Learn How To Research Your Family Tree

The team at Genealogy Beginner is proud to provide the first, step-by-step digital genealogy training that is also fully supported by professional genealogists.  We’ve taken over 8 years experience delivering genealogy training services and guides and combined them into the most comprehensive, yet fun, and easy to follow genealogy training available online:

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Unit 1: Introduction to Genealogy

  • Lesson 1-1: Genealogy Standards and Guidelines.   (What you need to Know First)
  • Lesson 1-2 : Recording your Family Tree; First Steps ( Family Group Sheets)
  • Lesson 1-3 : Organizing For a successful search (Developing an organization System)
  • Lesson 1-4 : Your Tree; Staring your first Search (All About Pedigree Charts)
  • Lesson 1-5 : What’s in  a Name: Surname Searches ( All about Surname Searches)
  • Lesson 1-6: What’s in a First Name? ( How to use in searches as Hints and clues)
  • Lesson 1-7: Where did they go? Where is that? ( Searching By Place)
  • Lesson 1-8: A Look at Genealogy Software ( The good, The Bad and the Ugly)

Unit 2: Introduction to Research Resources

  • Lesson 2-1 : Begin at Home : Local Research
  • Lesson 2-2 : Expanding Your Search; States/Provinces
  • Lesson 2-3 : Going the Distance; National Records
  • Lesson 2-4 : Worldwide; Your growing Tree (done copy to here)
  • Lesson 2-5 : Making Connections; Reaching out (Correspondence and Repository Logs)
  • Lesson 2-6 : Information Sharing (news Groups/Message Boards & Social Networking in Genealogy)
  • Lesson 2-7 : Hereditary and Lineage organizations ( It may already be done)
  • Lesson 2-8 : GEDCOM 101

Unit 3: Records 101

  • Lesson 3-1: Vital Records and Old Parish Registers; Digging Deeper
  • Lesson 3-2a: Finding Facts in Government Death Records
  • Lesson 3-2b: Death records and funerary customs in the Old Parochial Records and Kirk Sessions.
  • Lesson 3-3: Additional Death Record information sources,  (Monumental Inscriptions and Obituaries wills, probate records & deeds)
  • Lesson 3-4: In The Field; Using (Cemetery tracking forms)
  • Lesson 3-5:  I DO – A look at Marriage Records
  • Lesson 3-6: Bans and Proclamations
  • Lesson 3-7: Finding and using Birth Records
  • Lesson 3-8 Baptisms and Christenings

Unit 4: Record types – searching, requesting and using information types

  • Lesson 4-1 : Going to Church; Following Their Faith ( Searches by Denomination)
  • Lesson 4-2 : The LDS; The Largest Resource (What it & What You can Find)
  • Lesson 4-3 : LDS Continued (How to Search it)
  • Lesson 4-4 : How Did They Get Here (Immigration, Emigration and Naturalization)
  • Lesson 4-5 : Ellis Island
  • Lesson 4-6: Across the Waves (Ships lists, Passenger lists, Ports of Entry and Departure)
  • Lesson 4-7: Staking their Claim ( Land Records, Homesteading Records, Land Grants, Deeds and Petitions)
  • Lesson 4-8: Tax Records ( What they contain and why they are important)

Unit 5 Record Types Continued

  • Lesson 5-1 : Using the Census ( Introduction and instruction)
  • Lesson 5-2 : Tracking a Military Past (military Records)
  • Lesson 5-3 : Where they worked (Using occupational records)
  • Lesson 5-4 : Where to look when you just can’t find them (Poor house-work house-alms house-asylum-prison)
  • Lesson 5-5 :Special searches (Adoption and Fostering)
  • Lesson 5-6: Visiting the Courthouse (Court Records)
  • Lesson 5-7: Get out and Vote (Voter Registration)
  • Lesson 5-8: Getting Educated ( Alumni and School records)

Unit 6 Putting It all Together

  • Lesson 6-1 : Preserving Your Family Tree ( Scrapbooks and Websites)
  • Lesson 6-2 : Biographies and Diaries
  • Lesson 6-3 : Old Photographes
  • Lesson 6-4 : Family Hierlooms
  • Lesson 6-5 : Newspaper Articles and clippings
  • Lesson 6-8: Family Réunions