So, you've decided to put together your family tree.
Where DO you start?
Here is the absolute best advice I can give: Start with yourself and work your way back. Either start a word processing document or break out some paper and pencils.
Write basics about yourself: Name, place of birth, date of birth, your parents' names--including your mother's maiden name. Once you do this, start another page, this time one for each of your parents. Start these by writing what you know: Full name, birth date, place of birth, their parents' names. Keep working your way back while repeating this process. You can fill out sheets for your spouse, your own children, your siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.
Where DO you start?
Here is the absolute best advice I can give: Start with yourself and work your way back. Either start a word processing document or break out some paper and pencils.
Write basics about yourself: Name, place of birth, date of birth, your parents' names--including your mother's maiden name. Once you do this, start another page, this time one for each of your parents. Start these by writing what you know: Full name, birth date, place of birth, their parents' names. Keep working your way back while repeating this process. You can fill out sheets for your spouse, your own children, your siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.
Are your parents still alive? Are your grandparents? Your great grandparents? Ask questions! Write down or record the answers. Invest in either a digital voice recorder, or open up the voice recording app on your phone and start interviewing your relatives. Have them retell family stories. Talk about loved ones and all of the funny or sad memories you had together. Talk about what they remember about their own parents, grandparents, or great grandparents. Save the files to your computer and back those files up onto an external hard drive. These are precious documents, and they may come in handy later on.
Armed with this basic info, you can venture onto the Internet and begin looking for information.
"But Miele," you ask, "should I just log onto Ancestry.com and use their site?" Great question!
Should you choose to subscribe to Ancestry.com, you CAN start a family tree online--I have one (or I *might* have around 10 different personal trees) on there myself. Ancestry is a great basic service and can be an extremely useful tool. You CAN start a tree for free, but (and it's a rather BIG BUT) to search the site for information and to link it to your own tree will cost you.
There are different prices depending on what you are looking for and how deeply you plan on digging. If you're a total newbie and are getting your feet wet, don't start out shelling out $300+ a year for services you won't use. Maybe start with the basic domestic plan on a monthly basis. If you decide you don't like this whole genealogy thing, you'll only be out about $60 for a couple of months of access. The more access you want, the more it is going to cost you. Also, using Ancestry.com or other genealogical sites can be intimidating, aggravating, or confusing ... or all of the above. I will cover the topic of Ancestry and its related services a little later.
For now, start writing down what you know. Then we can move on from there.
"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start." -- "Do, Re, Mi," from The Sound of Music
Should you choose to subscribe to Ancestry.com, you CAN start a family tree online--I have one (or I *might* have around 10 different personal trees) on there myself. Ancestry is a great basic service and can be an extremely useful tool. You CAN start a tree for free, but (and it's a rather BIG BUT) to search the site for information and to link it to your own tree will cost you.
There are different prices depending on what you are looking for and how deeply you plan on digging. If you're a total newbie and are getting your feet wet, don't start out shelling out $300+ a year for services you won't use. Maybe start with the basic domestic plan on a monthly basis. If you decide you don't like this whole genealogy thing, you'll only be out about $60 for a couple of months of access. The more access you want, the more it is going to cost you. Also, using Ancestry.com or other genealogical sites can be intimidating, aggravating, or confusing ... or all of the above. I will cover the topic of Ancestry and its related services a little later.
For now, start writing down what you know. Then we can move on from there.
"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start." -- "Do, Re, Mi," from The Sound of Music
A poem about my 2nd Great Grandmother:
Petra Quijada Rivera (Right) with her sister, Guadalupe Quijada Grijalva.
Around Tucson or Ajo, AZ. c. 1930.
Petra
Within me courses ancient blood.
I feel her.
Petra.
She looks back at me in timeworn sepia pictures.
Her skin is parched and cracked--
like once moist desert earth.
Wrinkled and aged beyond her years.
Brown coffee Indian skin
Silver and ebony
Wisps escape from
beneath the lace mantilla.
Petra.
Life force flowing through
My veins,
My arteries,
My capillaries...
My heart.
Petra.
My great-great-grandmother.
Shrunken and shriveled.
Tough as well worn leather.
Petra.
Who saved her family from
Pandemic death
Abject poverty
And a revolution destined
To crumble her civilization
To strengthen her faith
To change the lives of her children
To change the lives of her grandchildren
To change my life.
Petra.
I hear her sometimes
Splitting the silence of night
In the rhythmic beating of my heart.
I close my eyes and
See the parched desert sands
(thump, thump)
Silhouettes there in the distance
Beyond the brilliant sun...
(thump, thump)
The Shepherdess
Petra.
She gathers her lambs
(thump, thump)
And they steal away
Run away from the past
To new life in a land of future promise
(thump, thump, thump)
Gypsies fleeing
Bedouins voyaging
Slaves sold into bondage...
(thump thump.)
Petra.
She speaks.
A melodic timber...sweet and gentle Spanish.
"Mija. Vivo en ti."
Her velvet brown eyes--my eyes.
An ephemeral flash--I see it all.
Petra.
The faces of her children.
The death of her husband.
The revolution. The soldiers.
The raping of girls.
The kidnapping of boys...
The fire consuming the ranch in Mexico.
The choice to leave.
The journey.
The struggle to survive.
Death, an enemy.
Survival.
Safety.
Insanity.
Pain
Illness.
Death, a friend.
Her velvet brown eyes--my eyes.
Petra.
She is my maternal voice.
The shepherdess within.
Urging me to gather lambs
And move them to safety.
Petra.
Demanding I live fiercely.
Petra.
Insisting I fight—
Fight for life with all that I am…and have.
I feel the blood coursing faster.
Red. passion.
Red. fire.
Red.
Mexican Indian
Curandera blood...
Burning
Red. Flames.
Mescal. flowing.
Vivo en ti.
Vives en mi.
Petra.
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