TimeTrackers - for British and Australian Family History research, teaching, publication and film making

Basics of Genealogy

To begin tracing your ancestors, the first thing to do is talk to your older relatives. They may either reveal a wealth of knowledge about the family, or they may not know much at all. Any information you can gain such as names (including maiden names of females), birth and marriage dates and places, will all be useful.

Example: you want to trace your father's line. Let's suppose your father is alive but both his parents (your grand-parents) are dead. Your father does not know the maiden name of his mother (your grand-mother). So, you need to obtain your father's birth certificate (check with him...he may have it hidden away). This will give you his mother's maiden name. Now you can look for a record of your grand-parent's marriage.

When you have found their marriage you'll need to order a copy of their marriage certificate. This will give the names, occupations and ages of both their fathers (your great-grand-fathers). Armed with this, you can now trace their birth certificates, and work your way back to the beginning of Civil Registration.

Learn how to trace your family tree

We can help you get started :

Start-up workshops. Our most popular workshop. Held on a one-on-one basis at our home in Fremantle, these workshops are tailored to your needs. Lasting about two and a half hours, we cover the basics and point you in the right direction to get you started. Cost: $80 (which includes a copy of the book 'Tracing your Past' and your own personal folder). For more details, go here.

Internet workshops. For people with an understanding of the basics of genealogy, this two-hour workshop gives hands-on guidance on using the internet for your research. Cost: $80 (which includes two hours internet access and comprehensive notes). For more details, go here.

Short courses. We run regular short courses (over two separate days of two hours each) at the Glyde-In Community Centre in East Fremantle. These are usually booked out quickly, so check with the Glyde-In for the latest schedule.

Country workshops. If you live in the country, contact your local Telecentre to see if we can organise a group workshop at the Telecentre. All we need is six people to attend and it can happen. We've run workshops in about 25 Western Australian Telecentres so far and we're happy to do more.

Specific workshops. We can tailor a specific learning session to your needs. If you want help with a family tree software program (like Family Tree Maker, or Reunion) we can give you some training. Or if you want to know how to design family tree charts, or get ready to write your story for publication, we can help. Tell us your needs and we'll see what we can do.