So we are going to start by finding out what you or your current family already know. And if you've ever watched, who do you think you are on television, where celebrities trace their ancestry, you might have noticed that they always start by talking to at least one member of their family. A reason for this is that members of your family may have information that you don't know and stories about past members of the family that you weren't even aware about. And you can save yourself a lot of time and effort by finding this information before you start internet searches. So your first step in this journey is to think about who in your current family might have this kind of information. Now, this could be siblings or cousins, but very often, it is the older generation Who have this kind of information and possibly old documents and photographs as well, that will be very useful in your research.
So as well as basic facts about names and dates, you'll usually find that older relatives will also be full of stories and information about ancestors characters. Well, this can certainly enrich your research and is all worth noting down. With today's technology, talking to your family is much easier. You don't have to make a journey you can talk by email or telephone, or even an internet communication system such as Skype or zoom. Now, a note about talking to older family members. Some people have memory problems when they get older, such as dementia very often, particularly in the earliest ages does not affect long term memory.
In fact, long term memory can often come to the fore. And you'll find that older members will love to talk about stories from their youth and people in family members that they used to know. My own mother, for example, who has dementia won't remember what she had for lunch today, but she can tell you all about her childhood growing up in the Isle of Man. Now, a couple of things you need to be wary of when you're talking about family members and ancestors. Firstly, stories and legends you are told, while very interesting, maybe even funny, need to be taken with a pinch of salt. memories can play tricks and often stories of the past down through generations and change in the telling.
No to everything down there. Sometimes you might not need to have a look later to try and validate the story. Also be very wary of any dates you are given. People can be very sure of what they think to be the truth, but you might later find that the evidence shows something very different. So take all the information you're given with an open mind, so that when you're following up with the research, you're not narrowing your searches, so that you end up not being able to find the information you need. As part of this activity, I also want you to find out whether you or your family members have any old photographs.
We're going to be looking at these photographs in the next lecture. But if you can find some before we do that, that would be a really good start. In a few moments, I'll show you a checklist of points to help you with this task. However, you don't need to have done all of this before. With the next lecture, but you do need to have done it as much as possible before the next section section three, because you really need to have as much information as you can get in place before we start the serious research