Lawrence Compagna - Genealogy: Tools, Tricks and Tips for Putting Together Your Family Tree

Genealogy

Tools, Tricks and Tips for putting together your familytree

By Lawrence Compagna

First edition copyright 2019

Build 1.6221

All rights reserved.

All photographs and illustrations containedin this book are either in the public domain or labeled as CreativeCommons.

Painting on title page: Pieter Bruegel theElder - The Numbering at Bethlehem

Edited by AMC

Published by Candco Publishing, a division ofthe Candco Corporation.

Robert Frost

Note to reader:

As you go through this book be aware thatthere is a glossary in the back. If any of the terms used confuseyou, a definition or explanation may be available in the glossarythat can clear things up.

Perhaps you live in Bristol, or Whitehorse?Perhaps you are temporarily living in a hut in New Caledonia? Maybeyou are renting a cabin on the shores of Lake Geneva?

It does not matter where you live in theworld, we all share one trait: we all want to know who ourancestors were. We want to know if Genghis Khan, Cleopatra, orPocahontas were among our kin. Are we descended from desperados,despots or do-gooders? Why am I like the way I am?

Am I Italian or Iraqi? Am I Filipino orFrisian? Do I have any Native American blood? Am I descended fromthe chosen people?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I am here tohelp!

There is a lot of information available to usin the 21st century. Never before have rare books, therecords of far away archives, or databases containing millions ofgenealogical records been available to people without even leavingthe comfort of their living rooms.

In this book we will explore the many toolsavailable to us, and answer those nagging questions: who am I andwho am I descended from?

Amy Leigh Mercree

My name is Lawrence. I am an average guy.

I have a good job, three children, and myhome is unspectacular. I like sports, reading, and going for longwalks on the beach. I am really, really average. I even lookordinary except for my trendy glasses that make me look like astylish nerd.

I have a passion for genealogy, but even thatis unremarkable; I read somewhere that researching ones ancestorsis one of the most popular pursuits on the internet.

What is not usual is what I have done with mygenealogy hobby I was able to trace thousands of my directancestors and push my line back beyond the middle ages, arguablyright back into the time of the Romans.

Before I tell you about that, and providesome advice so that you can do the same, let me tell you how I gotstarted.

How I Became Obsessed

One day, many years ago, my cousin wasvisiting my house. After describing her recent trip to the EastCoast, she unfolded a piece of paper and laid it down on the coffeetable in front of me. I picked it up and looked at it. It was achart showing my namesake ancestors and their wives going back tothe early seventeenth century. Each generation was listed, I thinkthere were ten. At the top of the chart was my great, great - keepgoing for eight times or so - grandfather Mathias.

I was amazed. We knew our ancestors goingback for four hundred years? I did not know it was possible.

This was back when the internet was stillrelatively young, the technology having been born a decade or soearlier. Its use in genealogy was still in its infancy as well, somost genealogical research was still done the hard way in personat an archive. This is what my cousin had done. She had a fewscanned original documents to go along with the chart. One wasparticularly interesting - it was a ships manifest from the year1664. In that year, my ancestor Mathias came to the New Worldaboard a ship called the Black Holland.

Mathias was among the first Europeans in theAmericas, and as I would realize later, it was for this reason thatour descent from him was remembered because he did somethingbrave, adventurous, and spectacular - he was among the firstEuropeans to colonize an alien place they called the NewWorld.

After my cousin left, I became fascinatedwith the chart she left behind. However, it only listed this onebranch of my family tree was it possible to flesh out my entireline of descent? Even more intriguing, was it possible to push myancestry even further back then Mathias?

My obsession for genealogy was born.

If you are reading this book, I assume a fewthings:

• You have an interest in genealogy; perhaps it hasbecome a passion, or even an obsession like it became for me.

• Your experience may be that of a beginner, someonewith some moderate experience, or you are an expert in your ownright. This book is laid out to help you no matter what yourabilities are. As you go deeper into this book the topics get moreadvanced.

• You have a computer - this is important because youmay uncover so many ancestors that you cannot keep up with just penand paper.

• You are adept at using a computer, or are willing toimprove your skills in this area.

• You are comfortable navigating the vast amount ofgenealogy resources that are now available on the web.

• Though you may or may not speak other languages, youare fluent in English.

• You may not speak the language of your ancestors, orif you do, you are not fluent (however, if you do speak thelanguage well, it will be a big plus when looking at originalrecords). If the language of your distant kin is a problem, thereis a chapter on translation for you.

If this describes you, then you are in luck.I will help you uncover hundreds or even thousands of your directancestors, and - with just a little luck - even royal relatives.Together, we may push your family tree back to the middle ages, andyou will uncover all sorts of interesting characters along theway.

Mohsin Hamid, Exit West

You may know that you are descended fromEuropeans, or from South Africans, or from people of the Indiansubcontinent. Perhaps your people are from the Kalahari or theGobi? Perhaps you know that your kin migrated to America, as minedid in the 19th century.

My grandfather was a baby when he arrived atthe Ellis Island Immigration Station in New York in 1905 aboard thebeautiful passenger liner the SS City of New York, which at thetime was the largest and fastest liner on the Atlantic.