Have you ever wondered who your ancestors were? If you have ever watched the SBS program “Who do you think you are?” and thought I would like to do that I have no idea where to start, then I can help you.

There is lots of information available on the Internet. You can do a lot of research from the comfort of your own home. Much of this information is free; other information requires you to pay a joining fee. This is often worthwhile but be prepared so you can get the best value for your money.

When you are talking to your relatives, particularly the elderly remember to be sensitive about their feelings. Talking about family tragedies may invoke tears. They may be embarrassed about incidents that caused shame in the 1930’s but are common place in today’s society. If a relative tells you a family secret and asks you not to repeat it then you must respect that trust. However you can use this information to shed light on your own research.

Be prepared to uncover skeletons in the family closet as you progress through your research. I have discovered many delicate issues through my research. I have found everything from illegitimate children, suicides, deaths under embarrassing circumstances and convicts. Most of this I have shared with my family. Some of it I have shared selectively. You need to use your best judgement.

If you discover illegitimate or adopted children you will need to decide how you will record these. Firstly do the children know they are adopted? If so then you don’t have to be concerned about keeping a secret. However you will need to consider if they are to be recorded in the same way as natural children.

Once you have collected as much information as your relatives can tell you another easy to obtain and reliable source of information are birth, death and marriage certificates. If you are lucky you may find that one of your relatives will have copies of certificates they can lend you. Always ask if they have any certificates available.

Certificates will help you fill in any gaps in people’s memories, confirm maiden names of spouses, confirm places of birth, list names and occupations of parents and much, much more. You can also use a set of children’s birth certificates to track the movements of the family. Just a cautionary word with information on certificates, you can find inaccuracies on some certificates. This is particularly true with death certificates where the information listed depends on the knowledge of the informant. If the informant was unsure of some details such as the maiden name of the deceased’s mother or the actual birthplace then these may be listed as unknown or worse guessed at. I have found both examples in my research. Don’t be concerned as this is all part of assembling the jigsaw puzzle of your family history. A slightly damaged piece is better than no piece at all.

More in the section on Certificates