Genealogy for Seniors: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding Your Family History Using Your Computer, Ancestry.com, DNA Kits, and Free Online Tools (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798199057349)

You are the family historian. You just don't know it yet.

Somewhere in your memory - and in the boxes in your attic - is a family story that no database in the world has. Names, faces, stories, documents. You are the last person standing who knows some of it. And the clock is running.

Genealogy for Seniors is the book that finally makes this possible for you. Not for tech-savvy researchers. Not for people who already know what a centimorgan is. For you - someone who wants to trace their family history, may feel uncertain about computers, and deserves a guide that actually meets them where they are.

This book walks you through every step, one at a time, in plain English:

• Start without a computer - gather what you already know from memory, from relatives, and from the documents you already have at home
• Learn FamilySearch - the free, powerful platform that holds billions of historical records and is the best first step for any researcher
• Navigate Ancestry.com - when to try it, how to use its hint system, and whether the subscription is worth it for you
• Read old documents - census records, birth and death certificates, immigration papers, and handwritten records from the 1800s
• Understand DNA testing - which test to take, what your results actually mean, why you should test elderly relatives first, and what happens to your data
• Break through brick walls - what to do when your research hits a dead end, including records most people never think to check
• Organize and preserve - simple systems for your computer, how to scan documents with your phone, and how to back everything up
• Share what you find - how to create something your family will actually read and treasure for generations

Includes four ready-to-use worksheets: a four-generation ancestor chart, a family group sheet, a record-type guide, and a getting-started flowchart.

Your family has been waiting for someone to find them. That someone is you.