Family tree research
for your scrapbook

If you are considering creating a heritage scrapbook then some family tree research may be necessary. Putting names to old family photos is fine, but learning a bit more about the people in them can really make your family tree scrapbooking pages special. But where do you start?

Perhaps an ideal starting point is to talk to your oldest relatives. Try to jog their memories about things the photos don't tell you about the people pictured, such as...

The answers to these questions, and others, will help you to discover what sort of people they were.

Ask your relatives if they have any objects or documents that have been passed down through the family, which you could look at, and maybe photograph or scan into your computer. Maybe your family tree research will unearth a keen embroiderer, an excellent cook or an accomplished poet for example. You might also be lucky enough to find an old family bible with names and dates of your ancestors recorded within its pages.

Of course you may not have either mementos or older relations to help you. So what other ways are there to start your family tree research?

How do I trace my family tree?

Once you have exhausted your living relatives (not literally, I hope!) you will need to turn detective.

Start by plotting the details you do know onto a piece of paper, or input them into one of the many family tree software programs on the market.

Any gaps will need to be filled by researching records, either online or in person, such as..

By visiting these places you will be able to confirm the structure of your current knowledge and build upon it. The facts you need to confirm are the details on...

In turn these documents will give you more facts, such as the person's occupation, home address, and more importantly perhaps to progress your research, details of their parents. These will help you create a family tree that goes back even further into time.

You can order copies of these certificates from ancestry.co.uk or Ancestry.com.

If you manage to go back far enough you may also find family tree information in such places as the Doomsday Book, tax records, accounts of law suits, and what were known as commonplace books, the forerunner of today's scrapbooks.

Things to keep in mind

However, do be aware, that sometimes you can unearth information that is surprising to say the least! You may find some skeletons in the cupboard that no-one was aware of. Similarly you might come up against a dead end or find that your ancestors were not married or children were born out of wedlock.

Talking of children, if your family tree is anything like mine, you will find that parents had lots of them! Sadly, not all made it to adulthood, and often you may find children named after lost siblings. Unfortunately this can make your job more difficult.

You may need to be prepared to invest a little money in your family tree research, as copies of documents don't necessarily come for free.

You might also like to sign up for an online service such as ancestry.co.uk where you can build a family tree that others can add to. In fact you might just find that genealogy becomes a brand new interest in its own right.