By Becoming a Family History Detective

Discovering Your Family History!

Have you ever wondered what traditions your mother’s family celebrated? Or what people really mean when they say you act just like your Uncle Tom?

The best way to find out the truth behind these questions is to become a family history detective! By looking into your family’s past, you will find out a lot of different facts about your mom, dad, grandmother and grandfather.

By asking your family members different questions, you will be able to solve your own family mysteries and find out things like what city your Mom was born in! The more that you ask, the more you will learn!

The people who do family research are called Genealogists. They put the clues that they find together like a puzzle in order to learn more about their family.

Often times Genealogists make what is called a Family Tree. They take all of the clues that they find about their family and put it into order on their tree. A family tree looks like this...

Let’s practice our research skills on ourselves!! Each student will get a hand out all about them! Answer each question on the handout, start your journey as a family history detective!

Good Work! Now that we have practiced your researching skills, you are being promoted to Genealogist! You will gather clues about your family, and create a book on your findings! Won’t your parents be impressed with all of your detective skills?

Each student in the class will get a small note book. You get to choose who you want to research: Mom, Dad, Grandmother or Grandfather. After you choose the relative you want to research, you get to answer questions about them and draw pictures to show your answers.

Make sure as soon as your get your booklet you print your name on the front! This way you will not loose your research journal!

Now it is time to put your detective hat on! Open to the first page of your research booklet. It is a picture of the Family tree that Genealogists use in their research. It is your job to figure out where the relative you choose to research fits in.

The next page of your reserach journal asks you what your relative likes to do. Think really hard and write down a hobby that your relative does. For example, my grandfather likes to play music. Once you write in your answer, draw a picture to in your journal that shows your relative’s favorite activity.

The next page of your research journal asks about family traditions. Is there something that you and your family always do together? The passing down of an action from one generation to the next is called a Tradition.

The next page of your research journal asks you to remember a favorite story that your relative told you. Draw a picture in the space provided of the main event in your story.

The next page of your research journal ask about the type of job that your relative has. Some examples of jobs are teacher, police man, fire fighter, engineer, etc.

Do you know the country that your relative was born in? Sometimes, people come from other countries to live in Canada. Was this the case for your family? This page of your research journal also asks you if you know your relative’s first name. Answer this question the best that you can.

On the last page of your research journal, it asks you to draw a picture of your relative. It also ask your what name you “call” your relative. For example, Father in Italian is Nono, in French it is grandpere, and some people have nick names for their grandfather, such as papa. What do you call your grandfather?

Great work Family History Detectives! Now you are one step closer to putting all of the clues together to solve your family puzzle! Who will you research next?