Best 7 Ancestry Tips For Researching Your Ancestors

We celebrated our Ancestry Day in San Francisco, CA, in collaboration with Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. Back thousands of years ago, Angel Island was a fishing site for Miwok Indians, but in the early 20th century, the Angel Island assisted as the main immigration station for thousands of immigrants from East Asia, mainly from China.

During World War II, Angel Island served a different purpose as a detention facility for German and Japanese Prisoners of War (POWs) and a stopping point for American soldiers returning from the Pacific. Ancestry Day provides an excellent opportunity to listen to how-to’s from our Ancestry pros and meet other researchers from the Bay Area and Northern California. You can proceed from Ancestry Day by the Bay to benefit the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation.

Ancestry Day by the Bay: 18 June Saturday, schedule 7:30–8:45 am

Registration Process: 7:30 am — 3:45 am

Vendor Fair: 8:15 am — 8:45 am

Ancestry 101: Beginners basic class 8:45–9 am

Opening or Welcome announcements, door prizes: 9 am — 10:45 am

Get the most out of Ancestry DNA: 10:45–11 am

Door prize drawings and break time: 11 am-Noon

Use Ancestry DNA to advance your Family History Research: Noon — 1:30 pm

Lunch time: 12:30–1:30 pm

Lunch speaker: Paula Williams Madison- 1:30–1:40 pm

Door prize drawings time was- 1:40–2 pm

Partner with Angel Island: 2- 2:30 pm

Questions for experts: 2:30–2: 45 pm

Door prize drawings and break time: 2:45- 3:30 pm

Telling your Family story: 3:30- 3:45 pm

Closing words: Grand prize drawings delegates from several Bay area and genealogical societies will be present, comprising the African American Genealogical Society, San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society, California Genealogical Society, San Mateo County Genealogical Society, San Francisco Public Library at SF state U., and the US. Immigration and Citizenship Services.

The speaker was retired NBC Universal executive Paula Williams Madison, and American Author and filmmaker of Finding Samuel Lowe, and Jamaican-Chinese-African, to search for the story of her Hakka Chinese Grandfather. Paula has produced a highly renowned film and wrote a book about her search to learn more about her grandfather and her connection with the Chinese side of her family and greeted their newly made family members from Jamaica and America.

Paula said a very great story of her family being lost or found. This program will feature a chance to go to the Former US. Immigration Station on Angel Island. It is a National Historic Landmark, and you can learn from the speakers about resources in the National Archives and government organizations. There is a special package to go to Angel Island from San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf at 9:45 am, commute to the Immigration Station, admission, and an informative program at 12:15 pm.

Zack Wilske, a historian with the US Citizenship and Immigration Services, is the speaker on Immigration and other records and facts available from government repositories, and Marisa Louie Lee, a genealogist and former archivist connected with the National Archives and Records Immigration. The tour is limited only to 50 people, and the ticket price is $60 each.

7 Tips to research your Ancestors

What tips or advice would you give to your researcher who has started research on their family history journey? Below are some tips for our UK Twitter community, and we will be happy to get helpful responses about everything from who and how to research.

• You don’t just record the exact line you come from. Make a table on siblings. The information can lead you down an exciting path.
• You also start with what you know and work backwards.
• Play with the spellings. My g-g-gramps was under a misspelt name on a census. Took me forever to find them.
• You don’t need to copy other’s mistakes. Always cross-check information and see what sources are given in online family trees.
• Don’t give up. Sometimes the information is there, just not where you expected it or spelt slightly differently.
• Buy nice stationery. You are going to make tons of notes.
• Don’t just chase names and dates. Put your ancestors in context, write up their stories and visit their graves.

Your story didn’t start the day you were born; it started with your ancestors. Ancestry DNA gives you a historical insight into the unique places your ancestors lived and tells you your true story. People are activating their Ancestry DNA kits to trace their family generations and family tree. You can also activate your Ancestry kit by visiting the URL Ancestrydna.com/activate.