PRESENTER:
Crista Cowan
Ancestry 101:
New & Review
Professional Genealogist
15 Mar 2014
Brand new to genealogy? New to Ancestry.com? We can help! Even if you
answered no to those questions, join us for the first half hour of the day
where we will provide a quick refresher course on some of the basics.
Genealogy is as easy as 1 – 2 – 3
1.
Start with yourself and work back one generation at a time.
 Explore and have fun!
 Do you have a favorite ancestor? Surname? Geography? Period of history?
2.
Keep track of what you’ve discovered.
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3.
Always record women with their maiden names.
Dates are recorded dd mmm yyyy.
Places are recorded smallest to largest jurisdiction.
Use standard abbreviations to indicate when you aren’t sure of a date – abt, bef, aft.
Start an online tree and/or use Family Tree Maker to keep track of your discoveries.
Collect all the records you can about a family before moving on to the next generation.
You don’t know what you don’t know so learn as you go.
 Visit the Learning Center on Ancestry.com to discover free webinars and articles and community
members anxious to assist with your family history.
 Visit the Ancestry.com YouTube channel for hours of tutorials on lots of different topics.
 Formula for a good research plan:
 What do you want to know?
 What do you already know and how do you know it?
 Where could you find what you are looking for?
Visit the Ancestry.com Learning Center at www.ancestry.com/learn.
for account questions or technical help, call 1-800-958-9124.