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The Name Game: Tracing Family Trees Through The Records

As you probably know, not everyone is great a keeping records. Unfortunately when it comes to tracing family trees, there is no exception to this rule. Often, immigration records and census records, which are a vital part in tracing family trees are inaccurate or misleading in a lot of different ways. Below are a few things to watch out for when tracing family trees.

Misspelled Names: The Bane of the Researcher

Over the years, at the height of immigration to the United States, thousands, if not millions of people crossed the ocean to make a new life here in the United States. Often, names were recorded on the ships manifest long before the vessel ever left the port of departure. Once they arrived here in the United States, inspectors took that manifest and checked it against the people waiting to enter into the United States. So, unlike the myth that seems to prevail throughout our recent history, the majority of the times, the name was not changed at Ellis Island; but was altered during the naturalization process.

One of the things to watch out for while tracing family trees is that often names were changed in their spelling, but not how they were pronounced. For instance, a name as simple as Stevenson, could be spelled a number of ways, including Stevenson, Stephenson, and possibly even shorted to Steveson. These changes, of course, were not made to further confuse the later descendants, but took place because of the legal idea of Idem Sonatum. Basically this says that if someone can pronounce the name in the same manner as the one on the document, they can establish a connection to that document, regardless of spelling of the name. Given this power, many names were changed inadvertently in their spellings to something a little easier to spell. By knowing that there could be a few variations on the name that you are looking for can make tracing family trees a little bit easier

Taking A Place Name

Of course, not everyone kept their name when they traveled to over to America. Sometimes they would change their name to something else, as a sign of their rebirth to a new country. Often place names are used, such as various coastal cities and towns, as well as the town of their birth. So the next time you spend some quality effort tracing your family tree and run across a name that seems to have a geographical flavor to it, remember what you read here today.

Family Tree Search: Trace Your Family Line

When making a family tree, you’re going to have to do an extensive family background search. At first, the family tree search will be fairly easy. You simply ask your parents who their parents were. If you still have grandparents, you can even ask them who their parents and even who their grandparents were. However, once these lines are traced, that’s when things start to get a little tricky.

Your family tree search should start with those you know. Ask them any questions you can to try and unveil which direction your family goes. Once you get stuck, then you will need to start pursuing other avenues of investigation.

Genealogy Books

When doing a family tree search, there are books that can be of great value. Genealogy books that are dedicated to certain family names can be great resources for finding out exactly where you come from. These books take a certain name and trace them through many generations.

If however, these books don’t seem to lead anywhere, you may need to join a genealogy club. These clubs offer resources that are open to all kinds of people interested in doing a family tree search. These clubs also allow you to get with other members who may be able to offer great tips on doing a family tree search. All of these resources are invaluable for digging up the past and finding out exactly who your ancestors were, what they did and what they had to do to get the name to survive this long.

It’s likely when making your family tree search that you find that your ancestors arrived from another country. You’ll see that your ancestors lived in another culture altogether and likely came to the country where you now reside to search for a better life. This is the case with many generations here in the United States. In fact, unless you are Native American, if you live the U.S., it’s basically fact that your family came from somewhere else. Chances are that it’s a fascinating story filled with turmoil and heartache. It’s only by doing a family tree search that you will discover all they went through.

Whatever your reasons and whatever avenues you pursue, doing a family tree search will get your juices flowing when you find out that your blood line has survived as long as it has and it will just fuel your hunger for more, more information and more leads as to how far back your family truly goes.