obituaries
Legacy.com
 Obituaries
National Obituary Archive (Arrangeonline.com)
 Death Indexes
Use in the library:
Ancestry Library Edition

Online Searching:
Rootsweb
Family Search
Death Indexes
Family Search

Vs.

Ancestry Library Edition

 Cemeteries
Interment.net

Findagrave.com

Rootsweb
 Census
Our databases:

HeritageQuest
Ancestry Library Edition
 Census
Digitized images are from each decennial (ten
year) census from 1790-1930.
 Census Search Tips
HeritageQuest:
Head of household search only
Exceptions include:
People with different surnames
All people living in institutions (schools prisons,
etc.)
To learn who was considered head of household in
each census year see HeritageQuest Online
Help Files
 Census Search Tips
Ancestry:
• An asterisk "*" represents zero to six characters
(e.g., a search for "john*" might return "john,
johnson, johnsen, johnathon, johns", etc.).
• Any use of the asterisk requires at least the first
three letters of a name (you cannot search for
"Ad*", but could use "Ada*").
• A single character is represented by question mark
"?" (e.g., "Sm?th" equals both "Smith" and
Smyth").
 Census Search Tips
1890 Census:
Over 99% of the 1890 population
Alabama
schedules were destroyed in
District of Columbia
a fire Georgia
Of 62, 979,766 persons Illinois
enumerated in 1890, a total of Minnesota
6,160 names could be New Jersey
extracted from the surviving New York
North Carolina
schedules. The surviving
Ohio
fragments came from the South Dakota
following states: Texas
 Go on Location
USGenWeb
WorldGenWeb
 Researching Texas
• TX GenWeb
• Texas Census Finding Aid
• State Gen Sites-Texas
• Tarrant County
Visit the Library
Use Interlibrary Loan
 Message Boards
Ancestry
Rootsweb Mailing Lists
Yahoo Groups
Google Groups
 Family Tree Search
Rootsweb
Family Search
 Specialized Info
Our databases:

Handbook of Texas
Texas Digital Sanborn Maps
 Subscription Sites
Ancestry Personal Edition
Footnote
Genealogy.com