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The five golden rules



Welcome to the Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine guide to getting started researching your family tree.

Over the next eight pages, we'll talk you through some of the best ways to track down information to help build a better picture of who your ancestors were and the lives they may have lead. And, with more and more resources becoming available on the web, we'll also explore the top online resources to help take your research further.

 

The five golden rules

 

1. Begin with known facts and work backwards – checking the validity of each new piece of information against an original record.
 
2. Document your sources at each stage, whether that’s a person, or a piece of paper.
 
3. Always keep a record, even if an avenue of research proves to be fruitless – it will stop you making the same mistake again at a later stage.
 
4. Do your own research. Don’t assume that information supplied to you by another party is accurate, and always check the authenticity of information you find online.
 
5. Take advantage of others' expertise. When you hit a brick wall, solicit the help of professional organisations, family history societies, specialist publications such as Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, and forums like our own.

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Comments

other peoples family trees

Fri, 2010-03-26 01:00
skyedot

I quite agree with Geoff re people like ourselves who have some good "skeletons" in their cupboards. I have a grt.grt.grandfather, who was a postmaster, and he spent 5 years in jail for quite a serious crime. Celebrities have all the money to ask people to research for them and can maybe can get all the know how a lot quicker than the ordinary person is able to. On saying that I have had a lot of fun and frustrations over the years doing my Family Tree but someone else could come up against a lot of difficulties which indeed I have, and maybe they could do with help especially if it is a really interesting tree, but I live and hope that maybe I will be able solve mine someday. It would be nice to watch someone from everyday life given the chance.

SkyeDot
Isle of Skye

WDYTA

Fri, 2009-07-10 15:47
geoffb

I think the magazine has gone from strength to strength has the right mix.The cover CDS are just right with enough information, but what i would like to see with the TV programme is normal peoples family trees, fro example my Great Great Grandfather was sent to Gloucester prison for 10 dasy because he did not have his family vacinated against small pox, in gloucesterm simple story, but has a lot to do with social history, would eb agood idea to collect families with similar stories accroos the country, this happened in 1896.

Geoff B

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