The history of the family is dealt with by a science called genealogy (from the ancient Greek "genea" - "family, clan" and "logos -" word, knowledge "). Family history played a major role in previous centuries, but then this issue was mainly of interest to representatives of the nobility. The nobles knew the names of their ancestors many generations ago. But in the 20th century, due to numerous world revolutions and the establishment of equality in many countries of the world, the issue of origin lost its significance. However, in recent decades, genealogy has again become of interest to people, because many do not even know the names of their grandparents. So how do you find out the details of your own family history?
Instructions
Step 1
The first step is to interview all of your close and distant relatives. Get yourself a special notebook in which you can write down all the names, dates, addresses, family stories and legends. This information, collected bit by bit, can be very useful in the future.
Step 2
Do research in family archives. Look for anything that can give you some useful information. Flip through old photo albums and be sure to look at the back of the photos - names and dates may be written there. Look for old letters, look for addresses on envelopes, look at property records, medical records, school certificates, diaries, and other written sources.
Step 3
After gathering information for the first time, you can start building your own family tree. With the help of modern programs (for example, the Tree of Life or Family Tree Builder), you organize all the data received, which can be constantly replenished in the future.
Step 4
Now you can expand the scope of your searches using search engines on the Internet. Enter first names, surnames, dates, addresses, and other specific information in the search bar. Do not despair if you fail to get any data the first time - try a variety of combinations and especially pay attention to rare names and surnames, if they are on your list. You can also register on a dedicated genealogy site (the largest at the moment is My Heritage), where thousands of people have already posted their data. Perhaps among them there are your distant relatives (the site automatically searches for matches in the genealogical tree of different users and constantly notifies if any are found).
Step 5
After completing these preparatory steps, you can take the issue more seriously and turn to the archives. There are two options here. The first option: you send a request to the archive of the city, where records of your ancestors could have been saved. But then be prepared for the fact that you will have to pay for the compilation of a genealogical certificate, and the result can be expected for several months or even years (archive employees are often overwhelmed with such requests, which they perform in addition to their other work). Option two: you can go to the archive yourself. But then you will need a lot of time and effort. Reading old records (for example, registers of births), written in illegible handwriting, is not such an easy task.
