What is a Family Bible?

If you are lucky there is a family Bible in your family. Family Bibles provided paper where families wrote records of births, marriages, deaths and other important events. Often they are the only record of important events that occurred within the family. For instance, an infant might have been born stillborn, or only lived a short time. This typically means the birth and death was never recorded anywhere except for the family Bible. There will likely be no census or baptismal record of this child. Small children often did not have a tombstone placed on their grave. In addition, marriage records may only be located in a family Bible. In the past many marriages were common law or church marriages with no written record. In addition, many official marriage records have been lost due to fires and floods. Great care must be taken when reading the information in a family Bible because the pages may be fragile while sunlight, skin oils and other contaminants can harm the delicate pages. Use special gloves that are acid free and created for old document research. Keep the book away from dampness, mold and bright light. Do not write on the pages or try to copy the pages with a machine because it will cause serious damage to the Bible. You can transcribe information from the family Bible pages into a newer book or online. Make sure to store the Bible properly in an archival acid free box or container.

The Gathering

Gather documents for further genealogy research. Find birth certificates, marriage certificates and licenses, death records, school records, military records and any other documents that contain names and dates of relatives or friends you are researching. Ask relatives if they have any documents for ancestors, just make a copy of those for your file. Old letters often have information that can be helpful and they definitely add dimension to your research. Find yearbooks and photos for extra documentation for your ancestry search. If you are very fortunate someone may have an old family bible with notes about your ancestors. Gathering documents is a process that will continue throughout genealogy research.

How to Begin - Remembering

To begin your family tree or research write down what you already know.  Write what you remember first.  Later you are going to determine if this information is accurate. Begin by writing your own name, birth date and place of birth.  Next add spouses and children to your list.  Now write your parents names and their information. List your siblings under your parent’s names.  You can also add stepparents or stepsiblings and half siblings.    Next add grandparent’s names and information.  Add your aunts and uncles and your cousins’ names and information.  Perhaps you also remember great aunts or great uncles names and some information concerning them. Anything you can remember – write it down!  The more you think about this the more you will remember.   This process may be quick for you or it may take time.  The more you work on this the more you will remember from family reunions and information you have heard from family members.

What got me started on my obsession - the story behind it all.

When the last census was beginning in 2010 I heard about how people could actually look at census records on the computer - I began the search for a few family names I knew - and I was hooked.  First of all I love research so spending hours (as many as possible) alone in front of a computer screen was my cup of tea!  It also involves a mystery - like Sherlock Holmes (or any other detective you enjoy) I have to find a clue here and a clue there to solve the puzzle.  Typically the answers are found a tiny piece at a time.  It requires great patience to search for answers to build a family tree.

Obsessed

Obsessed means the inability to stop think about something.

Genealogy

Genealogy is the study and building of a family tree or timeline of an ancestor or ancestors.