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Guides to Photo and Document Preservation and Sharing for Families and Community Historical Societies

Using Online and Local Genealogy Resources to Build a Family History

By R. Anderson - 5/2009

Both the interest in genealogy and the resources available are growing rapidly.  Historical family photos and documents provide research clues and help bring color to family history facts that are collected.

Sense of identity and place drive many of us to develop a strong interest in family history.  In the past, developing a family tree often meant contacting distant relatives and trips to other parts of the country or world to visit local libraries, town halls, cemeteries,  churches, and other repositories of documents.  One of the primary reasons many Genealogical Societies were established was to assist in hard copy research for out-of-town information requests.

Aided by the ongoing and accelerating transfer of genealogical information to online and searchable databases, genealogy research is becoming  both easier and more productive. 

 

Three Approaches to Genealogy Research

Now, a meaningful amount of online research can be done for many families in one of three ways. 

► Subscription Search Services - The growing interest in genealogy and the challenges presented by the volume of information have encouraged the development of services that use automated methods of gathering and filtering information to build, store, and share a family history.
► Paid Research - The number of independent genealogy researchers is growing to accommodate  the growing interest in genealogy.  These independent researchers are often the choice of those who have particularly challenging research requests, but do not have the time or expertise to conduct their own research.  
► Conduct Your Own Research - The growing volume of information available in searchable databases presents both an opportunity and a challenge to anyone attempting to conduct their own research. 

 

Subscribing to a Genealogy Research Service

The main advantage of subscription based genealogy sites is to take advantage of their search expertise and proprietary software to leverage information you provide to obtain the widest automated search possible.  The primary focus of many of these services is automate the search of genealogy information as more information is added to accessible online databases.  These services have developed a strong expertise in using software to search the maximum number of available international, national, and regional databases, and to identify links that may not be obvious to an independent researcher.  As information is gathered, filtered, and confirmed as relevant, this new information is then leveraged into additional searches by cross referencing and proprietary software that focuses on likely geographic regions, date ranges, spelling variations, and the like.

As additional database information is gathered, the subscriber can add commentary, photos, stories, and other forms of color to the information.  Additionally, the information can be stored at the service provider and shared with other family members online in a pleasing format.

Most such services provide a free trial period to convince you that their service will yield genealogy information for your family.  After the free trial period, the services typically offer a variety of monthly, quarterly, and annual pricing packages. 

Two of the best known and most commonly used of  these services are Ancestry.com and OneGreatFamily.

Hiring an Independent Genealogy Researcher

The number of independent genealogy researchers has grown with the overall interest in genealogy.  If you do not have the time or expertise to conduct your own research and/or your research needs are not being met in commonly used databases, independent research may make economic sense.  If the research is to be conducted locally, a good place to obtain researcher recommendations is by asking around at a local historical or genealogical society.

As the nature of requests, availability of the information, expertise of independent researchers, and charges will vary, it is important to be very clear about expectations and charges before an independent research project is started. 

If your independent research needs are in a different state or region, it may make more sense to hire someone who is local to that region.  A list of independent genealogy researchers is provided at the National Archives. 

 

Conducting Your Own Genealogy Research

If you are ambitious, there is no reason that you cannot conduct your own genealogy research on the internet.

A good place to start is by talking with members of a local historical or genealogical society to learn from the local experience of others and perhaps pick up some valuable tips and hints as to how to approach a broader national or international project. 

The Mormon Church is very well known for its commitment to genealogy research and its large and free databases.  If you plan to conduct your own genealogy research project, a good place to start is by visiting the Church's genealogy website at FamilySearch.org.  The site is user friendly and offers many good guides to the genealogy research process.  Research Guidance at the FamilySearch.org site is very useful.

A comprehensive list of both free and paid online genealogy research resources is CyndisList.  The list is extensive, but somewhat overwhelming, and not as well organized as resources at FamilySearch.org.

Another site of interest for your own research is USGenWeb.org.  This is a volunteer effort with plenty of useful guidance and links to local member volunteers who can be helpful locally.