Teaching Genealogy to Children

I’ve come to realize from my parents passing how important teaching a child Genealogy can be. I’m excited to announce Nancy Moore Smith will be Teaching Genealogy to Children.

The nice part of having Nancy teach this class is my sister and I can also take the class and you can as well. Just follow Nancy blog to see what we will be doing each week.

For additional resources check out the following websites:

Genealogy Today: Teaching Kids Genealogy

Family Tree 7 Genealogy Activities You Can Do With Kids

Or you can check into websites like Ancestry.com

For reading check online for books like Genealogy Online for Dummies or Genealogy for Dummies

It was suggested Charlie make 10 of the following sheets:

Family Group Sheet 

Husband: 

Birth: _________________________________ Birthplace: _________________________________________________ 

Marriage: _____________________________ Marriage Place: ______________________________________________ 

Died: _________________________________ Place: ______________________________________________________ 

Father: ___________________________________________Mother: _____________________________________________ 

Wife: 

Birth: _________________________________ Birthplace: _________________________________________________ 

Died: _________________________________ Place: _____________________________________________________ 

Father: __________________________________________ Mother: ______________________________________________ 

CHILDREN: 

Name: ___________________________________________________ 

Born: _________________________________ Birthplace: ________________________________ 

Married: ________________ Marriage Place:_________________________________________ Spouse: ____________________________ 

Died: _________________________________ Place: ____________________________________ 

Name: ________________________________ __________________ 

Born: _________________________________ Birthplace: ________________________________ 

Married: ________________ Marriage Place:_________________________________________ Spouse: ____________________________ 

Died: _________________________________ Place: ____________________________________ 

Name: ________________________________ _________________ 

Born: _________________________________ Birthplace: ________________________________ 

Married: ________________ Marriage Place:_________________________________________ Spouse: ____________________________ 

Died: _________________________________ Place: ____________________________________ 

Name: _________________________________________________ 

Born: _________________________________ Birthplace: ________________________________ 

Married: ________________ Marriage Place:_________________________________________ Spouse: ____________________________ 

Died: _________________________________ Place: ____________________________________ 

Name: ________________________________________________ 

Born: _________________________________ Birthplace: ________________________________ 

Married: ________________ Marriage Place:_________________________________________ Spouse: ____________________________ 

Died: _________________________________ Place: ____________________________________

Charlie’s Genealogy Project 

1. Why do you want to do genealogy? Is it for school, pastime, hobby, passion, legacy or just because? 

2. How much of your family history do you know? i.e. mother/father’s full names, grandparents both maternal (mother’s side) and paternal (father’s side). What about your grandparent’s children? Do you know their names and birthdays? Do you know their birthday, city, county, state as well as for death? 

3. Name 5 things you would like to achieve by doing genealogy research 

4. Genealogy is about story telling and learning of the history of our ancestors, does this pique your interest? Now remember though, there will always be the good, the bad and the ugly…even those moments that will make you scratch your head! Are you ready to get started? 

5. Starting now to build your family tree is very exciting. It will be something you can cherish for the rest of our life and for other generations. Are you willing to put in the work? Don’t worry if someone else in your family had done this…this is all about you. YOUR FAMILY…that’s what makes it fun and exciting. Hearing those stories, hunting for the photographs and making new connections with people you didn’t even know existed as a family member. 

Let’s begin creating your journey of ‘walking with the ancestors’! 

Let’s get started!!! 

SUPPLIES NEEDED: 

• Paper, (this can be a spiral, composition book, index cards or a binder with notebook paper in it). 

• Pen, pencils and maybe a couple of highlighters. 

• You will need something that can hold your research documents in that can be protected from the elements (especially photographs). This could look like a crate, plastic container (like a tote or small bin, but large enough that it would hold your binder if necessary). It could also be a bag of some kind like a laptop bag (these can be found at thrift stores a lot these days). 

• Index cards 

• Paper clips – to keep research together for specific people 

• Binders (at least 1 to 1/12 inch) (get 3 for now) – we’ll set them up Maternal and Paternal (binders can also be found in thrift stores from time to time) 

• Post it notes and / or flags (flags are another form of post it note) 

• Later, you might want to pick up an inexpensive voice recorder to capture those interviews where you could go back and pull research from the stories you heard. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t take shorthand and I sure don’t have a photographic memory of word for word that’s spoken. 

• Later, you might want to pick up something that can capture photographs (because you’ll be visiting different sites for research and you might want to snap a photo of your findings) 

• You’ll want to set up an online account to build your family tree in. Ancestry in my opinion is the best site to do this because of all of the records that are accessible through them. 

• Later, even sooner than later – you may want to do a DNA test! That will open many other people up to you that you’re related to and some may even surprise you. That’s something that doesn’t have to be done right now but put it on the back burner. We’ll discuss it again another day. (you might consider asking your living grandparents if they have done a DNA test and if not, would they be willing so you can capture that data in your research!) 

There are specific steps that must be put in place for you to be successful at genealogy. You don’t want to rush right on in to collect names and forget about starting at A before moving to Z. 

You’ll want to capture the memories from those who are still among us before they are forgotten or gone. 

Remember, the only dumb question or questions are the ones not ever asked. 

You will want to preserve original or copies of all the old photographs and documents. Identifying those pictured in photos from those relatives who know. 

We want to build your interest and your confidence, so let’s start slowly putting these pieces together. 

Don’t get overwhelmed! (because trust me, it can get that way at times…) 

You want to tell a story on the life or lives of your relatives. 

You’ll want to share your results either on a blog, or a group page. 

You’ll want to keep a research log to record clues and possible theories you want to prove. (when I started searching for my birth father – I looked like an FBI investigator- I had flip chart papers all over my walls with post it notes and names all over it. It was like my timeline to prove my theories). 

Always stay open minded. You will hit those brick walls – but don’t despair. This is what makes genealogy research fun and exciting. Thinking outside of the box! We just never know when an ancestor who has been a brick wall for so many people suddenly has a breakthrough. Wouldn’t you like to be that person that solves a mystery like that? I know I sure would…! 

You’ll want to protect your research. Treat it like a million dollars. You have invested the time, energy, research into your family genealogy – Cherish it. Afterall, they are your ancestors!!! This will be your family legacy! 

As your interest grows, you will want to expand your genealogical education. Whether it’s going to a Genealogical Society at a local library, or attending conferences, or other types of trainings. You will get out of this project what you put into it. Think long term…what kind of family memories do you want to capture for generations to come? 

From time to time, you will want to reassess your goals and objectives. You may have thought you knew about your family heritage only to learn, that you didn’t really know much of all. After all, we are only people – right?! 

Enough of this for now…. let’s start learning about your family history. 

January’s assignment to begin this work: 

1. Interview your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles. Think up at least 10 questions for starters that you would like to ask them about their life. (the questions will be asked separately, and you will record their answers separately – you might want to plan on separate interview times). 

For example: I’m going to interview my mother. I might ask these questions: 1. what is / was your full birth name? 2. what date were you born? 3. Where were you born – capture city, county and state). 4. Did/do you have siblings? If so, what are their names? 5. What were your father and mother’s name? 6. did you know them? 7. What are some memories you have of them? 8. Tell me about your house growing up. What did it look like? (what are some of 

your memories of it) 9. What were some of your favorite childhood pastimes? 10. Who were your childhood friends? 

(remember, when you are thinking about the questions – you will want to write them down – leaving plenty of room to capture their responses. You will want to ask the same questions to each set of people. Mother/father, grandmother/grandfather, Aunt/uncle – on maternal and paternal lines if possible). At the top of your paper, be sure to capture their name / MOM – her full name or DAD – his full name, etc. 

Okay – You will work on this until February 15th. Then we’ll move forward with the next steps. 

Have fun Charlie…I can’t wait to see what you come up with!!! If you have any questions,

Thank you,

Glenda, Charlie and David Cates