Heritage Album - How to start a family tree?

How to start a family tree?

How to start a family tree? According to my father, one of our ancestor got here in the philippines by accident. He was a german guy.Anyways, our family has grown in one of the provinces here in the philippines retaining our family name so it's easier to trace them all. How can I trace my family's roots? Our last name is Gecha. Also, how do you pronounce our family name in german? Thanks!

Public Comments

http://ancestry.com/
Geneology.com
A free site is WWW.rootsweb.com or Familysearch.com. A paid site to go is Ancestry.com or Genealogy.com. since the name has been retained then you shouldn't have a hard time finding a lot information.
Use websites only as a supplement. Get as much information from your family as possible, particularly senior members. Tape them if they will let you. They might be a little confused on some thinjgs, but what might seem to be just ramblings and story telling just might be very important. Go to your library and find out what resources they have in genealogy. They might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com you can use. Ancestry.Com has lots of records. They have all the U. S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 is not available to the public yet. They have the U.K. censuses also. Now, be careful about taking as fact everything you see in family trees on any website, free or paid. Most of the information is not documented or poorly documented. You might see the same information from several different submitters, but none of it is documented. All too often people are copying. That is not the way to do family history. You can use the information as clues as to where to write to get the documentation or what courthouses to visit etc. Call your nearest Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church and find out if they have a Family History Center and if so their hours for the general public. They have records on people all over the world, not just Mormons. Their temple in Salt Lake City has the largest genealogical collection in the world. Their Family History Centers can order microfilm for you to view. They are very nice and helpful and will not bring up their religion or send their missionaries by to ring your doorbell. While you are at the Family History Center, you will have an excellent opportunity to talk with people who can give you some great ideas. Good Luck!
I will give you the same suggestion I have everyone else starting out. Get a book called "unpuzzling your past" by Emily Croom. She takes you step by step. There are even forms in the book you can copy and write on. This is the best place to start. Then sit down with family members and get their stories. Use a tape recorder. Then ask them for copies of their birth, marriages and any death certificates they might have along with obits and family bibles. You can get cemetery records for free by contacting the cemetery where your ancestors are buried. The census is a great tool also. There is also the local LDS center which had millions of records. Just remember, anything you find online should be documented to prove your work. There is a lot of bad research out there. I learned the hard way. Happy hunting and good luck
try rootsweb.com http://www.worldgenweb.org/ http://www.us-census.org/inventory/ http://www.loc.gov/index.html http://www.newspaperabstracts.com/link.php?id=3177 http://forum.geneanet.org/list.php?8927 http://www.theshipslist.com/Research/Resource.htm http://www.alsgenealogy.com/research.htm http://www.raogk.org/ http://www.cyndislist.com/lin-linked.htm http://www.accessgenealogy.com/ http://www.stlib.state.nm.us/ http://www.nmgs.org/1880Census.pdf http://www.findagrave.com/ http://www.rootsweb.com/~nma/cemtry.htm http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/genealogy/stateres.html http://www.godfrey.org/ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~janarmstrong/ http://familyoralhistory.us/ http://awtc.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=PED&db=crayhton&id=I21832 http://www.familysearch.org/ http://groups.google.com/group/Genealogia-Mexico?lnk=li http://www.cabq.gov/rgvls/specol.html http://maxpages.com/ourlostfamily http://www.alhn.org/_sgg/f10000.htm http://www.usgenweb.org/index.shtml http://www.gov-files.com/public_record_search.asp?wid=&tcg=1&PID=9c24fed3-97a5-4831-a862-b9f953afc632 http://libraryweb.utep.edu/special/microfilm.cfm http://www.alsgenealogy.com/research.htm http://www.archivists.org/ http://www.isogg.org/ http://www.academic-genealogy.com/regionalgenealogy.htm#usa