Genealogy

Genealogy is a way to teach future generations about their heritage and history. It can also be a fun way to spend quality and productive time with family members. It also provides an opportunity to communicate with extended family and get to know each other better. With the rise of the internet, not only is genealogy becoming more popular but easier to research. There are many websites that can help to build a family tree, some are free while others require a membership subscription or payment to search. Some religious organizations also maintain genealogy databases that the public can access.

A good place to start a search is to talk to family, extended family, past neighbors, clergy and doctors. Obituaries from any location where family members resided could also be a good source of information about relatives. The United States Census Bureau has information available online. You can use this to trace where people were living as well as ages and names of children and spouses. Places of worship maintain birth, marriage and death records that can be helpful, as do places like the Ellis Island Foundation.

The Church of Later Day Saints, or the Mormon Church as they are more commonly known, maintains two databases available to the public. One is at their headquarters and the other at Brigham Young University. In Israel the Yad Vshaem Institute maintains a database of the Holocaust victims and survivors, as does the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. The Veterans Administration has information available on anyone who served in any branch of the United States Military. A little time spent online will yield additional databases often covering specific groups or populations. Genealogy can be a lot of fun and very informative and enlightening, not to mention important to future generations.