I have a project for school and I have no idea how to....?

Question:

I have a project for school and I have no idea how to....?

start my paper. Its a genealogy paper and I have to have a family tree, which I have already started on. When I write in the names on the tree do I have to write their date of birth , or birth place or anything like that? Also, I know where most of these people were born but I dont understand what the teacher meant when she said that she didnt want to know where they were born. She said she wanted to know where they came from. Im confused. Please help me!!

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I agree with Wendy. I sometimes sell my services at a church auction, when other people sell gourmet dinners for 8 or a trip on a motorcycle / sailboat / airplane. I figure it takes me 20 - 40 hours, over several weeks, to research their family for them. I have been doing genealogy for many years and have a census image subscription. I imagine ItsJustMe, Wendy or the rest of the top 10 could do a reasonable job for a person in that amount of time too.

That wasn't an offer, It was an explanation. Asking students to whip out a family tree in a week - or a weekend - is like asking someone who has never fished before to go out and catch enough trout to feed 12 people. You don't have the skills or the tools.

I always suggest people lie. Usually I wouldn't. In this case I do.

Ask your parents who their parents were. If your grandparents are alive, still speaking to you and not senile, ask them who their parents and grandparents were, what country they were from and roughly when they were born.

Look for them on:

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/f...

(Enter the first name, last name, change "Event" to "Birth", enter the year and change "Year Range" to +/- 5. Leave everything else blank.)

If you see someone who matches, claim him or her. Just make sure your "Family" has about 25 - 35 years between generations and they move generally west over the decades.

Where they are from - I was born in Modesto, Stanislaus County, California. If someone in England or China asked me where I was from, I would say I was an American. If someone from New York or Texas asked, I would say "California". If someone in California asked, I would say "Modesto". I think that is what your teacher meant; "England" rather than "Puggesly-on-the-Marsh, Shropshire, England".

Put the country if it is outside the US, and the state if it is in. Don't be afraid to put "Unknown"; we do that all the time. Just the birth year should be enough of a date, or "Abt. 19x0", where "x" is a guess. If your grandfather was born in, say 1930, his parents were probably born 16 - 40 years before that; 33 is a reasonable guess, so "abt 1900" would work.

This all assumes your parents are there in the home, your Dad read "Cat in the Hat" to you after dinner when you were 3, and your mom takes you to soccer practice.

If your mom had a fling when she was 20 and has never told you who the man was, this is going to be just one more reminder, one more scar on your heart.

If your dad's parents don't talk to you because your mom cheated on him and got custody of you in the divorce, again, it is going to be one more red-hot needle stuck into your eye, one more reminder that your family isn't as happy as some.

Some people's grandparents are so far into Alzheimer's they don't remember their own names, let alone their grandchildren's. If one of your classmates comes in with one half of his / her tree blank, DON'T make fun or ask why. I think she probably meant what country they were born in not the street address ?, with my family tree chart I have put the birth years and death years down for those whose details I do know. I think on this one you should ask Ted Pack to help you, he's an excellent genealogist and really knows his stuff, he is based in the states as well. We do things differently here in the UK. Of course you are confused. The location of where a person is born, IS where they are "from". Where their ancestors were born, is where THEY are from. Example, if grandma Jane was born in Texas, it may be that all four of her grandparents were born in different states, or even countries.
Finding the country of origin for all our ancestors, is a process that may take 20 yrs, to do accurately, if many of your ancestors immigrated in the 1700's or 1600's.
In technical genealogical terms, what you are doing is accurate. If grandma's name is O'Reilly, it does NOT mean all of her ancestors came from Ireland.
I am not in a nice mood tonite. I am just a tad irritated at teachers assigning genealogy, when they have little experience at what it involves, themselves.
If (as most teachers expect), this is an exercise in research, explain that your research turns up what you have, as well as the standard in genealogy that any person's place of birth is accurate as to where they come from. I have over 25 yrs worth of experience, if she would like to come chat with me. It is important that you not antagonize your teacher. People have no business forcing teachers to practice genealogy. They weren't trained to do it when they studied history or education.
Ask the teacher to sit down with you. Show her the info you have for each person, the dates and place of birth. Ask her what she wants.
People who have been Americans for more than a generation get tired of looking back to a place we've never been - you may remind your teacher of that kindly, but remember that she answers to politicians whom you don't control. Sometimes they just want us to invent an Old Country for the sake of checking a box.