Family Trees

by  Dr. Betty Middleton Rowan Public Library

Curious about your history? Have you ever wondered if someone famous is in your
background? My search began when a granddaughter was researching the Daughters of the                              
American Revolution for a project at school.  We were aware of a distant relative from New Jersey who had served as one of George Washington’s aides, so the quest began.  It was an exciting adventure and more difficult than it is today because that was before historic records became digitalized and accessible online.

If you would like to create a family tree of your own and are unsure where to start then a visit to
The History Room at Rowan Public Library is the place to go.  Their data bases include
HeritageQuest which has four major sections:  The Census Search helps you find your ancestors through
the U.S. Federal Census Schedules, U.S. Slave Schedules, Selected Non-Population Schedules and more. 
The Revolutionary War Pension  Files can help you find patriots in your family tree who were in that
war. The Freedman’s Bank Records  helps you search for your African American ancestors.  You can
also locate ancestors in the Family and Local Histories and City Directories.

The Ancestry  data base contains the following  categories :  Census & Voter Lists, Birth,
Marriage & Death, Military, Immigration & Travel, Newspapers & Publications, Pictures, Stories,
Memories & Gazetteers, Schools, Directories, & Church Histories, Tax, Criminal, Land & Wills, Family
Trees.

You can access Heritage Quest from home by going to the Rowan Public Library
HOME page and under Related Links on the left-hand side select Online Tools.  This data base can be
accessed through that location if you have a Rowan Public Library card with a four digit Pin Number.
If you are in any library branch Ancestry can be accessed from any computer in the library.

Some tips that can be helpful:  When I began gathering family information several months ago I
was keeping my own notebook with the information printed out from various sources and it was taking
a long time to find the information about long-ago relatives (not knowing  maiden names, or birthdays,
etc.)   I discovered that just about every generation had a William and Mary combination or something
similar therefore the approximate date of birth can be vital.)

When I began to create a family tree through Ancestry I had to look up each person individually until I
had entered the third generation (using maiden names and approximate birth dates).  The next day
when I signed in there were little green leaves attached to some of the names on the tree.  This
indicated additional information that Ancestry located about that person – census, birth, marriage, death
information.  It was amazing how quickly the tree grew once that began.

You too can learn more about your family, where they lived, occupations, and when they came
to America.  Give it a try.  Be careful – it is addictive.