If there is one thing that I can impress upon you more than anything else, it is to start compiling the most critical data as soon as possible. The reason you want to do this now is because life can take some incredible turns at unpredictable times. With that in mind, you have to map out your strategy and take care of the most critical items first.
How do you determine what is most critical? You can go by this list of criteria.1. Interview the oldest living members of your family to gain as much knowledge about your geneology as possible – you never know how long you are going to have them around. Talk to them about life experiences and ask them to give any suggestions or advice that they would have for future generations. Make sure that this conversation is recorded, if possible, on a tape recorder or video camera. 90% of the knowledge you can gain about your family will be found in interviews – it’s the stories that families pass down. 10% will be the pictures, items, heirlooms and other artifacts that have been passed down. Yes, you have them and they are a part of your family history, but you won’t have the stories connected to those items that make them significant to your family history.
2. Compile a list of all of the oldest things that you own (or that are in the family’s posession). These would be items like heirlooms, china, silverware, pictures, paintings, furniture and antiques. Pay particular attention to items that you have little or no knowledge of at all.
3. Determine which of those items in step two are historically most important (for instance, old china, heirlooms, pictures…etc.) or those that you don’t have any knowledge of. Ask the elder members of the family about the items and see how much information you can get on them.
These are the first three steps that you need to accomplish before you even start on your own understanding of your family history. They allow you to gain only the oldest information that can be reliably backed up by a living family member. Other information about your family history you may have to hunt down on your own through doing research, but these steps are critical – even down to this moment.
Once you have these down, then you can start building the family history of your immediate family and connect the elder generations with the younger ones.
