NEW ZEALAND GENEALOGY MADE EASY
A very brief outline on how this site came about.
When doing my family tree I used to add all the sites I used often or
sites I wanted to return to, to my favourites folder. It wasnt till
one day I got a virus in my computer and found I lost everything. I
decided at that time to get a free website and add all my favourites
there for my own personal use, that way if for any reason I had computer
problems they were always there. Eventually the list of websites got
so large I decided to make it available to the public, and started adding
resourses myself that were previously unavailable. I have had many helpful
people sending me information to add. When I do research for others
on specific surnames, I add the information to this site so that others
can access it also.
So that was the birth of my site
ONE RULE I ALWAYS ABIDE BY:
Never give your credit card details online to access a site I believe
the information should be free
Before Starting get yourself
a online email address. I recommend Hotmail. The reason for doing this
is when you start posting messages on the internet it is important to
have an email address that you can be sure you will always have. I have
changed my server 3 times and if I didnt have my hotmail account anyone
answering my messages from 3 years ago would not be able to contact
me. Always use this email
address for anything to do with your genealogy. It can be accessed from
any computer
1: DEVELOP A PLAN:
Decide whether you want a direct line family tree or
an extended one. "A DIRECT LINE" tracing your direct lineage
ie your parents, grandparents, gt grand parents etc. An 'EXTENDED FAMILY
TREE"you are tracing all the siblings of your direct line also,
this type you end up with many distant cousins, aunts uncles etc. I
recommend for the beginner, you start with your direct lineage, then
if you desire you extend it out.
2: PLAN YOUR FORM OF DOCUMENTATION:
In the past the options were very limited. you wrote
all your findings on paper or in a book. But now with the help of computers
it is a great deal easier. There are many different family tree programmes
for computers, both for purchasing or downloading free from the internet.
I have used both types and I find there is no difference.
Below are 2 free programmes I recommend. Though I still document everything
in a book as well
PERSONAL
ANCESTRAL FILE
At the top of the page click order download products. Then click free
software downloads.
Down load the latest edition
LEGACY
FAMILY TREE
Download the Standard Edition
Printable
resource forms
3: WORK BACKWARDS
Always start with yourself and work backwards. Start
by talking with and writing to all your relations while they are still
living. Check to find what documents, certificates, letters, newspaper
cuttings, family bibles, photograph albums, diaries, etc, they may possess.
Try to as carefully and completely as possible find the basic genealogical
facts ,date and place of birth/baptism, date and place of marriage,
and date and place of death/burial, when they came to the country, why,
how, when, where they settled. Document all family stories, Though these
tend to change over the years often the basic facts are the truth
4:DOCUMENT SOURCES
Always make notes on who or where you got the information.
This is very important, as you may need to refer back to the source
for confirmation at a latter time. I didnt do this , now 12 years down
the track I often think where did I find that out. Make notes as you
go as to whether the information you have is verified by a certificate
or some other document or whether it is heresay and needs to be confirmed.
5:RESEARCHING
Enter all the information you have gathered into your family tree programme
and or into a book. You will easily see what you need to find next.
REMEMBER ONE STEP AT A TIME.
The Libraries and Museums in your town are a good place to start, Find
out what information is available. The main cities of New Zealand have
fanatastic resourses for New Zealand History. If you dont live in a
town with these resourses and are unable to visit them I am only too
happy to look up specific searches for you. But please remember to give
me as much information as you can to cut down the time it takes.
The internet is a fantastic tool for finding information, but always
remember never take anything you find on here as documented truth, everything
needs verifying. You can do this by emailing the person who put the
information out there and finding out their sources.
There are many message boards online to post your queries, These
can be very helpful
GENFORUM
Fantastic message boards
Search Engines are another fantastic form of finding information. One
little tip for using them: Often entering a name with or without a capital
letter may bring different results, ie Smith Family New Zealand may
bring different results from smith family new zealand
These are the two I mostly use
NEW
ZEALAND GENEALOGY SEARCH ENGINE
GOOGLE
search engine
As you are surfing the internet and find sites you want to check out
later always add them to your favourites, as it is almost an impossible
task to find them again
Check out to see if anyone else may be doing the same line as you
WORLDCONNECT FAMILY TREE
Another site I use all the time, is the Morman site. The Mormans worldwide
are huge on Family History. I only use the site as a guideline, as I
have found huge errors in the information there. It is important to
note where there sourses came from, ie if it was from a film or another
person submitting the information. Take note of the film no and chack
out your local Morman Church to see where the nearest Family History
centre is to you and look it up yourself
FAMILYSEARCH
Great site
5: SAVING OR PUBLISHING
YOUR TREE ONLINE
Making your family tree available for others to view can be a fantastic
way to get in touch with other researching the same line as you. This
is very easy to do.
I have my tree on Rootsweb but there are many free sites around
Rootsweb
Whether you want to save your tree to disc or upload it to the internet,
you need to first saved it as a Gedcom file. These are a small file
that can be emailed, uploaded or saved very easily. Go to your file
menu on your FT programme and go to export, click gedcom, give it a
name and save it somewhere you can find it. I have a folder in My documents.
To save or email this file just find it on your hardrive click the right
mouse button, go to "send to" select a drive to save or mail
recipient to email. To upload to the internet. Create the site you want
to use and upload the file.
Remembering everytime you add more information, the
Gedcom must be updated
HAPPY RESEARCHING