[Lady Pi Phi]

Originally posted by adduncan
Most of my research began with talking to older relatives to get some basic information about family relations they might remember. But the hard-core work starts with getting vital records. Most birth, marriage, and death records (as well as military, church, etc) will have information on each person's parents, where they were born, and mother's maiden name. Starting with your own parents' birth or marriage records, you can work up the line as far as records are available.

If you run into a dead end (everyone does, we all have stories about it. ) there are other sources, such as newspaper articles (births and deaths are usually recorded there, as well as weddings) and military records - either pension roles or recruitment records.

Historical societies provide a great deal of help - they collect this kind of information and index it so it can be looked up.

This is just the first place to start. Ever since sites like www.ancestry.com started, this research has actually gotten easier. And I understand from our last Continental Congress that one of the goals of the current national administration is to get the DAR genealogical records online for easier access. (The records are already available in person in Memorial Continental Hall.)

Have fun - but I'll warn you, this is *very* addictive and there is no 12-step program.

--add

Thanks!

I'll give it a go and see what I come up with.