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The Purple Guide to Learning Genealogy Research in 10 Days
A 10-Day Starter Plan to Build a Real Family Tree Without Getting Lost or Burned Out
by Alumigogo Books
Chapter 1: First Day
Welcome to the next ten days. You’re here because you’re curious about your family history, but let’s be honest: curiosity is vague. You might be picturing a few hours of scrolling through old documents, or maybe you’re imagining a dramatic breakthrough where you find a secret sibling or a lost royal relative. Let’s take a step back and start where genealogy actually starts: with a scratch pad and a phone call to a living relative who remembers more than you think.
Your first session today is not about diving into a huge database. It’s not about buying a subscription or building a full family tree online. Those things will happen later, but they’ll be much easier if you first create a small foundation. So here’s what today looks like. It’s a single, deliberate session that should last about ninety minutes. If you can’t get ninety uninterrupted minutes, split it into two chunks today. The point is to do the whole session today, because tomorrow we’ll build on it.
First, gather the physical stuff. You’ll need a plain paper notebook, a pen, and a curiosity about two or three specific people. And you’ll need to clear a space on a table or desk where you can write without your coffee mug or dirty dishes getting in the way. It doesn’t need to be a big office. A corner of the kitchen table is often enough. You’re going to create a few simple pages in the notebook. Don’t