Where To Start 
Your Genealogical Research
WRITE all you know concerning yourself, your parents, and your grandparents.
INTERVIEW relatives, especially older members of your family. Take notes or record them on tape. Be sure your questions are understood. Try to get the "flavor" of their times and places as well as names of family members and specific dates and locations where they lived.
CORRESPOND with relatives who live outside your community.
DOCUMENT the information you gather by seeking out family photo albums, trunks, old letters, and scrapbooks. Check your home, and the homes of your parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. Even old friends and neighbors may have some valuable sources of family information such as photographs or holiday cards. Copying old photographs and exchanging them is a good way to develop interest and stir useful recollections.
LOOK for printed genealogies on any of your family surnames in your local library. Other libraries to search are historical societies, Latter Day Saints, DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution), National Genealogical Society, National Archives, or the appropriate state archives.
CHECK census records for your family for documentation of their whereabouts at a given time. Much information is contained in the 1900 and 1910 censuses. Remember though, that census records are only as reliable as the person giving the information. Consider names with similar spellings - sometimes the census taker did not record the name correctly. Prior to the 1850 census, only the head of household was listed by name, and the others were grouped by age and sex.
RECORD the most recent happenings first. Work back from the known to the unknown.
COURTHOUSES provide good documentation through wills, estate inventories, land records, tax records and court records. Some birth, marriage, and death records may also be found in courthouses. Ask what types of records were kept and are available in each courthouse where you search. For unique local reasons, unusual types of records were sometimes kept.
CHURCH RECORDS provide the best source for early births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths/funerals. Cemetery records can also provide documentation for a burial and list birth/death dates.
OLD NEWSPAPERS help in providing death notices and obituaries. Obituaries usually refer to military service, employment and membership in organizations as well as listing surviving family members. Sometimes birth and marriage announcements are found in newspapers, as well.
BOOKS on local and county history, although not documentation, can also provide helpful clues.
LARGE LIBRARIES have copies of their city directories. They will also have publications commemorating various anniversaries of the town or city or of churches in the area. Perhaps the name you are searching will be listed among residents of a particular area or as a participant in a local celebration.
MILITARY SERVICE Check newspapers reporting details of Memorial Day parades or other events. Anniversary years may be especially productive, for example 1882 was the 25th anniversary of Gettysburg, 1966 for Pearl Harbor.
GENEALOGY COURSE Your local genealogical society or community college may offer such a course.
GENEALOGY BOOKS You may find several in your local library or bookstore. Some sample titles are:
Tracing Your Ancestry: A Step-By-Step Guide to Researching Your Family History, by F. Wilbur Helmbold, Birmingham: Oxmoor House, 1990
The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, 3rd ed. by Val D. Greenwood, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2000
The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 9th ed. edited by George B. Everton, Sandy, UT: Everton Publishers, 1999
The Source: A Guidebook of American Genealogy. edited by Sandra H. Luebking, Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1997
