Do a Genealogy Treasure Hunt at Home



Do A Genealogy Treasure Hunt  Find more Genealogy Tips at FamilyTree.comWhat’s missing from your genealogy research? It could be a vital record that you simply haven’t found yet (but know is out there, somewhere). You might be looking for photos of your great-grandparents. Or, maybe you are just trying to sort out where a certain relative fits on the family tree. Some of these items could, potentially, be in your home. It’s time to do a genealogy treasure hunt!

Open up old photo albums.


Are you hoping to find photos of relatives from when they were children? You might be looking for wedding photos. Whatever kind of photos you are seeking could be hiding inside old photo albums. When was the last time you looked through them?

Still haven’t found what you’re looking for? The next step is to dig through that box of old photos that aren’t sorted or identified. It is a treasure waiting to be found! There’s no way to know for certain what you may have stored in that box until you open it up and start digging.

Another option is to ask your relatives for copies of their family photos. Be specific. Let’s say you are trying to find photos from Aunt Martha’s wedding that took place sometime during the 1970’s. Get online and contact relatives who might have attended it. They may have photos that you have never seen before – and they can email them to you.

Check old Bibles.

The answers you seek might be in the Bible. Did you inherit an old family Bible? Check inside the covers. It used to be common for people to keep track of their family tree by writing down birth dates, death dates, and relationship connections inside the family Bible. There could be an entire branch of a family tree just waiting for you to find it.

Go through the attic.

People tend to store boxes of old stuff in their attics or basements. In some cases, there could be unopened boxes sitting in a storage shed. Whatever those boxes hold was once important to somebody. There is a chance that boxes that have been stored away for decades could hold treasured family artifacts.

Review your notes.

It isn’t unheard of to find something noteworthy about your family tree while you were looking for something else. You may have been hunting for your grandmother’s wedding certificate when you found your uncle’s birth certificate. Did you set it aside “for now” with the intent of coming back to it later?

Go through your research notes. You may have created a “treasure map” for your future self to find and use. Somewhere in the notes, there could be information about where your uncle’s birth certificate got stored.

Image by Roger Mommaerts on Flickr.

Related Articles at FamilyTree.com:

* Database ‘Treasure Chest’

* The Treasures of Your Female Ancestors

* Cyndi’s List – a Treasure Chest

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