Learn about my experience with genealogical travel. Imagine traveling to the place where your ancestors were born and lived their lives.

Find out where your roots are

You may know what country your ancestors came from. Or you may have an idea and want to be sure. There is the option of taking a DNA test. Companies such as Ancestry offer such tests.

Planning your genealogical travel

Decide if you’re going to plan your own trip or pay for a company to plan it for you.
Ancestry offers something like this. (This post is not sponsored by Ancestry.)

I recommend a few things to do based on when I planned a genealogical travel trip to the Caribbean back in 2015. I went to the sister islands of St Kitts and Nevis, where my maternal great-grandparents were born.

Search through public records

When I was on the island of Nevis, I was directed to the Post Office to buy a stamp. The stamp allowed me access to the public records.  I can’t remember exactly where the records were located. It may have been a town hall or a similar building.

Once I presented the stamp, I was able to access birth records and death records in a large bound book.  Everything was handwritten and in cursive. So, it wasn’t the easiest to read. However, it was a very enjoyable experience to go through the records and look for family names.

Visit Neighborhoods

Maybe you have an idea which neighborhoods your ancestors lived in. There were two areas in Nevis where I knew that my family had lived, Mount Lily and Gingerland.  A family friend drove us through the neighborhoods. We were able to meet a few people. It’s a good chance some were related to me.

Take someone with you who knows the area well. This is because if it’s not a place you’re familiar with, you may not know which areas are safe and which are not depending on where you’re visiting.

An optional destination is visiting cemeteries. I did this and was able to locate multiple family names on headstones.

I’ve given examples of just a few ways you can get closer to knowing your ancestors and where they came from. No matter what country your ancestors came from, genealogical travel is a great option.