I was teaching a beginner’s class in Family History 101 today. We were analyzing documents the class participants had brought. I thought I’d share the hand-out for this class.

Who?

Who wrote it? Who is named? Who are the witnesses? Who else is named? Who had a reason to not be truthful? Who has a bias in recording this event?

What?

What is it? What type of document? What does it concern? What clues to other records does it contain? What were the circumstances and consequences of this event?

When?

When was it written? When was it recorded? When in this person’s lifetime did this event occur: infancy, childhood, adolescence, young, middle, old adulthood?

Where?

Where did the event occur? Where was it recorded? Where did you find it? Where does it lead you?

Why?

Why did the event occur? Why was it recorded? Why did you choose to obtain this record?

How?

How will this record advance your research? How will you use it? How does it add to your understanding of your ancestor’s life?