Things You'll Need:
- Access to a courthouse and library
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Step 1
Enlist the aid of a genealogy website. Some of the sites available have a vast database of information and you may be able to search for your ancestors even if you only have the names of your grandparents. Some people have devoted their lives to tracing their family trees and have collected a great deal of information that they may be willing to share.
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Step 2
Join a genealogy forum. If you're looking for a specific ancestor or a certain last name, post a message on a genealogy forum. Many other genealogists use message boards to find information about their ancestors and some of them may be able to assist you in finding more information about yours.
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Step 3
Check census records. Census records that are more than seventy years old are unsealed and available to the public. Census records can date back as early as 1790, however, most of these older records were handwritten and may be difficult to read.
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Step 4
Check the courthouse for records. You can find birth, death, and marriage certificates, as well as land records at your local courthouse. You can use these records to help verify dates and land ownership.
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Step 5
Check newspaper archives. Your local library probably has old newspapers available on microfiche. You'll need an approximate date to make any sense out of the newspaper archives but you can use them to get copies of obituaries, marriage and birth announcements, or to find out more information about the history making events of your ancestors' time to add depth to your family tree.
