• What About Other Family History Tools?

In case you weren’t aware, there are actually LOTS of tools to help with family history research. There are

• family history data sources, which store genealogical data (eg ancestry.com, billiongraves.com, genuki.org.uk, etc)
• family tree builders, where you record information obtained from data sources on either your private computer or in an online database (eg Ancestral Quest, Legacy Family Tree, Roots Magic, etc)
• wikis, blogs, and other sources of knowledge, where you can read and learn about this wide world of family history (eg the Family Search Wiki, blogs, and family history centers)
• family tree analyzers, which automatically inspect your family tree and point out what information is missing that you should research (eg find-a-record.com and others)
• living relatives, who may give you a jump start if you’re just starting off (eg grandparents)

So what does this site do for you?

1. Record your research goals
2. Record what research work you’ve already done, so you don’t repeat it and remember what clues you already found
3. Record research tips, categorized so they will be instantly suggested to those who would benefit most from them

So where does this site fit into that mix?

Here is one way you could approach family history

1. Find a family tree builder that you would like to use; either a program you install on your personal computer, or an online database, or maybe just use a pencil and paper initially, it’s up to you.
2. Ask relatives for all the information they know and record it in your family tree builder of choice
3. Is your next research goal (ie what you want to find next) obvious?
   1. If yes, (eg you don’t know your great-grandparents’ birthdates and places) record them in this site
   2. If no, (eg you were given a dizzying amount of family history information) consider using a family tree analyzer to figure out what needs to be done next
4. Use the first research tips presented to you from this site
5. Did the research tip work for you?
   1. If yes, record that the research tip worked for your goal, record the information in your family tree
   2. If not, record that the research tip did not work for your goal, and move onto the next tip;
6. If none of the research tips worked for you, use wikis, blogs, and other sources of family history knowledge to learn about other ways to do the research, and create new research tips in this site to organize them for future users

Questions? Suggestions? Please contact us.