GECO
Genealogy Project
The story of Spain, Britain and France is stories of families, the people who came here
for greed, religion and trade. The people who participated in this are your ancestors and
mine. We will be looking at them and how they are connected to you as well as how they
are connected to the standards. There is nothing more important than knowing WHERE
YOU CAME FROM and HOW YOU GOT TO WHERE you are today. Your past will
unveil clues to your families’ roots and to a better understanding of the United States and
surrounding countries.
What is Genealogy? Genealogy is the study of family history. It is the study of family
relationships and ancestry. It is a popular hobby in the United States and in many other
countries.
What is a family tree? A family tree is a diagram of the members of a family. With a
family tree, you use lines to show how people are related: for example, people who are
married or have children.
Data: Some people keep track of their family history data in a genealogy database on a
computer. Examples of data that a person would save are dates and places of births,
marriages, and deaths. Other information that might be saved are records of military
service, census records which show where ancestors lived at a certain time, immigration
data, education, occupations, and even photos of the ancestors. The person building the
database can usually decide to save many kinds data--news articles, stories that were told
in the family (oral history), information on religious ceremonies, wills or inheritances,
information from family letters, customs, or how world or local events affected the
family. The advantage of using a genealogy database is that it helps to keep the data
organized, especially when relationships change; it can generate several types of charts or
tables with the data filled in; it may make it easier to share data with others; and it takes
up less room than paper and notebooks.
Why do people study genealogy? They may want to help someone be reunited with
their family after war, natural disasters, foster care, or adoption, or find living relatives.
They may want to learn about their ancestors (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents,
etc) from hundreds of years ago. They may want to track hereditary diseases that may be
passed from parents to their children. (This would overlap with the study of genetics.)
Some people used to (and some still do) study genealogy to keep track of wealth, land
and power because people used to argue that it belongs to their family. These people use
genealogy to help it stay in the family and prevent untruthful claims to the wealth, land or
power.
Each person in this class plays a critical part in American history and your family’s
heritage. Because of this important role each of you will play in our country, we will take
the time to better understand where you came from and where you are going in life.
GECO
Genealogy Project Semester I
The GOAL of this project is to provide each and every student with an understanding of
his or her heritage, as well as the history of the US.
During the first semester, you will complete 7 steps of the GECO project. Each step must
be completed by the due date assigned in class. Because each of these seven assignments
is what our District calls a term assignment, the work is due at the beginning of your
period on the day announced and may not be turned in late for credit, even with an
excused readmit.
STEP 1: The first step in this process will be to find your oldest living relative on each side of
your family (mom and dad) and have a phone conversation with each of them about your family
and its history. If the relative is alive, but can’t carry on a conversation very well, you can choose
the next-oldest member on that side of the family. If you are not living with any relatives or
aware of any living relatives, see Mr. P for instructions on how to complete this step and the other
six in this project.
Ask your relative what he or she remembers about the family by asking specific questions like
what states or countries has the family lived in, what kinds of jobs have been held by family
members, what kinds of houses and cars where owned by family members. Ask about important
events in the family over the years and ask for stories about the oldest relative they person you are
talking with can remember.
The conversation you had with both relatives will need to be summarized in memo format to me.
Do not stress. I will teach you memo format. The body of the memo should be at least ____
words. (Names of persons and what was talked about regarding heritage)
(25 points)
STEP 2: Go to GENI.com or and create a FREE account. This will be where all your data will
be stored, so write down your password.
www.geni.com To build your family tree on (not due to Nov.)
www.ancestry.com Mother of all searches (free for 14 days and at library)
www.archive.com 2nd best of all searches (Free 7 days)
www.rootsweb.com Cross reference website (free)
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ Free UK genealogy helper
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~casoccgs/ What we will be using at school
Family History Centers in Orange: LDS 949-364-2742
Hours: Tues-Wed 9:30-4:30 & 6:00-9:00 pm; Thur. 9:00 am-4:30 pm, Sat. 9:30-1:00 pm
Mission Viejo Library: Will be teaming with us the hours are listed below.
MV Library Hours
Genealogy Desk hours:
Sunday - 1 - 4
Monday - 10 - 7
Tuesday - 10 - 7
Wednesday - 10 - 8
MV Library contact:
Thursday - 10 - 7
Friday - 1 - 4
Saturday - 10 - 4 (Third Saturday 1 – 4)
Mary Joe Mcqueen
mcqueenmaryjo@aol.com
STEP 3: Choose either your mother’s side of the family or father’s side of the family and create a
family three that shows your ancestors as far back as you can research in the time given to you.
Use the tree distributed in class to display your family as we will be using this in the library.
You will be expected to complete 5-6 generations (1861), assuming each generation is about 30
years. You are required to research only one side of the family, but you may research both if you
wish. Your family tree should show AT LEAST mother and the father from each generation and
the siblings in the family if you can find them. For each generation, provide the specific
information about each family member, the minimum for each family member will be name and
birth and, if applicable, death dates of each.
Below are some other resources available to make this easier.
http://genealogysearch.org/free/forms.html
STEP 4: Each person will be responsible for turning in 10 PRIMARY SOURCE
DOCUMENTS. Each generation you research should have at least one, but not more than two
primary source documents. There must also be a description attached to the primary source
document that explains: What it is? What specific information did it provide about your family
tree? What did you find interesting about the document? If you are doing the city project you
will only need 5.
(100 points)
STEP 5: 10 PHOTOS Each person will be responsible for 10 photos of your family. These will
need to be in either black and white or color. The older the photos are the better. They need to
represent the side of the family you are doing and should be labeled and in chronological order.
(50 points)
STEP 6: MAP You will create a MAP showing the locations of your family over the years. I
will provide the map and you will provide the locations that show movement of your family over
the years. This will be due sometime at the end of the semester and will connect to your ongoing
research about your family. Each map must have an explanation of the moves on the back of the
map with numbers indicating where your family had settled.
(25 points)
http://genealogy.about.com/od/geography/a/google.htm
STEP 7: GECO UPDATES I will be requiring GECO updates from each and every one of you
on a bi-monthly basis. These assignments will be produced in memo format and are updates on
the research that is taking place. The memos describe the process of the research you are
conducting and summarize the new and exciting info you have researched, including the sources
you have been using and what you have found.
Some of the updates will focus on a specific generation and some will focus on what you have
accomplished over a number of days or weeks that I will announce.
Below you will find the categories you will use to describe your research.
GECO CATEGORIES
Geography: Location is really important especially when it relates to work, job, and how one
goes about their daily lives. This part of the memo will explain the geography related to your
family history. Where is your family living? How does the location affect the life of your family?
What changes are taking place in the geography involving people and/or the environment?
Events: What are the global, national and local events that surround your family and caused them
to do what they did. For example my grandfather, who fought in WWII, was adopted in 1917. His
adoption probably only happened because the law at that time allowed for the parents to seal the
documents containing his adoption permanently to keep it private. Would he have been adopted if
that was not the case? This sections will explain how the events of the time you are writing about
caused your family to make certain decisions.
Culture: What did your family eat? What did they drink? What kind of house did they have?
What did they do for fun when not working? How did they live? So much of this information is
located online now, you can pretty much look up the time period and find out what was done
culturally. Remember the people of the past did not have a lot of free time as they were busy
surviving day to day.
Occupation: The occupation that one does is related to the skills one has at the time. In the past,
usually one’s skills were related to how much money one had thus making it difficult for one with
no money to become rich or skilled. This section will represent how skilled your family was in
the past and specific information about the different occupations that were shared throughout the
years.
(25 points each)
RUBRIC
MEMO WITH OLDEST LIVING RELATIVE
25 points
FAMILY TREE AND MEMO
50 points
PRIMARY SOURCE DOCUMENTS (10)
100 points
PHOTOS
50 points
(10 photos)
MAP: (must show movement and why on the back)
25 points
GECO UPDATES:
25 points per update
(3 of them)
PROJECT NEATNESS
(1asee below)
TOTAL
50 points
/350 PROJECT POINTS
NOTES:
1a. I will be collecting everything at the end of the semester nice and neatly put into a
binder. You will be graded on neatness and completion. You can always go back and put
something in you missed but will only get credit for it at this time as there is no make up
credit for any parts of this project.
1b. This project is not something you can throw together the night before as there will be
due dates throughout the semester. It is also a term project so that means everything is due
regardless of what happens. You can have it to me by the end of class or time stamped in
my mailbox. Although, if you miss a pop quiz that day you cannot make it up and HW will
be posted on my site.