Family ties are one of the closest ties that determine the social structure of any society. But not every family always has complete information about their ancestors. To find relatives about whom there is almost no information, you will have to turn to the methods used in compiling the family tree.
You will need
- - notepad;
- - fountain pen;
- - Dictaphone;
- - documents from the family archive;
- - information obtained from state archives.
Instruction manual
1
Start your search for ancestors by interviewing your immediate and distant relatives. Explain to them that you want to restore information about a particular person so that generations are not interrupted. From informal conversations with relatives, you can draw the most necessary initial data, including the last name, first name, middle name, date of birth and place of residence of the ancestor. Record the results on paper or use a voice recorder. This will allow not to lose valuable information and turn to it later for analysis.
2
Search the family archive. The source of information about a particular person can be old photographs, birth and marriage certificates, a secondary school certificate, and a university diploma. Often in the archives there are all sorts of certificates containing installation data. But the letters of previous years can become the most valuable material for research. Of course, to get acquainted with them, get the consent of those to whom they are addressed. If possible, make copies of documents of interest to your search.
3
Having collected the primary information about the wanted ancestor, contact archival institutions for help. For a long time, many of the documents that may turn out to be key in your searches are stored in local and central archives: data on places of residence and work, on military service. There are specialized archives of enterprises, organizations and institutions where information on activities is stored. So, if your ancestor participated in the Great Patriotic War, his track record or data on awards can be found by contacting the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense.
4
Sort all the collected information and analyze it. Make a list of all family relationships through which you can access additional information about your relative. As a result, you can probably find those people with whom he maintained family or friendships, worked together or served. The most valuable thing is that your information search can be the beginning of a large and useful work on compiling a family genealogical tree.
