5 Steps to Start Building Your Family Tree

Everyone begins this journey the same way. Something sparks our interest genealogy. We decide we want to build our family tree. But we don't know quite what to do.

We write down our name, add our parents and siblings, and enter what we know about our grandparents. Then we realize we don't know where Grandpa was born. We're not sure of Grandma's mother's name. We have no idea when our immigrant ancestors arrived.

That's when the search for records begins. But how can you be sure this record—this ship manifest or census page—is showing your ancestor? This might be the moment you get frustrated and feel ready to give up.

I see people online every day who are getting started with genealogy. They ask vague questions and seem to expect a distant cousin to hand them their family tree. That's not a good way to start. Instead, identify the closest ancestor for whom you are missing basic facts. Let's say it's Grandpa. Do you know his date of birth? If not, ask your parents and cousins. Do you know his parents' names? If you don't and your relatives don't, you need to search for records. You can't go any further with your family tree until you establish the basic facts for Grandpa.

Using family tree building software on your computer has many advantages.

Now, before you go any further, you must decide how you're going to record all the facts and data you find. Your family tree will be meaningful to you, of course. But it can be important to your relatives and descendants, and to distant cousins you've never met.

How will you record, preserve, and share your family tree? Here are 5 steps to start building your family tree.

Step 1. Choose Your Software

Writing or drawing your family tree on paper is not a good option. You can't share it unless you want to photocopy all the pages. You'll have to keep redrawing the tree when you discover new information. You can't add new facts without squeezing them in and making the whole thing hard to follow. You need computer software.

Don't build your tree online only. This may seem like an easy option, and it is, with all the guidance and hints. But easy can lead to an incorrect family tree in a hurry.

Some family tree websites leave your information open for strangers to edit. Do you want that? Do you want a stranger to decide your grandmother is their grandmother and not yours? Professionals don't put their research in a place where it can be overwritten.

You can search online for family tree software that meets your needs. Find a program that runs on your type of computer and fits your budget. There are plenty of free ones, but even the paid ones are not expensive. Here are some of the most popular family tree programs in alphabetical order:

• Family Tree Builder. Written for Windows, there is no native Mac version. Download and use for free at https://www.myheritage.com/family-tree-builder.
• Family Tree Maker. Works on Windows and Mac. Synchronizes your desktop tree with your tree on Ancestry.com. Download for $80 at https://www.mackiev.com/store_us.html.
• Legacy Family Tree. Written for Windows, there is no native Mac version. Download and use for free at https://legacyfamilytree.com.
• RootsMagic. Works on Windows and Mac. I've downloaded RootsMagic 8 for free at https://www.rootsmagic.com/download/rootsmagic-8. RootsMagic 11, the latest version, costs $39.95 at https://www.rootsmagic.com/rootsmagic. You can download a free trial to see if you like it.

Step 2. Search for Records

You can use free or paid genealogy websites to find records and documents for your family tree. I subscribe to Ancestry.com. I've found tons of vital records for free on the New York City Municipal Archives website. I get my Italian vital records on the free Portale Antenati. But if I don't find what I need on those sites, I check the free FamilySearch.org. There's also MyHeritage.com and Geneanet.org, but you'll need a subscription to search.

Wherever you search, take these steps first:

• Establish some basic facts about your closest ancestors. Ask your relatives for your ancestors' birthdays and birth places if you don't know them.
• Find out which records are available for your place of interest, and what years they cover. Your parents or grandparents may be too young to find in a particular collection.
• Don't assume someone else's family tree is correct because it's online. And never pull their data into your own tree. This can cause a terrible mess and waste your time. You need to treat each of their "facts" as a hint and find out for yourself if they are correct.

When you find a record and you're confident it's your people, download the document image. That way you can add it to your family tree. Decide right this minute what type of file naming and storage system you will use.

Before you move on from that downloaded document and its facts, create a source citation. Without it, you don't have verifiable facts. Without it, your family tree is hearsay.

Wouldn't you love to find your ancestors in a well-sourced family tree?

Step 3. Create Source Citations

Anyone who has ever skipped the step of creating source citations regrets it, or will regret it soon. Let's say you entered a 1909 naturalization date for your uncle. But you didn't cite the fact that the date comes from the 1910 census. Now your cousins want to know how you know their father became a citizen in 1909. They want to apply for dual citizenship. But you can't answer the question because you failed to cite your source.

A source citation relieves you of all the drama. And it doesn't need to be difficult. Sometimes you can copy a source citation from the place where you found the record.

At the most basic level, your source citation must include three things:

1. The title of the record holding this information. For instance, 1910 U.S. Federal Census.
2. Where you found it. For instance, a record from the 1910 United States Federal Census collection at this URL.
3. Certificate number, page number, or line number. You need a distinguishing fact about this record to help someone else to find it. Include a certificate number and state for a birth, marriage, or death certificate. Include the year, place, and even the line number(s) for a census page.

Your goal is to allow anyone who finds your family tree online to be able to go see the document you used as a source. And if you don't see source citations in someone else's family tree, don't accept any of their "facts" as truth. They are unproven hints.

Step 4. Preserve Your Research

Always imagine the worst-case scenario. Your computer gets stolen. Your home goes up in flames. What can you do today and every day to preserve your family tree research?

First, digitize everything. Paper can burn, tear, or get lost. Scan or photograph any paper documents in your possession. I keep my originals in a fire-proof safe.

Establish a logical, practical file naming and storage system. Stick to it and you'll always be able to find what you need with little effort.

Make a habit of creating backups of your work. I work on my family tree every day, so I make backups of my Family Tree Maker file at the end of each day. Each Sunday morning I copy the week's backups onto two external hard drives. I'm also storing my work on the cloud (Microsoft OneDrive) at all times.

Leave yourself a note of where you left off for the day. That way, even if you don't get back to your family tree for a week, you won't waste any time.

Step 5. Share Your Work

I love when a 6th or 7th cousin contacts me after seeing their grandparents in my family tree. My goal is to allow distant cousins to follow my links to the original documents and grow their own family tree. That's why I share my family tree on Ancestry.com and Geneanet.org.

I've also told some of my close cousins how to go to my tree on Geneanet and print out trees for themselves. Geneanet makes it so easy to create the printout you want. And the website is free.

You can also create a "book of life", like the ones on PBS's "Finding Your Roots" with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. I created one especially for my mom's first cousin on her 80th birthday. Plus, I filled an accordion folder with census pages and ship manifests for my ancestors.

Let your relatives know about your genealogy research. They may have documents to share with you. They'll contact you first when there's a new baby in the family. And they'll turn to you for answers once lost to time.

Take these five steps to heart. Build a thoughtful, well-documented, thorough family tree that will live beyond your lifetime.

Taking the Next Step in Family Tree Analysis

Last week I showed you how to use a spreadsheet to gain insight into your family tree. If you're a Mac user, be sure to see the useful comments beneath that article from Mac user Mick.

In the article I challenged myself to tackle a bigger project. I wanted to use Microsoft Power BI Desktop software to further dissect the data and look for trends. I've always been a frustrated programmer, meaning I want to be good at it, but I get so frustrated! This time I got clear step-by-step Power BI instructions from Microsoft Copilot—what a lifesaver.

Working with the Data from Your Family Tree

The first step was to import my spreadsheet of everyone in my family tree into the program. The spreadsheet I exported from MyHeritage Family Tree Builder last week had problems. It wasn't possible to use that file because several rows didn't follow the format. So I exported my people from Family Tree Analyzer (old reliable). Once I imported the spreadsheet, I could see all the category names in Power BI Desktop. These include ID, LastName, FirstName, BirthDate, BirthLocation, etc.

How many ways can you think of to analyze your family tree?

Next, in Power BI Desktop's Report view, I created a table to hold all the data. I gave it some visual formatting to make it easier for me to understand:

• Bold column headers with a color background.
• Alternating white and light green rows like some ancient, pleated computer printout paper.

Note: I'm using the town of Colle Sannita in these examples because it's so complete in my family tree. About 95% of the available vital records are in my tree. The other 5% are records of people from out of town or who I can't identify.

Then I used the Filters column to the right of my table and added one data field: BirthLocation. I chose Advanced filtering, not Basic filtering. This let me filter down to any birth location that contains a certain town name, like Colle Sannita. When I click Apply filter, I can see that it's working. Hurray!

But I want to see how many people that filter includes. How many people in my family tree have I documented as being born in Colle Sannita?

I consulted Copilot to find out how I can do this. First I had to add a new function to my data fields to count the rows. The Copilot guidance used the generic title of RowCount for this. Next, to show the row count, I had to add a "card" to display it on. I did that and formatted it until I got what I wanted: a whole number with a comma to show thousands. My total count before applying a filter is 85,362 (bigger than it was last week). To make it more straightforward, I changed the function's name from RowCount to People. Now my card says 85,362 People.

Let's put it to use!

• When I filter BirthLocation to contain Colle Sannita, I have 25,120 People.
• When I filter BirthLocation to contain Baselice, I have 17,335 People.
• When I filter BirthLocation to contain New York, I have 902 People.
• When I filter BirthLocation to contain Bronx, I have 293 People.

I can do this with MarriageLocation and DeathLocation. I can do it for last names. I'll clear out my filter and drag LastName into the Filter section. I'll type my name, Iamarino, in the search box, and I see right there that I have 815 people with that last name. When I click Apply filter, the main screen shows the filtered list of people and the card says 815 People.

Getting More Specific

Now let's try two filters at once. I know there was an earthquake in Colle Sannita in 1805 that killed many people. I'm going to drag both DeathLocation and DeathDate into the Filters area. Using Advanced filtering, I'll choose:

• DeathLocations that contain Colle Sannita, and
• DeathDates that contain 1805.

Combining these filters leaves me with 54 people. I know the earthquake happened on 26 Jul 1805, thanks to Colle Sannita expert, Dr. Fabio Paolucci. I see people in this list who died well before the earthquake. I'm going to change my DeathDate filter to "contains 26 Jul 1805" or "contains 27 Jul 1805". This brings the list down to 28 people. (I can't add more than two dates, but a visual scan of the dates showed that all the victims seemed to die on these two dates.)

I created another filter to find years with very high or low death counts. I added a filter for DeathLocation that contains Colle Sannita, and one for DeathDate. I can keep changing the year and clicking Apply filter to see how many deaths there were. Here are a few results:

• 1810 had 113 deaths
• 1811 had 165 deaths
• 1812 had 145 deaths
• 1813 had 88 deaths
• 1860 had 126 deaths

I wanted to find a way to export or graph these numbers, but FRUSTRATION! My only choice would be to keep changing the filter and jot down the results in another spreadsheet. (Any programmers reading this are laughing their heads off.) I tried creating a dashboard that could show the results of various filters, but it didn't work. If I do make a separate spreadsheet, I can use Excel to turn the data into line graphs and bar charts. I have started doing this. See the image below.

It didn't take long to enter facts into a new spreadsheet to make these line graphs.

Going Deeper

Next let's try a 3-part filter. I'm wondering if the girl babies outnumbered the boy babies in my ancestral hometowns. I'll create a filter that contains a BirthLocation of Colle Sannita and a BirthDate of 1810. I'll include Gender, which shows me the Female/Male split without my having to touch it. Then I'll keep changing the year.

• In 1810 there were 199 births: 103 female and 96 male. Girls win.
• In 1820 there were 170 births: 79 female, 91 male. Boys win.
• In 1830 there were 177 births: 93 female, 84 male. Girls win.
• In 1840 there were 139 births: 71 female, 68 male. Girls win, but it's a close one.
• In 1850 there were 210 births: 114 female, 96 male. Girls win.
• In 1860 there were 206 births: 113 female, 93 male. Girls win.
• In 1870, 1880, 1890, 1900, and 1910 the boys win. Change in the water?

Now let's take a quick look at the marriages I've documented in Colle Sannita. There are two main churches, but the one in the heart of town is much older. I'll filter the MarriageLocation to those containing the older church: San Giorgio Martire. Wow! I've got 4,119 people who I know married there. I'll change the filter to show the location of the newer church in the area called Decorata. I've got 245 people who married there.

How are these both odd numbers? My guess is because of people who had more than one marriage. Only the preferred marriage appears in this database.

One more filter for the road. Italians have a tremendous reverence for the Virgin Mary, so they use the name Maria a LOT. Even the boys got Maria for a middle name. So, how many people in my family tree from Colle Sannita have a first name that contains Maria? 21,491 people!

I'd love to hear your suggestions for other ways to dissect the facts in my family tree.

Use a Spreadsheet to Analyze Your Family Tree

My family tree is an enormous database with 85,363 people. People often write to me to ask why their great grandparents are in my tree. They want to know how I'm related. Many times I'm not an actual relative.

That's when I have to explain the purpose of my family tree. I've connected entire towns through blood or marriage. Everyone in there has some type of connection to me. It's a jigsaw puzzle with no border pieces. It never ends, and I love that.

When you export your family tree to a spreadsheet, you can pull out statistics you can't get any other way.

I need to find a way to create statistics about my family tree to help explain why their people are in there. I don't see any reports in various desktop family tree software that would do the trick. The Ancestry.com version of my family tree gives a few stats in its tree overview:

• People 85,363
• Photos 11,233 (at least 10,000 are document images)
• Documents 13 (these are PDFs)
• Records 1 (no idea what that is)

That isn't what I want. If only I could use an Excel spreadsheet to sort and filter these stats to the surface.

I won't use Family Tree Analyzer today because readers point out it doesn't have a Mac version anymore. But a lot of software doesn't have a Mac version. I've been saying that since 1984.

I downloaded MyHeritage Family Tree Builder, and then found out it has no Mac version. {sigh} Let's get on with it.

Choose Your Software

First I found an article titled "5 Best Free Gedcom to Excel Converter Software for Windows". It recommended these programs you can download:

1. Gramps. This one may work on your Mac and on Linux, too.
2. MyHeritage Family Tree Builder. This has tons of features, especially if you sync it with your tree on MyHeritage.
3. ScionPC. Last updated in 2016.
4. Oxy-Gen. Last updated i 2023.
5. GEDxlate. This is so old it may not work on your Windows computer.

Export Your Data

I imported my latest complete GEDCOM file into MyHeritage Family Tree Builder. Every day I export two GEDCOM files from Family Tree Maker (my program of choice). One excludes media and notes, and one includes everything. Then I went to the Edit menu in Family Tree Builder and chose Export to Excel. I clicked Export list of people, but you can create a custom export if you wish.

The export to Excel command in any software creates a .CSV file. CSV stands for Comma Separated Values, and you can use any brand of spreadsheet software to open it. Even though your software says "Export to Excel", it is not creating an Excel file that you may not be able to use.

Open that CSV file with whatever spreadsheet software you have—even if it's Google Sheets. Then save it to your preferred format. I have Microsoft Office 365, so I saved my file in Excel's .xlsx format.

Make Your Data Easier to Use

Now you can view the results in your preferred software program. The first thing I always do is make the top row (with the column header names) bold, and freeze the top row. That way the headers are always visible as I scroll. I went ahead and made some columns wider so I could see their contents. Next, I hid a few columns I'm not going to use:

• ID
• Prefix
• Married Name (No!! Birth names only.)
• Death cause

I rearranged a couple of columns, too. I moved Last name before First name, and Gender after Suffix. I clicked Sort on Excel's Data menu and sorted my 85,363 people by Last name then First name.

Now we're ready for some statistics!

Start Filtering

On Excel's Data menu, I clicked Filter. This puts an arrow (indicating a menu) beside each column header. I clicked the arrow beside Birth place and typed Colle Sannita in the Text Filters search box. That's my paternal grandfather's hometown.

This tells me my family tree has 25,122 people born in Colle Sannita. (I can look at the bottom of the Excel window to see how many records fit in this filter.) The beauty of the filter is that it will select any place, any address, that includes Colle Sannita. That's something I can't do any other way.

I can change that filter to see that my tree has (listed from most to least):

• 25,122 people born in Colle Sannita (repeating this for comparison)
• 17,335 people born in Baselice (my maternal grandfather's hometown)
• 10,409 people born in Pesco Sannita (birthplace of a 1st great grandmother)
• 2,789 people born in Santa Paolina (birthplace of a 2nd great grandmother)
• 2,696 people born in Circello (birthplace of a 3rd great grandfather)
• 1,962 people born in Sant'Angelo a Cupolo (this town's records begin in 1861, keeping this number low)
• 935 people born in Apice (birthplace of a 3rd great grandmother)

I had no idea what these totals would be, and it's exciting to see them. I've been working hardest on Colle Sannita for a long time because I have the most ancestors there.

Now I'll use the filter on the Marriage place column. This shows me I have recorded (listed from most to least):

• 8,200 marriages in Colle Sannita
• 4,400 marriages in Baselice
• 3,914 marriages in Pesco Sannita
• 1,502 marriages in Santa Paolina
• 1,314 marriages in Circello
• 538 marriages in Sant'Angelo a Cupolo
• 338 marriages in Apice

I've been busy, haven't I? But what I see is how much work I need to do in many of my ancestral hometowns.

Filter Out More Facts

Another fact I can filter is any date (birth, marriage, or death) that includes a particular year. I typed 1855 into the text filter search box and found that my family tree has 542 people born in that year. In most of my ancestral hometowns, record keeping began in the second quarter of 1809. So how many people in my family tree were born in the first full year of civil record keeping? I'll type 1810 in the text filter search box to see that it's 581 people.

A big part of my family came from the town that started keeping records in 1861. So how many people in my family tree were born in that year? I'll type 1861 in the text filter search box to see that it's 539 people.

If I wanted to take the time, I could track trends in my towns by using two or more filters at once. I can filter to show one town and one year. This shows me that in 1860 the town of Colle Sannita recorded 206 births and 126 deaths. I've taken the time to work ALL this town's available vital records into my family tree, so those numbers are good.

Take the Next Step

I could use this data in more powerful software to report on birth, death, and marriage trends. For instance, there's Microsoft Power BI (BI = Business Intelligence), which I've used before. I've noticed that some years have a much higher death count than others. This could point to a terrible disease sweeping through the town, or an earthquake. If I were to create such a report, it would give me more insight into the lives of my ancestors.

It's been a long time since I used Microsoft Power BI to analyze my family tree. Now the software has AI features to make it easier to use. It sure sounds like I need to try it again.

Wouldn't you like to know where your family tree has the most roots? What other details would you filter for?

How to Find Those Elusive Genealogy Records

Last week I showed you how bad information on naturalization papers built a brick wall in my family tree. But it is worthwhile to look for those naturalization papers. They can show you who left the old country and where they lived in their new country.

One reliable fact with naturalization documents is a Certificate of Arrival. This is a certified slip of paper showing a person's date of arrival, the ship name, and how their name appears. If you weren't able to find their arrival before, now you can.

The problem is, you may not be seeing naturalization papers when you search for your people. Here are four ways to find those elusive genealogy records.

Are you ready to finally find those elusive genealogy documents?

Perfect for New Yorkers Like Me

Most of my immigrant ancestors' families settled in the Bronx, New York. That makes this resource an outstanding tool for my family tree research. "Naturalization Records, State of New York" covers the Bronx and Queens in New York City. And it's so easy to use. Here's how:

• Go to https://naturalization.nycourts.gov.
• Select either Bronx or Queens under the County Filed heading.
• Enter a Last Name.
• Click Search.

I couldn't find my grandfather's or great grandfather's naturalization papers for years. Then I found them on this website. And I can use it to search for other relatives.

A Free Resource for Everyone Else

OK, so you've got no ties to the Bronx or Queens. Here's what you can do:

• Go to https://www.familysearch.org. If you don't have a free FamilySearch account, make one!
• In the Search menu at the top of the screen, click Records.
• Look beneath the large image and search box for the heading Find a Collection.
• Type a U.S. state and the word naturalization in the Collection Title box to see what's available. (Canada also has naturalization records for British Columbia. And there are lots of choices for Indonesia.)
• Make a selection and use the search box on the next screen to find your people. (If there is no search box, choose Browse and narrow down the section in which you will search.)
• No luck? Try the other results you saw when typing the state and the word naturalization.

Some of these record collections show you nothing but an index card. That card may have a volume and record number to help you further your search for the papers themselves.

If You're Already Paying…

I've been an Ancestry.com subscriber for 2 decades. I search Ancestry first, then FamilySearch to see if they have anything different. If you subscribe to Ancestry.com:

• Click the Search menu and choose Card Catalog.
• Type "naturalization" in the Keyword(s) box and click Search.
• Use the Filter By Location section to find the country or area you need.

You can find international collections this way. I clicked Oceania in the Filter By Location list to see what it includes. There I found a few Australian collections I need to investigate.

Last Ditch Effort Well Worth a Try

There's a database on the U.S. National Archives website called the Flexoline Index. Don't bother trying to download it like I did. No spreadsheet is capable of reading that many line entries. But you can search it online. Here's how:

• Go to the "Access to Archival Databases" section of the archives at https://aad.archives.gov/aad/index.jsp.
• In the Browse by Category section, click the red link, Browse by Subjects.
• Find and click Naturalization in the alphabetical list.
• Click to Search the Flexoline database.
• Enter some information, such as a Last Name, and click the Search button.
• If there are results, click the View Record page icon for the record of choice. If you get no results, alter your search terms.

While the results are simple, you can learn some important details, including:

• City of Birth
• Country of Birth
• Exact birth date
• Port of Entry
• Exact date of arrival

If you haven't found your person's ship manifest, this search result gives you details you can use to find it. I'm surprised there's no ship name—that would be a time-saver. Let's see how you can use this info to find that missing ship manifest.

I searched for Domenica Alfonsi born in 1923 in Italy. Her results tell me she arrived in New York on 19 May 1947. To find her, I'll go to Ancestry and search the Ellis Island database. It's called "New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957".

Now, let's imagine I've never been able to find Domenica Alfonsi when searching for her by name. Since I have her date of arrival, I'll go to the "Browse this collection" area and choose to search by date.

Twelve ships arrived in New York on 19 May 1947. Only one ship has an Italian name, and it's a name I've seen before. There are 244 images in this collection, but the ship manifests span two pages. Plus there are separator pages between many images. I'll be able to skip lots of the 244 images.

Lucky for me, the names on this ship manifest are typewritten. Plus (I'm not used to this) the last names are in alphabetical order! I'm looking for ALFONSI, so I should get through this collection in no time.

I found Domenica Alfonsi on image 150 of 244. (The As started a few images before.) She arrived with her brother Domenico. The NARA search result said Domenica came from Frosinone, but that isn't a town. The ship manifest shows she came from Castelliri in the province of Frosinone. (Knowing the town name is crucial for finding Italian vital records.) On image 151 I see she's joining her father Giovanni at 5377 Hurlbut Street in Detroit, Michigan. Google Street View shows a row of houses there in a dramatic state of disrepair. 5377 Hurlbut Street is an empty lot now.

This exercise shows the value of using database results to find what you need for your family tree. Are you ready to find those documents at long last?

Bad Dates Built a Brick Wall in This Family Tree

Rae's grandfather was a solid brick wall in my family tree. Until he wasn't.

A few years ago I realized I didn't know my godmother's given name. She and her husband, my mom's 1st cousin, are my godparents. She's always been in my life as simply Rae. But Rae isn't her given name. I finally asked her for some details so I could research her family tree.

A Jam-Packed Genealogy Document

Isn't it great when you find your immigrant ancestor's naturalization papers? There's so much specific information on a single page. Along with his photo, Rae's grandfather's U.S. naturalization papers gave me:

• His date of birth and place of birth
• His wife's date and place of birth (but not her last name)
• Their date and place of marriage
• The names of their 4 children
• All 4 of their dates and places of birth

Which genealogy data can you trust, and which can build a brick wall in your family tree?

Fantastic, right? Now I can go get these Italian birth and marriage records on the Antenati website. Their hometown in Italy has a tremendous number of vital records online. They include way more years than my ancestral hometowns do.

Secondary Sources? Not Good Enough

The reason I called Rae's grandfather a brick wall is this. EVERY date on his naturalization papers is WRONG. His date of birth? WRONG. His wife's date of birth? WRONG. Their date of marriage? WRONG. Their children's dates of birth? WRONG.

At some point I gave up on this branch because I couldn't find their Italian vital records. That meant I couldn't go back another generation. And I had two different possible last names for Rae's grandmother.

A secondary source in genealogy is any document written well after the fact.

A primary source is written for that specific event:

• A birth record is written shortly after the birth to document the birth.
• A marriage record is written shortly after the marriage to document the marriage.
• A death record is written shortly after the death to document the death.

Naturalization papers are a secondary source for names, dates, and places. They are written to document the naturalization process itself. That makes them a primary source for naturalization facts. The rest of the details about names and dates come from the testimony of the immigrant. That makes them secondary and unreliable.

Why was he wrong about 6 birth dates and his marriage date? I have no idea. This past weekend this family came to my attention. I decided to figure out what went wrong.

Tracking Down Primary Sources

I spent a full day on the Antenati website for their hometown. I searched countless years' worth of vital records until I demolished the brick wall. I needed to start with Rae's grandparents' marriage. That would give me her grandmother's maiden name and both their parents' names.

• Rae's grandparents did not marry on 2 Sep 1890 as the naturalization papers say. They married on 18 Sep 1887. This set of marriage records took Rae's family tree back to her great grandparents.
• Rae's grandfather was not born on 28 Feb 1864 as he said, but on 2 Mar 1864. I'll call that one "close enough", but still weird.
• Rae's grandmother (now that I discovered her full name) was not born on 2 Feb 1871 but on 6 Feb 1866.
• Rae's aunt was not named Gelorma (not a real name), but Girolama, after Rae's great grandmother. She was not born on 2 Apr 1891 but on 31 Mar 1889.
• Rae's aunt Antoniella (I expected that to be a nickname) was not born on 8 Jun 1895 but on 20 Apr 1894 and named Antonia.
• Rae's aunt Maria was not born on 2 Jul 1898 but on 17 Sep 1898 and named Maria Felicia.
• Rae's father Matteo was not born on 17 Jan 1899, but on 29 Jan 1897. His draft registration card and naturalization papers get this a little wrong. They use the date 23 Jan 1897.

Using the names of the 2 sets of newfound great grandparents, I began to expand further back in time. I found the following:

• The 1861 marriage record for Rae's grandfather's parents. This told me the names of two sets of Rae's 2nd great grandparents.
• That marriage packet led to a 2nd great grandmother's 1851 death record. That added one set of Rae's 3rd great grandparents.
• It led to the 1841 marriage of a pair of 2nd great grandparents. That added two more sets of Rae's 3rd great grandparents.
• Turning to Rae's grandmother, I found her parents' 1858 marriage record. That added two more sets of Rae's 2nd great grandparents.
• This led to the 1829 marriage record for a set Rae's 2nd great grandparents. That added two more sets of Rae's 3rd great grandparents.
• That led to a 3rd great grandmother's 1828 death record. That added one set of Rae's 4th great grandparents.

This brick wall came tumbling down in a landslide! There are a few more records I can look for. I'll try to identify the three missing sets of Rae's paternal 3rd great grandparents. And Rae's mother's roots are in the same town as her father's. I can try to identify the six missing sets of Rae's maternal 3rd great grandparents. I have no doubt I can fill in many of these blanks. Update: Yesterday I found more records and identified one of Rae's 5th great grandparents!

Revisit Your Brick Walls

The lesson here is simple. If the best you can find for your brick wall ancestor is a secondary source, don't assume it's correct. You need to do more research. You need to do more than put a name in a search box. Seek out primary sources you can examine with your own eyes.

Rae once told me (about my family—her husband's family), they married within their own tribe. This research shows her statement is true of her own family, too. Her parents married in New York City, but they came from the same beautiful town in the spur of the Italian boot.

Free Genealogy Resource Leads to Fun Research

I was looking into a free genealogy resource to share with you when I spotted one heck of a coincidence.

First the resource. The Library of Congress has a large collection of images you can use for free. While scrolling through the collection I noticed there is a genealogy category. It's a very eclectic group of items, including blank family tree charts, maps, photos, and more.

Now the coincidence. I noticed one photo labeled "Italian family living 428 E. 116th St." in New York City. My grandfather's cousins lived around 116th Street, so I took a look.

Searching this free genealogy photo collection, I discovered my great grandparents' neighbors depicted in 1912.

When I clicked this photo, I found a "More items like this" section at the bottom of the page. One of the images shown there has a label that includes the address 259 E. 151st Street. What? Hey! 259 E. 151st Street, Bronx, New York, was across the street from the building where my mother was born and raised.

The photo's full description: Cutting out embroidery on the dirty kitchen floor. Battista family, 259 E. 151 St. N.Y. On the right is the married daughter, who lives down stairs and usually works there. On her right next to the boy is Flora, said to be 9 years old and very much stunted in size. 'Been sick.' Next to her is the mother and next is Linda, 11 years old. The baby, dirty and covered with sores, was being handed about. Probably has impetigo."

Many of the women in my family did this type of "home work" in the early 1900s. Sewing, stitching, trimming. So it's especially interesting to see what that process might have looked like.

Start With the Census

The date on this image is January 1912. I'll bet I can find this family in the 1910 census.

I went to my family tree to get the URL for my great grandparents' 1910 census. They were living at 258 E. 151st Street. Then I went page by page through the census until I found the Battista family. Husband Paolo, wife Maria, and seven children were all born in Italy except for the 4-year-old boy Guido. The baby with impetigo must belong to the married daughter who lives downstairs.

I've found that people living in this Bronx neighborhood came from the same towns as my ancestors. It's worth some research time to try to find out where this Battista family lived in Italy. Finding this family's ship manifest will be the best way to learn the name of their hometown.

I searched on Ancestry for Paolo Battista, born about 1872, arriving in New York in 1903. A quick glance at the search results told me his birth date, and that he's buried in Old Saint Raymond's Cemetery. That's where you'll find my grandparents and all my Bronx relatives. His U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index record (an excellent resource) includes his parents' names.

Look for an Immigration Record

When I couldn't find Paolo's 1903 ship manifest, I searched for the rest of his family. The 1910 census says they arrived in New York in 1904. I found them! The maiden name of Maria Battista is Carfagna. (Italian women don't change their name when they marry, so a ship manifest is also a great place to find her last name.) And the family came from Casalciprano. I'd never heard of Casalciprano before, but I see on the map that it's a little north of some of my ancestral hometowns.

Scour the Vital Records

With the name of their hometown, I could search for their Italian birth records on Antenati. I found Paolo Antonio Battista's 1872 birth record with no trouble. The names of his parents and his date of birth match what I saw on U.S. documents.

In the 1873 birth records I found Anna Maria Carfagna. She was a foundling baby; parents unknown. Left in the "foundling wheel" a day after she was born, her birth record describes the items that were with her. Officials made note of a foundling's belongings in case the mother wanted to claim the baby later. Anna Maria Carfagna is the name a town official gave to her. Wrapped in linen cloth with a white stripe, she wore a cotton headband.

Then I found a surprise for the undersized Flora named in the Library of Congress photo. Her age is correct on the census. She was born in Casalciprano on 8 Apr 1902. Flora somehow wound up back in Italy, in Napoli, to marry Giuseppe Pisani on 28 Aug 1955. (These details are in the column of her birth record.) Yes, she was 53 years old when she married in Italy. It's nice to see that the stunted child who had "been sick" grew up and married.

The boy called Carlo on the 1910 census appears to be Arno on the 1904 ship manifest. I found his 1895 birth record, and his given name is Arno Filippo. I found birth records for the Battistas' children Virginia in 1897, Linda in 1899, and Entimio in 1903. I also found their son Guido's 1905 birth record on the New York Municipal Archives website.

I couldn't find a birth record for the oldest daughter from the 1910 census, Ida. Then I noticed she didn't come to New York in 1904, but in 1908. When I found her ship manifest, I saw that her mother went back to Italy to bring her to America. (Usually the father does this, not the mother.) Her parents left her behind in Italy for four years. Hospitalized on arrival, Ida and her mother stayed at Ellis Island for four days. (These details come from the ship manifest page for detained passengers. This tip came in very handy!) Still, I could not find a birth record for her—even checking under another first name.

I wanted to find the name of the Battistas' married daughter seen in the photograph. While searching for her and Ida, I worried I was going back too far. Their parents were born in 1872 and 1873. I found their marriage record in July 1892. The couple are only 20 and 21 years old. The two missing daughters should have a birth record in 1892, 1893, or 1894. I looked at the birth record of every Battista child in those years. I even looked at earlier years' birth records in case they had a child when they were teenagers.

I tried searching immigration records for anyone named Battista from Casalciprano. I found only Ida's 1908 arrival and a woman who had different parents.

Return to the Census

I found the Battista family in other censuses, hoping to find their eldest daughter. I noticed one woman on the 1915 census, Immacolata, who's also listed beside the family in the 1910 census. She's a possibility, but she's a bit too old, and I didn't see any Battistas named Immacolata in Casalciprano.

In the 1925 census, the Battista family lives around the corner in the same building as some of my cousins. They're also at that address in the 1920 census. But Immacolata is no longer near them.

Broaden the Search

Next I did a broad search for Immacolata Battista, the potential daughter. This led me to a family tree with documentation for Ida. It includes her 1893 date of birth (taken from U.S. documents), but there is no such record in her hometown. It is possible that Paolo and Maria didn't report the births of their first two children. This would result in a fine for the parents in Italy, and it can prevent the child from getting permission to marry. (My great grandfather's 1876 birth wasn't reported until 1898, the year he married.)

I found Ida's 1910 New York City marriage record on the NYC Municipal Archives website. It's possible her delayed birth record is in the 1909 or 1910 records in Casalciprano. Unfortunately, those years are not available online. It's too bad the family tree I found on Ancestry has no mention of another, older daughter.

What other search techniques would you have used?

Granted, these people are not related to me. But I'm quite sure my great grandparents and my grandmother knew them. Bringing this historic photo to life is one of many superpowers we have as genealogists. What discoveries does this photo collection hold for you?