Unk Hiram's
Beginning Genealogy Lessons
Lesson #15

    Lesson 15: The Beginners Center
    You might wonder why one of the Beginners' Lessons covers the Beginners' Center when that is where these Lessons are found. The reason is simple, there is lots of great information, tips and helpful tools in the Beginners Center that many folks (including me) overlook or simply don't know about. So what I would like to do is take you on a walking tour of the Center and point out all the material that you can use to further your quest to find those elusive family roots. So put on your walking shoes, grab a water bottle and let's get moving.

    The Beginners Center was set up to help people that are new to Genealogy or Online Genealogy. How you get to the Golden Gates Forum's Beginners Center depends on how you access the Internet. If you are on AOL just go to Keyword: Roots > Beginners. If you use some other Internet provider, don't despair..........we love you too, just go to http://www.genealogyforum.com/beginners/index.html
    (Webmaster Note: We are no longer on America Online at ANY Keyword)

    OK, when the page pulls up you will notice a stylized tree at the top and a couple of paragraphs explaining why the Golden Gates Forum is providing all of this material for FREE. We here at the forum are strong proponents of both Genealogy and FREE genealogy. So let's get to work.

    1. The very first Room (Link) we come to is the Beginner's Tool Kit. You will find several links to material that can make your life as a genealogy researcher a lot easier. Lets look at them one at a time:
      1. WELCOME to the GENEALOGY FORUM! -- a letter from GFA Terry, the Assistant Big Guy for the forum that tells you a bit about the forum and all the different things that are available within the forum.
      2. Getting Started -- a very good site that will give you the basic skeletal structure you need for building your family tree. Well worth a look, but don't forget come back to the lesson. Go ahead, look right now, I will wait. (tap, tap, tap) Everyone back? OK lets go on.
      3. Making Sense of It All -- A section that gives you commonly used Genealogy Abbreviations, How to figure out a Soundex, a Relationship chart and several other tools that will help you.
      4. Obtaining Information -- This section will give you some great hints on where to go to find the information you so desperately crave.
      5. 23 Secrets to Organize Your Genealogy - A Free e-Book -- Some very good suggestions on how to keep all your information straight. Something every genealogist I have ever met struggles with.
      6. Organizing Information -- More good suggestions and sites for getting your stuff together. In this section there is a very good section on how to pick out the Genealogy Software you decide to use.
      7. Other Genealogy Forum Centers -- A section that contains short introductory letters for the various other sections of the Golden Gates Genealogy Forum
      8. DearMYRTLE -- A link to the DearMyrtle Genealogy Web Site.

    2. The Next room is Printable Genealogy Forms. This room is full of FREE forms that you can print to aid in your research. The Forms available as of this writing are:
      1. Kate's Family Group Sheet
      2. Kate's Individual Worksheet
      3. Kate's Migration Chart
      4. Kate's Research Checklist
      5. Kate's Deed Abstract Form
      6. Uncle Hiram's 1930 Census Abstract Form
      7. Kate's Census Substitutes Checklist (or "Places to Check When You Can't Find What You Want on the Census")
      8. Kate's Census Abstract Form
      9. Kate's Cemetery Record
      10. Genealogy Forum: Resource Center - Forms to Help Document Your Research

    3. The Third Room you come to is Beginner's FAQ / Ask The Staff. This section will answer some of those questions that seem to pop into the mind of every new researcher in the forum.

    4. The Fourth Room you get to is The Five-Step Research Process. This section contains a terrific five step program to doing Genealogy.

    5. The Next Room on our tour is Analyzing Your Research. A very well written piece on how to analyze your research. Check this section out, it will help you more than you can possibly imagine. This section was written by the same person that developed most of the free forms in the Printable Forms section.

    6. The sixth room you come across is Beginners Guide to Genealogy - Information from our Chat Hosts. This is the guide that the Golden Gates hosts gave out to people that were new to Genealogical or Online Genealogy Research. This is a must read.

    7. The seventh room on our tour is Uncle Hiram's Beginner Lessons. I am not gonna say a lot about this one, since you are currently reading one of the lessons.

    8. Next we find the Internet Center: Getting Started. This room contains some great links to various Genealogy related sites. The more online research you do, the more you will come to realize that you want to look at almost every site you can.

    9. The Ninth in the series of helpful rooms is the Genealogy Forum Quick Start. This room contains links to the various portions of GenealogyForum.com and some suggestions on how to use them.

    10. The Tenth and last of the "Open to Everyone" rooms in our tour is the New? Introduce Yourself! Internet Message Board. This is a message board where you can introduce yourself and tell folks what surnames you are looking for.


    Walk the rooms, explore the information available to you. Have fun, drop by the Beginners' Chats and tell them Uncle Hiram sent you.

    Q & A Section:
    1. The Beginners Center is available to:
      1. Anyone that has Internet Access.
      2. Only people that use AOL.
      3. Only people from Maine.
      4. Everyone Named John Smith.

    2. The Printable Forms available in the Beginners Center:
      1. Only cost $1 each
      2. Are FREE
      3. Can only be accessed by AOL users
      4. Are not available in Maine

    3. The Beginners Center was setup to:
      1. Help people new to Genealogy or Online Genealogy.
      2. To annoy people from Maine
      3. Because the Hosts were bored.
      4. I don't know but I bet it has to do with making money.




The Genealogy Forum - Main Page
Beginners' Center | Surname Center | File Libraries
Resource Center | Reunion Center
Genealogy Forum News
Shop With Us



© 1999 - 2021  Some Graphics By Carol, All Rights Reserved.
Genealogy Forum.com is a production of
Golden Gate Services, Inc. of Armada, Michigan.
© 1998 - 2021 All Rights Reserved. Brenda Jean Bova, President.
Tree logo provided by MeadPond Designs and is the trademark of GenealogyForum.com.



If you have any questions or comments,
please contact GoldenGateServices@aol.com