Less than Half-an-Hour Tasks



Only have a short period of time once or twice a week to work on your family tree? Well, here are a few ideas of quick tasks you may have overlooked.

Doing a bit of Google Research on your ancestors could benefit you. In the search box do use quote marks for an ancestor’s name or for a hometown with the state name. This helps narrow the search. Use also the Google Books section, many interesting things can turn up there.

If there is a ‘brick wall’ on an ancestor, and you haven’t re-looked at it … take a half-an-hour to re-look and check that ancestor. 

Review what you have gathered for your family tree. Look over each branch and double check you didn’t enter the wrong date (typing error). A good check is to make sure, no children were listed as born on a date before the parents.

Everyone loves to locate photos and stories about their ancestors. Have you checked with the hometown museum? Your ancestor may not have been mayor of the town, but many ordinary citizens have been recorded, including with photos, with the town’s history. Get an email out to any such museums for the hometown and home county. 

Try an online genealogy site you have not explored yet. There are many that a special to a specific topic also. Here is a listing and links to 50 different genealogical sites you should check out. Everything from Hispanic Genealogy to the War of 1812 Pensions for soldiers.

Put some time into researching branches. You tend to look only for your direct lineage, which is good. Now do work on branches, such as your grandparents’ siblings (they would be your great aunts and uncles). If you do not have your parents’ sibling, for such start there.

Spent some time, even just a half-hour to start, looking for more information just on females in the family. Check newspaper articles besides information on census and city directories.

Just a few new approaches within a short time span.

Photos: Using Google, Brick Wall, Hometown Museum-Cumberland Co., Ill and Google Books.

Related FamilyTree.com Blogs:

Tips to Find Elusive Ancestors

Finding Success

Searching the Census

< Return To Blog

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.