Leave a Legacy for Your Family on Ancestry

 

     Photo by Annie Spratt

   Leave a legacy for your family on Ancestry and start them on a path of discovering their roots.  This is such an exciting hobby for you to experience while unlocking the past adventures and accomplishments of those that preceded you, ultimately defining who you are today. As you search through documents, old photographs, legal papers, and other peoples trees a whole new world will open up and facts that will begin to answer the questions about your origin.

     The information that you discover about passed on grandparents and remembered great grandparents and their siblings can often be a mind blowing experience.  Especially when researching other peoples trees many unanswered questions quickly come to life and some discrepancies start to make sense in ways you can't possible imagine.  Most of these discoveries are authenticated with legal documentation.

    There are so many resources to start you on your journey.  I started my research at the local library.  County land records, newspaper archives, and the census are other resources that provide valuable information.  Spend a day at your local cemetery for even more information gathering and picture taking of headstones for your records and citations.  Visiting relatives and getting all the information they can recall will catapult your research to amazing new heights. Especially older family members that may not receive visitors often will enjoy your company and provide lots of little nuggets that can become valuable later on.  Old family bibles have births and marriages recorded in those as well.

     I will provide a list of sites for you to start you on the right path to an interesting and enlightening hobbies that will benefit those that come after you for years to come.

• Ancestry
• One Great Family
• My Heritage
• Genes Reunited
• Genealogy Bank
• Archives.gov
• FamilySearch.org
• CyndyisList.com
• Ellisisland.org
• US Gen Web Project
• Findagrave.com

     This is not an exhaustive list by any means.  There is a plethora of resource available locally and online.  I can ensure you that your journey will be an eye opening experience.  Furthermore, it will introduce you to family you never knew you had.  You will inevitably make new and long lasting bonds.  You will always find family members trying desperately to ensure some secrets never see the light of day.  You will  feel like a modern day Sherlock Holmes. 

      There are many templates online to record your family trees.  You should also publish them online on genealogy websites for others to find.  Keep a notebook with your research because it will become the most popular item at family reunions.  

       One thing I would caution against even though it is increasing in popularity is the DNA testing offered at some of these sites.  The reasoning behind this is the lack of regulation at this time regarding the protection against the misuse of this very vital information.  This is something you should be diligently researching first.  In any case, if you want a hobby that never gets old, then leave a legacy for your family on Ancestry that they will cherish forever.