I have been tracing my family tree for the past 20 years. Its fasinating to me to be able to find my family in different places in time, and discover my heritage. It is also wonderful to be able to find people lost to history.
I began my journey when the 'Roots' series was on T.V. My maternal grandmother was living with us at the time so I asked her as many questions about her and her family that I could think of.
I also asked my father about his side of the family, he knew a great deal and showed me some pictures and documents.
When I began searching public records for family members, I realized how valuable these early interviews were.
If you are interested in studying your genealogy,the best way to get started is by checking any documents that are immediatly available to you that contain valuable genealogical information .
What is valuable genealogical information? Any record that has information about an individual's vital statistics or life events such as birth certificates, marriage certificate or death certifiate. Here is a list of documents to check.
Second, contact any relatives you have that would have additional records and knowledge of verbal history. Also ask these relatives for names of other people who may have more info for you. You never know, Uncle Jack may know of a cousin who researched the same lineage.
Unfortunatly, there are some skeletons in the closet that relatives may be reluctant to talk about. Reassure them, and try to get a hint about what they are. Sometimes these skeletons can be very interesting.
