How to Get Started Searching for Family Ancestors

If you have always wanted to know your family history then a great way to start is to search for your ancestors. With the genealogy information now available on the internet, what used to take years can now take days. There are many places to start. This article will show you a simple way to get started searching for your family ancestors.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Get a notebook to make notes and to write down contact names. You will be using the notebook to develop clues and leads. You will probably be doing much of your ancestry research online, so make sure the notebook can accept sheets printed from the internet. A 3-hole punch type can be well suited for this purpose.

2. Write down your family names including your parents. If you know the date they were born write this down as well. Write down the city of their birth if you know this data. Also, write down the name of the hospital they were born in, if you know these details.

3. Call or visit a grandmother, great aunt or uncle, parent, or aunt or uncle. The purpose of this contact is to start to fill in some of the blanks in the generation before yours.
   
   Ask questions about who they remember from their childhood, such as who were their grandparents, great grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc. Try to see if they remember where any of their ancestors were born. Some of your older family members may also have leads for you regarding the origination country from which your family came from. All of these details will be very helpful for you to start formulating your family tree.

4. Send out a letter to your family members describing that you are trying to piece together your family history. Outline the information you collected at this point so everyone can see what has been done and what information is needed. The goal is to get one of two things, either additional information to build upon what you have started or there may be another person in your family working on genealogy. There may be someone who has spent a considerable amount of time already researching family history. Why reinvest the wheel, this should give you many of the answers you are seeking regarding the history of family members.

5. To add more information to your family tree, you can use one of the internet's many genealogy websites, State vital records online, most local Mormon churches (they offer free genealogy information), newspaper archives, and city or town historical documents. More work is required as you try to piece together information further back in history. Over, family tree research and genealogy searching can be a very interesting and rewarding experience.