Climbing the family tree without leaving home - using personal information to trace family genealogy

American Visions, June-July, 1994 by Eileen Beal

Genealogy, like charity, begins at home. Before you start an ancestor hunt by mail, do your homework, recommends Ann Sindelar, the reference supervisor at Western Reserve Historical Society's genealogy library in Cleveland, Ohio. "Clean out the attic and basement, scan scrapbooks, get as much information as you can," she says, "so you can create family group sheets and pedigree [ancestry] charts." Once you have sheets and charts, you can begin your long-distance legwork.

Send form letters to the relatives whose names turned up when you did your homework; ask them for information and help. "You may find that other family members, particularly now, what with Roots, are also involved in a family search," says John Logan, the president of the African-American Genealogy Group in Philadelphia.

The most important documents you need in order to begin researching family lines are birth certificates, marriage certificates and death certificates. Vital records--"the vitals," in genealogical parlance--are available by writing to the state or county where the birth, death or marriage took place. So are records of property acquisition (deeds) and disposition (wills). The Genealogist's Address Book and the Vital Records Handbook (both published by Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc.) and the Handy Book for Genealogists (Everton Publishers Inc.) are invaluable resources for the addresses you'll need to get these basic, but vitally important, documents.

The vitals contain a wealth of "hidden" information. Death certificates, for instance, have spaces for recording. some or all of the following information: the time, cause and place of death; the deceased's birth date, marital status, home address and occupation; the spouse's name and birth date; the names and birthplaces of the deceased's partners; the name of the person giving information on the deceased; and the name of the undertaker and burial site.

Obituaries and death notices will expand bare-bones death certificate information. Both are usually available on microfilm in the library of the town cited on the death certificate. A telephone call to your local library will usually turn up that library's address. A letter to the town library requesting newspaper information on relative x who died in month y of year z, and a check for $5, will usually generate copies of the information you desire.

Once you have information from the vitals, you can branch out in your search for more information. And once again, you can do this by mail. After you have found out where a 20th-century ancestor or relative was born, married or died, send a short, catchy notice to the personal section of that area's local newspaper. Responses won't come in fast, but they will come. (You may also post a notice in the "Queries and Announcements" department of American Visions.

Be creative in your search. Because there is no major repository of African-American records, "you have to look at nontraditional resources," explains Philadelphia African-American Genealogy Group's Logan. "Formal oral histories are important for black genealogists because of things that are known but not written down." He also suggests exploring African-American churches, organizations, fraternities and societies, such as the Masonic lodge, as well as baptismal and military records.

To gain information on relatives whose roots you are tracing back into the 19th century, join the historical or genealogical society in that ancestor's geographic area--by mail. For a list of African-American historical and genealogical societies, see American Visions, December/January 1994.) Many genealogical societies are headquartered in libraries, and membership, usually between $12 and $25 a year, gives you access to their facilities, collections and newsletter--where you can usually advertise your research needs for free.

But collections and newsletters aren't really why you want to join a genealogical society by mail, according to Wayne B. Cook, the specialist in the Education Branch, Office of Public Programs, at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. "Long-distance membership," he explains, "puts you in touch with a large number of people-members who volunteer their services on your behalf, for free, who know the area, who know," he adds with a chuckle, "where all the bodies are buried."

To get a "feel" for the geography of the area you'll be researching when you become a long-distance society member, write to the state's department of transportation for the state map and to the county's engineer or commissioner for the county map. Include a self-addressed, gummed label and 52 cents worth of postage for same-day turnaround on your requests.

When you've done your initial long-distance research and have used it to create basic family relationship charts, ancestral pedigrees and family trees, it's time to branch out and do some long-distance sleuthing at the big-time institutions: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Center in Salt Lake City; the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and its 12 regional branches; the Federal document repositories scattered around the nation; and major state and local libraries and genealogical societies. There you'll find the primary and secondary documents that will give your family tree historic depth.