The Perfect Tree

I am the baby of three children; both of my parents are still alive, though, none of my blood grandparents are. I will be the first to tell you that my upbringing wasn't exactly the traditional sort. My dad was always working. My mom basically raised us alone. My sister on the other end of the country. When we didn't have sitters, we were at the family business, running around causing trouble. Let's be honest, not exactly the childhood dream. But I had a great childhood. Sometimes my family can drive me utterly insane! That doesn't mean that I stop loving them.

So this got me thinking.  Why is my family a little coo-coo for coconuts? Maybe someone or something can give me a little insight on where we came from. This is where I started.

 

1. Start your family tree

Your immediate family often holds the key to starting your family history research. Record the memories of your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and cousins as you start exploring your family tree online. Ask each relative about specific individuals and gather details surrounding their lives including nicknames, places they lived, vital information (including birth, marriage, and death dates), occupations, and other important clues. Enjoy a free questionnaire below to get started with your family history.
 

2. Search your home for scrapbooks

Family scrapbooks often yield important clues for family history research. Examine your home for vital records (birth certificates), school records, family bibles, diaries and letters, old photographs, and memorabilia boxes that tell stories about your family.
 

3. Start with the family history basics

Use your initial research for your first searches and then analyze your results to achieve a personal success strategy. Following the family history golden rules will help you become a more efficient researcher and hopefully lead to greater rewards in your family search.
 

4.Start your online family tree

Build your online family tree to organize your results. Keeping your research and records organized is important as you continue to find new details related to your family. Enter important information, including names, dates, and places to build a solid foundation as you continue exploring your family history.
 

5. Start with a family story

When building your family tree, identify a potential story about family that you are interested to begin exploring. Aim to uncover both newspaper archives and records relating to your family’s stories in your research. Stories can include military service (such as exploring World War I military service records), occupational stories (memories of a first paycheck or time spent as a Merchant Marine), educational memories (attending high school or college) or a family legend (being descendant from a prominent individual in American history or confirm stories of a renegade ancestor with detailed criminal records).
 

6. Join the family history conversation

Join a network of family hisorians both experienced and new on social networking resources (like findmypast's Facebook and Twitter) to make new connections and gain insight on how to expand your family history resources.

Staying tuned to the findmypast.com blog for latest record updates and podcasts to help expand your family history search. Read genealogy articles and watch YouTube videos related to family history to start building your knowledge base of records and methods for tracing your family tree.
 

7. Search the U.S. census

The U.S. Federal census is the largest resource for family history and is a solid starting place for examining your family tree. Starting with the newly released 1940 US census, trace parents and grandparents through the census, recording their names, ages, birthplaces, immigration details, occupations, and residences as your build out your family tree.
 

8. Search one family story at a time

Focus on one or two families at a time to help organize your research and increase your productivity. Select one or two families that interest you, rather than trying to tackle your entire family tree at once. Spend time gathering information and documenting your family in small pieces as you work towards the larger goal of filling out your family tree.
 

9. Gather materials from relatives

Your relatives will likely have important resources in their homes that can assist your search. Family bibles, letters, certifications, and other important materials might be only a phone call away. Some family members might have old genealogical information from other relatives who have also worked on the family history that can help jump start your search.
 

10. Find a Family History Society

Connect with other genealogists and family historians through a local genealogical society or family history event in your area. You can also post questions to online forums for others to answer when you need help with your research. Attending local classes about family tree research, family history records, and how to avoid brick walls is an important step to finding answers for beginners and advanced genealogists alike.

 

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Some people go a little further into their search where they actually do a DNA search for siblings, parents, and other relatives. Genetics is a complex field with lots of details to keep straight. But when you get a handle on some key terms and concepts, including the structure of DNA and the laws of inheritance, you can start putting the pieces together for a better understanding of genetics.

TIME FOR A SCIENCE LESSON!

 

Glossary
Alleles: Alternative forms of a gene

Autosomal chromosome: A non-sex chromosome

Chromosome: A linear or circular strand composed of DNA that contains genes

Diploid: An organism with two copies of each chromosome

DNA: Deoxyribonucleic acid; the molecule that carries genetic information

Dominant: A phenotype or allele that completely masks the presence of the other, recessive allele in the heterozygote

Gene: The fundamental unit of heredity; a specific section of DNA within a chromosome

Genotype: The genetic makeup of an individual; the allele(s) possessed at a given locus

Heterozygote: An individual with two different alleles of a given gene or locus

Homozygote: An individual with two identical alleles of a given gene or locus

Locus: A specific location on a chromosome

Nucleotides: a compound consisting of a nucleoside linked to a phosphate group. Nucleotides form the basic structural unit of nucleic acids such as DNA.

Phenotype: The physical characteristics of an individual

Recessive: A phenotype or allele exhibited only when homozygous

 



 

DNA is made up of long chains of nucleotides. To make a complete DNA molecule, single nucleotides join to make chains that come together as matched pairs and form long double strands. Each nucleotide is comprised of the following:

• A five-sided (pentose) sugar called deoxyribose
• A phosphate
• One of four nitrogen-rich bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, or thymine

Nucleotides are joined together by phosphodiester bonds. Nucleotide chains are antiparallel and complementary






So all of that science jargon aside, there are sites that are available to help you in your search. The very popular Ancestry.com is a common one you'll see on TV commercials and internet ads. Ancestry does have the availability to search with vital information such as names, dates, locations, etc, but also has the option to search via DNA, military records, and even obituaries.

They even have an ancestry blog that posts relatively often that they describe as,

"Here you will find informational, and sometimes fun, posts from the folks behind the scenes here at Ancestry. We hope you’ll notice just how passionate we are about family history and about the products we’re building to help connect families over distance and time."

You can even send a subscription to someone as a gift! Honestly, I understand why it is the most popular of all the sites out there to check your Genealogy.

Another very viable site that can be used for this sort of searching is Omni Trace. Their site openly states their testimonial success stories right on the home page! It has the availabilities to search for a unknown family members to long lost friends to background checks to missing person searches. 

"OmniTrace–The People Search Experts–was founded in 2001 specifically to locate missing people and to reunite biological families separated by adoption. Today, in our 14th year in business, OmniTrace has grown into a renowned private investigative agency (Lic. #2200304). We now also serve the banking, insurance, clinical trial and legal communities.

We are still best known for our adoption related searches, estimating we’ve reunited more birth parents and adoptees than all other search companies combined. In addition, we have located tens of thousands of old friends, beneficiaries, deadbeat dads, child support skips, heirs, classmates, lost loves, military buddies, and many others.

If you are interested in our adoption services we will provide an evaluation to determine if you have enough information to start a search. While we cannot guarantee we will locate your birth mother or adopted child, we will provide a professional investigation and every client will receive a detailed report of our results. A licensed investigator will review the results with you, should you have questions."

 

Omni Trace also has an available blog that discusses personal experiences with clients to different routes of search and availabilities that they offer.

here's a short list of other available sites to check out if you're serious about finding...someone!

My Heritage
Family Tree Now
Family Tree Builder
Been Verified

 



I grew up with my immediate family. I spent enough time with my aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc. I was fortunate enough to get that treasure.  But not everyone is as lucky as I am.

Did You Know?  Each year in the United States, about 51,000 American children are placed for adoption. In addition, about 6,500 foreign children are adopted by Americans, for a total of a little under 58,000 children adopted per year. There are no national statistics on how many people are waiting to adopt, but experts estimate it is somewhere between one and two million couples.

Knowing this, is why many of these sites got started. Sadly, that number is increasing every year. Think about that number. That is just the children. Multiply that number by three to include the parents and even a few more times for any other relatives in search. That is the amount of people that would benefit from sites like these.  I applaud the people that began this venture and everything that they stand for while they bring people together.