ABSTRACT
In this chapter I consider how we conduct an initial search into our family history via electronic databases such as Ancestry, Find My Past, Genes Reunited, Family Search and a growing number of others. This involves:
s COLLECTINGANDCHECKINGTHEINFORMATION s MANAGINGTHEINFORMATIONINORDERTOREVIEWYOURlNDINGS s RELATINGELECTRONICANDOTHERINFORMALINFORMATIONSUCHASLETTERSPHOTOSAND
other documents available through family collections s DISPLAYINGTHEDATAONAFAMILYTREECHART
I then summarize other well recorded methods of data collection such as oral history, DNA testing, parish records, databases and documents, particularly immigration, naturalization, death, birth and marriage certificates, that are not necessarily available online. Finally, in more depth, I explore what I term social genealogy, referring to psychologically applicable ways of analysing family history data such as emotional geography (Nash, 2005; Altman and Low, 2012), historical documents, family systems theories (Dallos and Draper, 2010) and the use of sociogenograms (Schutzenberger, 1998).
