gettingstarted

When starting to do research - it is important to remember that you must start with yourself and work your way back through the years
You should start by getting the information that your Birth Certificate gives you - the names of your parents and their places of birth
Then if you can - get your parents Birth Certificates - and get the same information on their parents and so on down the line as far as you are able
When you reach the point that you can not go to living relatives for information and assistance - then you will need to go to the Offices of Vital Statistics for the area where they passed away in - to get copies of Death Certificates - and use this information to try to get a Birth Certificate on the same person if you can
The reason that you want to get a Birth Certificate is that the information on the Birth Certificate is generally more reliable and accurate
If you can not find a Birth Certificate on the person in question - try to find a Birth Afidavit - these were an alternative that was used in some areas
Also ask the older members of your family if they are aware of any of the old Family Bibles left that you can look at
The Family Bible was used to record Births - Deaths and Marriages and other events that affected the family in the years before public records were used in a general way
Once you have cleared the years governing the Privacy Act for your region - then you can start looking in Census documents and other offical records to see what other information you can find - such as land records and other official documents
The Privacy Act in the U.S. is 75 years - while in Canada and the U.K it is 100 years - but can vary from place to place and you should check to see what the laws are in the area that you will be researching
When looking at public records - remember that this information was put down by people who may not have been sure of the spellings of names or places and if this happened - the family could have had the name changed in records - but still be the same group of people
Also look at the possiblity that the county and or state lines could have been reformed and caused the family to be in 1 place during a record recording session - but be in another the next time - they might not have moved - but their property lines could have been restructured to fall in a different location
Also - when you get back past the point where public records are available - look for church records and court records (Chancery Court) and other court related documents - wills - probates - even criminal cases - these can be indicators of lifestyles and other events of the time
When dealing with Public records - be sure to get document numbers and locations - as this will give you and future researchers a point that you can have to reference when reviewing your work
When talking to the older generations - it is in your best interest to take a tape recorder and record the conversation
Get them to recall the "Good Old Days" as this will trigger memories that a strait out question might not bring forth and they will give you information faster than you can write it down - but a tape recording will let you replay the conversation over and over until you have all the information listed to your satisfaction
Once you have gone as far as you can in these areas - we hope that the links in this site will help you go further - along with the research materials that you can find at your local libraries - genealogy societies - and other referance points