Learning & Thinking
Genealogy
Follow records, registers and old photographs back through your own family
The first move is not an archive but the oldest relative you can reach: names, years and place names, written down, because that oral layer is what every later search keys off. Registers, migration papers and parish records come after. Nearly everyone hits a wall at some generation, where a war or a changed name cuts the thread.
First stepSit down with an older relative for an hour, record it, and draw up three generations of names, years and places.
Barriers
Cost to start
Under $50
Going deep → $2k–10k
Alone or with people
On your own
Effort
Sitting
Without a teacher?
Self-taught
One session takes
1–2 hours
Where
At home
Why people take it up