| Ever thought about how much easier it is to look up | | | | might have been a dead end, but we have a lot more |
| genealogical information now that we have the | | | | options now. Start making use of web resources to |
| Internet? Instead of going through moldy old records in | | | | go through old records and other family trees. There's |
| town halls, traveling across the country or across the | | | | a good chance that you'll be able to get information |
| world, and writing lots of letters, you can just do a free | | | | about your family, quickly and easily. Sharing your |
| search online. Regular search engines will turn up a lot, | | | | family tree with others can help other people in your |
| and specialized genealogy sites will give you even | | | | extended family, and might help you get some |
| more. | | | | informational tidbits you wouldn't have encountered |
| In addition to all you can get from online resources, | | | | otherwise. |
| there's also a lot of helpful genealogy software out | | | | Family Tree Maker can automatically tell you a lot of |
| there. This way, you can make detailed, attractive | | | | other things, too, like the average lifespan of people in |
| family trees without having any artistic skills. Merge | | | | your family. As your collection of information grows, |
| your trees with other users' trees, add audio clips, | | | | you'll get more detailed and more accurate information. |
| videos, and photos, and do a lot more than you can on | | | | Place your data onto maps, display relationships, and |
| paper. That's what this kind of software is great for. | | | | automatically check out spelling variations that might |
| One very popular version is Family Tree Maker, from | | | | lead you to a new ancestor. Every time you update, |
| This piece of software will help you put together | | | | your collected data is saved in an organized, easy to |
| charts, tree, timelines, reports and a lot more. Just type | | | | navigate fashion. You can even go through a single |
| in what you already know, even if it's just your name, | | | | person's life and find out where your ancestor went |
| where you were born, and your birthdates. Then, add | | | | and what they did. |
| what you know about your parents, grandparents, and | | | | Genealogy has benefited greatly from the use of |
| other ancestors. While you probably won't have a lot | | | | personal computers to organize information. The |
| to begin with, you should put in everything you know. | | | | Internet has helped it even more. Now that it's so |
| Once you've done this, start asking others in your | | | | simple to share your data, it's much easier to find out |
| family for their information. You'll find out a lot more | | | | about your family. Tracing your ancestry can help you |
| than you might ever have thought, and you'll re-forge | | | | understand where your family came from and |
| bonds with relatives you haven't talked to in years. | | | | improve bonds with your relatives. You'll find personal |
| Gradually, your information will come together, and you'll | | | | meaning in historical events, learn about your family's |
| fill in a coherent family history. | | | | medical history, and have some great information to |
| But in the end, you'll run out of information you can get | | | | show your kids. It can be a lot of fun to go through |
| from people in your family. Before the Internet, this | | | | your history, and good software makes it possible. |