My Great Great Aunts, Caroline and Frances Myers, were Iowa schoolteachers who devoted much time to genealogy throughout their life developing our family tree. I wish I had been interested as I would have all the information they had developed so laboriously. Fortunately they recorded most all of what they found. They died in the early 1960's, many years after selling their farm in Iowa. Grateful acknowledgment is extended to my Aunt Carrie and Aunt Frances for all their time and research.
Genealogy also covers the study and research of pedigrees.
The traditional method of those wishing to find their ancestors is to question parents and grandparents, for they are likely to possess written records and family Bibles, and their memories are often clear and accurate. From this start the researcher may visit libraries and courthouses and seek documentary evidence from municipal and village records and from church registers, which record weddings, christenings, and funerals. In the case of Americans, a family may be traced back to the time of its arrival in the new country. Research in the country of a family's origin is usually the most difficult because records may no longer exist and work may have to be conducted in a foreign language. British research is relatively easy because records were immaculately kept and few have been lost.