Help for Beginners

Some basic rules:

1)Start with yourself and go backwards generation by generation.

2)Find some way to keep track of your info. I use FamilyTreeMaker on the computer now, but started with a plain spiral notebook.

And here's one way to start the process:

First, ask questions of all living relatives. A good time for this is holiday gatherings, as one person might answer and another will add information. They might conflict, but take it all in. You never know when a clue will appear to the truth. Don't believe everything you hear. write it down and confirm it with a records or two.

See what kind of documents the immediate family has. You might see a gold mine appear before your eyes.

Go to the Town records, County Records, State records. Look in the indexs, remeber to find the sibilings of your main search, as they may als have info to help you. Sometimes sibilings will give you enough clues to find out more on your direct line. After the indexes, look at the actual records. Some records are missed when making an index. Some facts on the record are not in the index. Some records are not copied correctly in an index. Be open to the idea the name is spelled differently.

Make a timeline. Even if it is estimated dates, see if you can place your ancestor at specific times in specific places. This can give you clues on where to look next.

Go look at the census. Take the timeline and names of sibilings with you. Look in the census for family members. Don’t be taken in if the name is not spelled exactly right. Often they are misspelled. You may need to look in several neighboring towns to find the people you are looking for. the ages might be off by a yerar or two too.
Look in the land records. You now have family stories, vital records, your timeline, and census items to tell you where your ancestor was when. See if you can find a land record or city directory to tell you what they where doing where wnd when. Land records might describe people in terms of their family.

Look at wills. See if you can find patterns between land exchanges and when people died. Sometimes land is gifted from one genration to another. is this the case with your family? Who else is involved? How are they related?

Start asking new questions of family. Send out inquiries through the internet. Ask for information from others studying the same town/family. Read local histories…county and town. See if the town has a local library. Read the newpaper… do they have archived papers? Where? Can you get to them. Look for obits and wedding announcements.

Go to the cemeteries. Look for the plots. Who is buried around them? What church did they belong to? Are there GAR, DAR, mason, etc markers? What markers are there and what do they mean? Can you find the cemeteries records, which would tell you who paid for the plot… and the heirs if there are open spaces in the gravesite.
Keep a record of where you have looked… and for what.

Keep a record of what was found… and where

When you are stuck, start with the timeline… and look at the resources you’ve used.

Ask. Ask others where to go, what might be found, what do they think?

Good luck… and happy digging!