Genealogy is a study of your Family History. To many it is an enjoyable hobby, To others like myself it becomes an addiction. The more I find out the more I want to know. Not only do I want to know where I came from I desire the knowledge of what my ancestors were like, how they lived, what they did. For many the Knowledge of knowing names is all they need.
CAREFUL THE BUG MIGHT BITE YOU
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NEW ZEALAND GENEALOGY MADE EASY
A very brief outline on how this site came about.
When doing my family tree I used to add all the sites I used often or sites I wanted to return to, to my favourites folder. It wasnt till one day I got a virus in my computer and found I lost everything. I decided at that time to get a free website and add all my favourites there for my own personal use, that way if for any reason I had computer problems they were always there. Eventually the list of websites got so large I decided to make it available to the public, and started adding resourses myself that were previously unavailable. I have had many helpful people sending me information to add. When I do research for others on specific surnames, I add the information to this site so that others can access it also.
So that was the birth of my site

ONE RULE I ALWAYS ABIDE BY:
Never give your credit card details online to access a site I believe the information should be free
Before Starting get yourself a online email address. I recommend Hotmail. The reason for doing this is when you start posting messages on the internet it is important to have an email address that you can be sure you will always have. I have changed my server 3 times and if I didnt have my hotmail account anyone answering my messages from 3 years ago would not be able to contact me. Always use this email address for anything to do with your genealogy. It can be accessed from any computer
1: DEVELOP A PLAN:
Decide whether you want a direct line family tree or an extended one. "A DIRECT LINE" tracing your direct lineage ie your parents, grandparents, gt grand parents etc. An 'EXTENDED FAMILY TREE"you are tracing all the siblings of your direct line also, this type you end up with many distant cousins, aunts uncles etc. I recommend for the beginner, you start with your direct lineage, then if you desire you extend it out.

2: PLAN YOUR FORM OF DOCUMENTATION:
In the past the options were very limited. you wrote all your findings on paper or in a book. But now with the help of computers it is a great deal easier. There are many different family tree programmes for computers, both for purchasing or downloading free from the internet. I have used both types and I find there is no difference.
Below are 2 free programmes I recommend. Though I still document everything in a book as well
PERSONAL ANCESTRAL FILE
At the top of the page click order download products. Then click free software downloads.
Down load the latest edition

LEGACY FAMILY TREE
Download the Standard Edition

Printable resource forms

3: WORK BACKWARDS
Always start with yourself and work backwards. Start by talking with and writing to all your relations while they are still living. Check to find what documents, certificates, letters, newspaper cuttings, family bibles, photograph albums, diaries, etc, they may possess. Try to as carefully and completely as possible find the basic genealogical facts ,date and place of birth/baptism, date and place of marriage, and date and place of death/burial, when they came to the country, why, how, when, where they settled. Document all family stories, Though these tend to change over the years often the basic facts are the truth

4:DOCUMENT SOURCES
Always make notes on who or where you got the information. This is very important, as you may need to refer back to the source for confirmation at a latter time. I didnt do this , now 12 years down the track I often think where did I find that out. Make notes as you go as to whether the information you have is verified by a certificate or some other document or whether it is heresay and needs to be confirmed.

5:RESEARCHING
Enter all the information you have gathered into your family tree programme and or into a book. You will easily see what you need to find next.
REMEMBER ONE STEP AT A TIME.
The Libraries and Museums in your town are a good place to start, Find out what information is available. The main cities of New Zealand have fanatastic resourses for New Zealand History. If you dont live in a town with these resourses and are unable to visit them I am only too happy to look up specific searches for you. But please remember to give me as much information as you can to cut down the time it takes.
The internet is a fantastic tool for finding information, but always remember never take anything you find on here as documented truth, everything needs verifying. You can do this by emailing the person who put the information out there and finding out their sources.
There are many message boards online to post your queries, These can be very helpful
GENFORUM
Fantastic message boards
Search Engines are another fantastic form of finding information. One little tip for using them: Often entering a name with or without a capital letter may bring different results, ie Smith Family New Zealand may bring different results from smith family new zealand
These are the two I mostly use
NEW ZEALAND GENEALOGY SEARCH ENGINE

GOOGLE
search engine
As you are surfing the internet and find sites you want to check out later always add them to your favourites, as it is almost an impossible task to find them again
Check out to see if anyone else may be doing the same line as you
WORLDCONNECT FAMILY TREE
Another site I use all the time, is the Morman site. The Mormans worldwide are huge on Family History. I only use the site as a guideline, as I have found huge errors in the information there. It is important to note where there sourses came from, ie if it was from a film or another person submitting the information. Take note of the film no and chack out your local Morman Church to see where the nearest Family History centre is to you and look it up yourself
FAMILYSEARCH
Great site

5: SAVING OR PUBLISHING YOUR TREE ONLINE
Making your family tree available for others to view can be a fantastic way to get in touch with other researching the same line as you. This is very easy to do.
I have my tree on Rootsweb but there are many free sites around
Rootsweb
Whether you want to save your tree to disc or upload it to the internet, you need to first saved it as a Gedcom file. These are a small file that can be emailed, uploaded or saved very easily. Go to your file menu on your FT programme and go to export, click gedcom, give it a name and save it somewhere you can find it. I have a folder in My documents. To save or email this file just find it on your hardrive click the right mouse button, go to "send to" select a drive to save or mail recipient to email. To upload to the internet. Create the site you want to use and upload the file.
Remembering everytime you add more information, the Gedcom must be updated

HAPPY RESEARCHING