The family tree

The family tree is not your usual tree as in Elm, Oak, Maple, or Pine trees that you may have in your yard. It is the genealogy of your family – a record of descendants from your past to whom you are kin.

Wikipedia says it like this:

• A family tree is generally the totality of 'ones ancestors represented as a tree structure, or more specifically, a chart used in genealogy. The image of the tree probably originated with one in medieval art of the Tree of Jesse, used to illustrate the Genealogy of Christ in terms of a prophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah, 11:1).

I have been doing the genealogy charts for both my husband’s and my ancestors for years. And, the more you do, the more you want to do. It is an on-going task; you never quit. There is always one more detail you want to find or one little tidbit that has alluded you over the years.

Genealogy has been going on all through out history. In Matthew 1, you will find the entire genealogy of Christ.

Matthew 1:17, "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations."

There is no possible way we could ever take our genealogy research back as many generations as Christ. But, with diligent searches, we can achieve more than we think. There are many research avenues open to the novice genealogist.

Ancestry.com has a world of information. You can get a subscription to Ancestry.com that will give you access to lots of information you might not find any place else. They have all the census up to 1930 waiting for you to explore. Cindy’s List of genealogy sites on the Internet can keep you busy for weeks, months, maybe even years. You can find many genealogy forms at The Bailey’s Free Genealogy Forms web site. Or, you may prefer to get them at Free-Genealogy-Forms. They all are downloadable and printable forms. You can also acquire a copy of a genealogy program for your computer such as Family Tree Maker, which I use, or others that may be free. This makes it easy to keep track of all the information you get over the years. But, be sure and keep a back up copy!

Many more sites are available such as Genealogy.com, Family Search.org by the LDS church, State Gen Sites and a host of others you can find through a google search for genealogy sites and information.

Have a great time in your genealogy research – ‘digging up bones’, as we like to say.

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