Discover 29 questions to ask yourself to learn a lot about the life of your ancestors, their close circle, and their place in history.
This was the focus of our 2022 Advent calendar: encouraging you to go beyond civil records to gather information about your ancestors.
We guide you through most of these questions with a detailed article. Discover some bonus questions that weren’t in our advent calendar!
1- Where do your ancestors' last names come from?
2- What are your ancestors' birth and baptism dates?
3- Who were their parents?
4- Who were their grandparents?
5- Who were your ancestors' godparents?
6- What was your ancestors' religion?
8- How to find your ancestors' siblings?
9- What was your ancestors' educational background?
10- What were your ancestors' professions?
11- What was your ancestors' military past?
12- Did your ancestors experience war?
13- What did your ancestors look like?
14- What are the dates and locations of your ancestors' weddings?
15- Who were the witnesses to the main events in your ancestors' lives?
16- Did your ancestors sign a marriage contract?
17- What were your ancestors' different places of residence?
18- How did your ancestors' places of residence change over time?
19- How to find your ancestors' children?
20- What language(s) did your ancestors speak?
21- Was one of your ancestors involved in a news story?
22- What was your ancestors' role in history?
24- Were your ancestors property owners?
25- Did your ancestors travel?
26- What are the dates of death and burial of your ancestors?
27- Did your ancestors leave an estate?
28- What can a post-mortem inventory teach us about our ancestors?
29- In which cemeteries are your ancestors buried?
Happy researching!