This document provides tips for researching family history and genealogy. It begins with suggestions on where to start the research process such as investigating home documents and contacting family members. It then discusses online resources like ancestry.com and familysearch.org to search records like census data, vital records, maps and newspapers. The document cautions that census records require careful analysis due to errors and provides examples of common pitfalls. It concludes with ten tips for preserving family history findings.

1. Research Your Heritage
Genealoogy
Online Census Research)
October 30, 2017
Warren Public Library
Celebrating Family History
Month

2. Where to begin?
Start with yourself and work
backwards

3. Remember…
If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your
closet, you'd best teach it to dance."
--George Bernard S
haw (1856-1950)

4. Investigate
Search your home for old papers, official
documents, letters, newspaper clippings,
photo albums, to name a few.

5. Contact family members
Call, write or email other family members.
(Your siblings or cousins may know things
you don’t!)
If you plan to visit , take along devices to
record voice, still pictures or video.
Be sure to ask to see any old family pictures
– take along a portable scanner or a good
quality camera on your phone to make your
own copies.

6. RootsWeb Guide to
Tracing Family Trees
http://www.rootsweb.
ancestry.com/~rwguide/
Over 30 general subjects,
sources, country and ethnic
group links & more.

7. Be organized
http://www.warrenlibrary.net
Go to Research tab, then Recommended Websites
• Click on the WPL Genealogy Page – scroll down to
the subject of FORMS and use either Ancestry.com
or Family Tree Magazine’s selection of forms.

8. IMPORTANT – Cite your sources
Write down the source of the information – is
it from:
A. Family member
B. A legal document
C. Newspaper or book
D. An Internet website
JUST BECAUSE IT’S WRITTEN
DOWN DOESN’T MAKE IT TRUE

10. SOFTWARE
Family Tree Maker (2018) There is also has
an iPad and iPhone app.
Google; Best free genealogy software 2018
http://www.toptenreviews.com/software/ho
me/best-genealogy-software/

11. Advantages of using the
computer…
Enter a person’s information in once – and
it can be printed out in a variety of ways.
Save your information on the computer and
on portable memory devices, like a flash
drive
CAVEAT – Print out information, backup
on flash/thumb drive and share with others
– in case your computer files get corrupted
or the technology changes

12. The Cloud…
You can now save information online and
access it from any computer…some free,
some for a fee (two examples)
www.ancestry.com provides this with a
membership, as does www.familysearch.org
(the Mormon church) which is free.
But don’t save your information to a cloud
source alone…just in case.

13. Basic Information
Names Names are often misspelled. One
census noted that the name SMITH had 34
different spellings. Keep a list of the
different ways you find your name spelled
Also, remember to search using nicknames,
middle names, and initials.
DATES – 08 October 2015
Write dates out in full – saves a lot of
confusion later on

14. Locations
City (County) State /Province, COUNTRY
Warren (Macomb) MI USA
Blaencwm (Ystradyfodwg) Glamorgan
WALES
Public records are often kept at the county,
parish or province level, rather than city.

15. LOCATIONS (Geography)
Boundaries changed over time, large
counties divided into smaller ones, and
places were renamed.
1870 Bucks Township (Luzerne) PA
1880 Lehigh (Lackawanna) PA
is the same location

16. MAPS

17. Obituaries
Many libraries and historical societies have
newspaper microfilm collections.
Macomb County Obituary Index
http://www.mtclib.org/search/obitindex.php
coverage begins in the 1880’s to the present – but
it’s still a work in progress.
Check the local paper where your ancestor lived at
the time of death, and their hometown paper.

18. CEMETERY RESEARCH
Find-A-Grave
Listed on the library
Genealogy Web Page
Searching for Casper
Houser/Kasper Hauser

19. Research strategy
Create a Biographical Outline – a timeline
of one ancestor’s life from birth to death in
chronological order
Some topics to include:
Birth, marriage and death dates
For each census year, include the city,
county and state where they lived.
Children's birth dates
Year of immigration

20. VITAL RECORDS
Vital records are:
1. Birth
2. Marriage
3. Divorce
4. Death
http://vitalrec.com/index. html
If possible, obtain a copy of the vital records
of each of your direct ancestors

21. WWW.WARRENLIBRARY.NET
Click on the RESEARCH tab
DATABASES
Ancestry Library Edition – for use in the library
only
Heritage Quest – use at the library and at
home!
• The best database to start with –
THE FEDERAL CENSUS

22. Background of the
US Federal Census
BRIEF HISTORY
1790-1840 - limited usefulness
1850-1880 - each person listed
1890-destroyed by fire (except for
fragments)
1900-1930 - more information but different
questions asked each census
The 1940 census became available
on 1 April 2012

23. What can the census tell you?
From 1850 to 1940, various details are provided for all
individuals in each household, such as:
names of family members
their ages at a certain point in time
their state or country of birth
their parent's birthplaces
year of immigration
street address
marriage status and years married/or age when first
married
occupation(s)
value of their home and personal belongings

24. Questions were added, changed or
removed from each census
The 1930 census asks if the family owned a
radio – high technology back in the day!
1900 census gives the month and year of
birth, as well as number of children a
woman gave birth to and how many were
still living.

25. Start with the most recent census
and work backwards
1940 is the most current census available
Blank forms are available online for each
census year at Family Tree Magazine
With Heritage Quest, you can send
information you find back to your email

26. Soundex
The Soundex system is a method of indexing
names in the 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 US
Census. In it surnames are coded from the
way they sound rather than how they are
spelled.
Soundex can also aid genealogists by identifying
spelling variations for a given surname.
Your Michigan driver’s license uses the Soundex
code.

27. Roots Web’s Surname to
Soundex Converter
http://resources.rootsweb.com/cgi-
bin/soundexconverter
This is the easy way to search for your
soundex number 
Heritage Quest allows you to search the
census in a variety of ways, including
Soundex.

28. Watch out for these pitfalls –
Pitfall #1 Believing Everything You Read
Assuming …
that any or all of the information in the census
records is correct. The enumerator may have
asked the neighbors. Your ancestor may not
have spoken English well, or at all, or could
have misunderstood various questions. And, the
spelling skill of many of the census takers was
poor, to say the least. Verify all census
information with other sources.

29. Pitfall #2 Who’s the Daddy?
Assuming…
the children belong to the couple they
are enumerated with (unless
relationships are specified). They may be
nieces and nephews, grandchildren, or
even unrelated. Enumerators often got
carried away with the ditto marks.
Step-children are often mistakenly put under
the step-fathers’ last name.

30. Pitfall #3 Two wives, same name
Assuming
the children listed are those of the wife
listed. They may be, but sometimes are
not. Men have been known to marry
women with same given name. Always
search for marriage records. Re-marriage
was frequent as many women died in
childbirth, leaving the father with young
children to care for. The solution was to
find a wife — and quickly.

31. Pitfall #4 Family or Commune?
Assuming…
that all the people listed in the families
on the 1790 to 1840 censuses are related.
They could have been farmhands or
miscellaneous relatives living with the
family. Often several families resided
together.

32. Pitfall #5 Visiting parents
Assuming…
when a head-of-household is no longer
enumerated with the family that he or
she is dead. The "old folks" may have
gone to live with a son or daughter.
Always search for them in the homes of
their children

33. Pitfall #6 Misleading death information
Don't assume a person was still living
at the time of the census. The
enumerator was instructed to take
down the names of the family as it
was composed on the official date of
the census, not the day of the visit.

34. Pitfall #7 Pay attention to location
Enumerations were generally done by
townships. Pay attention to the
township in which you find your
ancestors. When searching in
unindexed records, or if you can't find
your ancestors in an index, locate a
map that shows the townships, then
check the census for that township.

35. Pitfall #8 Errors are everywhere
Use indexes and Soundexes with
caution. There are errors and
omissions in all of them. If you know
(or strongly suspect) your family was
living in a particular county, read the
entire census for that locality.

36. Pitfall #9 Don’t ignore other household members
Looking for a specific person can occasionally be
difficult for a variety of reasons. Focusing only on
that person may make the search more difficult
than necessary.
If you know the names of other household or
family members, consider searching for them as
well. as they may be easier to find than the person
for whom you are actually “looking.”
Also consider looking for neighbors of your
relatives that appeared in the previous census.

37. Pitfall #10 Do You Know All the Name Variants?
Searching often requires looking for names
besides the “right” one. Elizabeth may have been
enumerated as Betty or Lizzie. Names in the
census could easily have been based upon middle
names as well.
Consider making a list of all spelling variants for
your surname, including variations based upon
phonetics and handwriting. Also bear in mind that
in some cases individuals were enumerated using
only initials.

38. Pitfall #11
Are You Looking in the Right Place?
Are you absolutely certain where your
ancestors were living at the time of the
1920 census? Your ancestors may be in an
unexpected place. It is possible that they
lived in a place for such a short time that
living family members have no recollection
of the residence. Even ancestors who tended
to “stay put” may have lived in a different
location for a short time.

39. Census research internationally
Canada 1901 -
http://automatedgenealogy.com/census/index.jsp
Norwegian (How to trace your family history in
Norway) Click on census returns
http://digitalarkivet.uib.no/sab/howto.html
UK Census http://www.ukcensusonline.com/?
gclid=CJ2Z9K_Ss8gCFQcQaQodBnEMyQ
Use the WorldGenWeb
http://www.worldgenweb.org/ to check other
countries for census information

40. HERITAGE QUEST
Databases vs. Websites
When the library uses the term “database” it
refers to a website of collected information
that our library or the State of Michigan
usually has paid for a subscription for
library patrons to access.
HERITAGE QUEST is a database the State
of Michigan offers for free to Michigan
residents

41. Databases on Heritage Quest
Census 1790-1940
Books – 40,000+ digitized searchable
books, including City Directories
Periodical Source Index (PERSI)
Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty
Land Warrant Application Files
Freedman’s Bank Records
U.S. Serial Set Private Relief Actions,
Memorials and Petitions.

42. CENSUS
HeritageQuest Online includes all of the
images, and extensive indexing, from the
1790 – 1940 U.S. federal censuses.

43. The U.S. Federal Census Collection now
has even more content
1850 & 1860 U.S. Federal Census Slave
Schedules
1890 Veterans Schedule
Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-
Population Schedules, 1850-1880
U.S. Enumeration District Maps and
Descriptions, 1940

44. (continued)
U.S. Federal Census - 1880 Schedules of
Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent
Classes
U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules,
1850-1885
U.S. Special Census on Deaf Family
Marriages and Hearing Relatives, 1888-
1895
U.S., Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940

45. Military Records
Ancestry.com subscription databases:
World War I Draft Registration Cards
U.S. WWII Military Personnel Missing in
Action or Lost at Sea 1941-1946US
World War II Army Enlistment Records,
1938-1946
1890 Veterans Census (Civil War research)

46. National Military Records
12 July 1973 Fire
Army –Personnel discharged November 1,
1912, to January 1, 1960 –80% lost
Air Force
–Personnel discharged, September 25, 1947,
to January 1, 1964 (with names
alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.)
75% lost
Not all records were at the center at the time
of the fire

47. Letter requesting pension
Thomas Knecht – Civil War vet

48. Pension Files

49. Ten Ways to Preserve Your Family History
Number 1
LEAVE A PAPER TRAIL
Use the techniques described in this workshop to search
for as much of your family’s history as you can – print
out the results and put in a notebook.
DON’T just leave loose papers in a file drawer!
Distribute copies to family members. (Whether they
want one or not)

50. Number 2
IDENTIFY WHO’S WHO IN YOUR
IMPORTANT FAMILY PICTURES
Go through older family photographs and
use a photo-safe pen or pencil to write on
the back who’s who. Don’t assume that in
50 years everyone will just “know” .

51. Number 3
SCAN IMPORTANT FAMILY
PHOTOGRAPHS – Scan and save one-of-
a-kind pictures. Store on your computer,
plus flash drives and CD’s, share through
email and/or place online.
Your family members can then print out
pictures at home or email to a store to print

52. Number 4
RECIPES – Make copies of favorite family
recipes and who they came from; place in a
notebook or save on a computer disk, flash
drive or on a website. Perhaps next to the
recipe, include a picture of the chef at work
preparing it!

53. Number 5
SCRAPBOOK YOUR HERITAGE – Join
the scrapbooking craze & make a scrapbook
of your family history (there are many how-
to books available). Scrapbooks can be on
paper or live on your computer digitally.

54. Number 6
INTERVIEW AND/OR JOURNAL –
Interview family members of all ages, but
especially the oldest generation and record
them.
MAKE COPIES and share. Create a list of
questions everyone will answer, as well as
general questions. Through journaling,
photographs or taping, share what your
family is like TODAY, not just the past.
Hobbies, traditions, recipes, games, private
jokes – what’s special in your family?

55. Number 7
MEDICAL HISTORY – Include medical
condition and cause of death while
researching your family members, since
many diseases and medical conditions are
hereditary.
(Note – be sensitive to family that do not wish
the cause of death to be included)

56. Number 8
CREATE A FAMILY WEBSITE OR BLOG
OR FACEBOOK PAGE
Share news, post photographs, have online
family discussions and “meetings”, keep
track of birthdays, addresses, etc.

57. Number 9
FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER – If you live
in or near the historic family homes or
burial grounds, take pictures of the houses
and cemetery headstones.
Basically, that’s what Find-A-Grave is!

58. Number 10
Write YOUR life story (even if it’s just a
couple of pages) – YOU are just as
important as any long-gone relative you’re
searching for, especially to your children
and grandchildren.