Subject: {FIRSTNAME}, Research and Effort Methods

Hello {FIRSTNAME},


I hope you enjoyed the second course on genealogy and history, 
now we are going to look at research and effort methods.

Here is a recap of the e-course schedule:

Part 1: Why You Need To Explore Your Past
Part 2: Genealogy and History
Part 3: Research and Effort Methods
Part 4: Creating A Family Tree
Part 5: Hiring A Professional

With that being said... Lets get rolling shall we  :)
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Part 3: Research and Effort Methods

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The process of learning about your family is likely to be one that offers several key searches.  Youll use a wide range of these methods to get to the answers you need.

Types of relationships among your family members will include kinship to various groups or associations.

A surname search is called a one name study which will only give you details about a certain family name, passed down over time.

A small community, village or even church parish may offer help in the research methods.  This also includes a one place study, which is just a search of on locations family lines.

Or, you can use a particular person to search for, for example trying to use your familys history to connect to another persons family.

The truth is that youll likely need to go through many of these methods to find the answers that you need.  In many ways, its a process of looking where you didnt know you needed to look for answers regarding your family.

Even if your family doesnt have any known connection to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly known as LDS, you may still be able to use their records to help you to learn about your family.

During the 1900s, this group worked hard to create a program of moving all of their available records on ancestry into the valuable tool of microfilm.  They placed all records they had in this medium, to safeguard them.  In addition to this, they also created an index that was used to keep track of all of their members.

These two undertakings were large, thorough and would become one of the best tools for genealogical searches today.  Today, these two projects have been folded together and are in two databases that are readily accessible.  

The International Genealogical Index, which is known as IGI, is a tool that can be used.  It is a transcription record of filmed civil and ecclesiastic records.  These records have come from various locations from cooperating local areas around the world.  

The other database that you can use is known as the Ancestral File or just simply AF.  This database is used to collect the information about the members contributions over time.

So, how can these databases help you?  First off, the IGI is one of the best records of old birth and marriage records from the LDS.  It has records of those that have been born, died and married starting from well back to 1500.  Most of this information is from the United States, Europe and Canada.  

Generally, information regarding members has been able to reveal quite a bit about family ancestry from these resources.

How can you use the LDSs collection of information?  In Salt Lake City, Utah the collection of these microfilms is located.  The resources are located at the Family History Library which has a vast collection of information regarding the entire society.  

Yet, you dont have to travel there to find them.  There are branches (some 4000 of them) around the country and world that can offer you help.

You can visit these locations, request information or even rent information for your on site research needs.  In fact, they have expanded this search ability to the internet as well.  You can visit the collection at this location at FamilySearch.org.


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