A Family Tree

LEARNING ABOUT your family history and origins can be a rewarding experience. Once you have information you can start creating a family tree, a visual representation of your family. Find out more about your history in this activity.

1. Research Your Family Name.

Using information from your family and the Internet, see if you can track down the origin of your family name (surname). What nationality does it come from? Does your surname have a special meaning?

2. Learn from Older Family Members.

No doubt you hear family stories whenever relatives come together for reunions or holidays. Ask if there are family letters or Bibles that might have information. However, your biggest resource will be older family members, such as your grandparents. Start with yourself and work backward. Record names, birthdates, marriages, and dates of deaths. Where did these family members live? Where were they born? What were their occupations?

3. Create a Family Tree.

With a large piece of paper, draw a small vertical line at the bottom center of the paper to represent the trunk of your “tree.” Write your name directly above the trunk. Make horizontal lines nexttoyour name to represent your siblings.

Draw two parallel lines coming up from your name. Put each of your parents atthetopofa line. Next to their names, you can write their siblings— your aunts and uncles.

Above your father’s name, you will fill in his parents, and so forth. Do the same for your mother’s “branch” of the family. Get complete names, particularly maiden names of women. The further you go back, the more last names will be added to your family tree. Add birthdates and birthplaces if you can.

How far can you go back? Chances are that you will find some gaps. You can do research to fill in some of the gaps. Databases, Social Security records, birth and death registries, and old newspapers can sometimes provide more answers. Genealogy libraries located in many communities can help people with their research.

Imagine not being able to go back for more than a few generations because the history of your family has been destroyed. How does that make you feel?