Researching our Recent Ancestors (despite the privacy restrictions on public records)
This topic is especially important for recent converts and others who are just getting started in family history. I went through this process myself. I interviewed my parents, surviving grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins and beyond. I recorded the information and added it to FamilySearch and its predecessors. I am glad that I did!
Some of us come from places where historical records are readily available. Others do not. But if most of us are looking for information about our parents and grandparents, we will be blocked by privacy laws, designed to protect living people. Even if the people we are researching are deceased, their information may be in the time period that is blocked, typically the most recent 100 years.
RESOURCES
Recently I found an excellent podcast from Lisa Louise Cooke, (one of my favorite family history podcasters). She has lots of helpful suggestions.
Why Dad Becomes the Forgotten Ancestor https://lisalouisecooke.com/2026/06/16/fathers/
Another site listed these resources for recent ancestors:
1931 and 1926 Canada censuses
Passenger Lists & Border Crossings
WWI Personnel Files
Newspapers
Vital Records [Occasionally, but this is where we tend to run into the privacy barrier.]
Gravestones & Memorials [Findagrave is wonderful, as are some other cemetery databases.]
[Definitely add Local History Books to the list, if you are researching in Canada.]
INTERVIEWING RELATIVES
As a new convert, I went through the process of interviewing close and distant relatives. Most were glad to help.
My usual approach was "Hi, I am Bill Buchanan and I am trying to build a family tree for my family.
I wonder if you would be willing to help me?"
I made no reference to the Church because I knew some relatives would find that a distraction.
Lists of interview questions can be found on various sites online. This is one of them.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/img_auth.php/4/4a/Interview_Questions.pdf
You can edit the list of questions to meet your needs and interests.
(I kept a few blank family group records handy, for recording the information and especially the relationships.)
CHARTS
Family Group Records and Pedigree charts simplify the process of adding what you learn to the FamilySearch Family Tree. I find the Person Details screen the easiest place to add information to the right person in Family Tree. (As a newbie, I accidentally switched my grandparents' own parents, so I know how easy it is to make such mistakes and how to correct them.)
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