My Experience Interviewing Relatives

Submitted by KrazyB73@aol.com

 

My name is Bonnie Carriles and I have been researching genealogy for 2 years.In my experience,I have found that interviewing relatives can prove to be the best resource. Especially if you are researching a name that is not common or is too common, which seems to be my problem.(McCandlish & King).

I have found that alot of the older generation of relatives prove to be the best,because when you get them talking they start to tell stories. Within these stories come alot of vital information, which you may have not even thought to ask them.

Ancestry.Com has some great online forms that you can download and print. They recommend using them in your interviews. They are good forms but, when you get to chatting you think up more and more questions as they go along. But when you are reviewing the interview and organizing, this is when the forms become helpful. Also,while relatives can be the best resource, I always consider them just a lead until I can prove what they have said. Many relatives will "remember" things differently than others.

In my search I have found that this is not only to discover the names of people in the family. With the help from relatives,these names become more than just names, they become people.  

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