How do I start my own genealogy? HELP!!!!?

Question: How do I start my own genealogy!? HELP!!!!!?

Where do you even start!? Where do you begin digging and how!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Start with yourself and work your way back, one generation at a time; your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc!. You can use a pedigree chart like this one to record the information:

http://c!.ancestry!.com/pdf/trees/charts/a!.!.!.

For each person, you'll want to find the following information:

Full name (maiden name for women)
Date and place of birth
Date and place of marriage
Date and place of death

This basic information forms the "skeleton" of your family tree; but you'll also want to put some meat on those bones!. Learning about your ancestors' lives - what they did for a living, what their personalities were like, events that effected their lives - will help bring your ancestors to life!. Starting with the basic information will lead you to other sources that will turn your ancestors into real, interesting people, and not just names on a chart!.

So where do you find all this information!?

Start by talking to your family!.!.!. every relative you can track down!. Great aunts and uncles, 1st and 2nd cousins, old family friends, etc!. Don't be afraid to contact relatives you've never met!. Most people are thrilled to hear from a "long lost" relative, especially older people, who may be lonely and would love the chance to chat with someone about their family!.

When you talk to your relatives, try to ask questions that will spark their memories and get them talking in detail!. "Did you ever visit your grandparents!? Where did they live!? What was their house like!? What did Grandpa Jones look like!?" That will put their mind into the recall mode, and they'll start to remember little details and stories; which will make it easier to recall facts such as birthdates, that can be hard to remember out of the blue!.

Once you've gotten all you can out of your family members, it's time to start researching on your own!. There are lots of different records that can supply information about your ancestors!. Here are a few:

Vital Records (Birth, Death and Marriage Records)

Birth Certificates will list the person's name, birthdate, place of birth, parents' names and ages, parent's place of birth, and sometimes other information such as parents' occupation or ethnicity!. Unfortunately, birth records aren't always open to the public!. But if the person is no longer living, you can order a copy of their Death Certificate, which will contain much of the same information: the person's name, date and place of birth, date and place of death, death date, parents' names and where they were born - plus cause of death and other info!.

Marriage records are great way to find a woman's maiden name!. If you know when and where the marriage took place, you can order a copy of the marriage license, with will list her maiden name!. It will also the place and date of marriage, officiant, and sometimes other info such as ages, parents' names, and the names of witnesses (who are often relatives)!.

This website tells you how to go about ordering vital records in each state:

http://www!.vitalrec!.com/

Census records are another important source of information!. In the U!.S!., a federal census has been taken every 10 years since 1790!. Start by finding your families on the 1930 census (the most recent one available to the public) and trace them back every 10 years!. You'll find the names of each person in the family, their ages, place of birth, occuaption, and other info, depending on the census year!.

Ancestry!.com has the complete set of U!.S!. census records!. A membership fee is required, but it's worth the cost if you want to research from home!. Various census years are available for free at different sites such as www!.familysearch!.org and www!.usgenweb!.org, but I believe Ancestry is currently the only site that has the entire collection online in one place!.

I've run out of space now!.!.!. but hopefully this is enough to at least get you started!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Do a search on the web, everyone has a cousin that they haven't seen in years who has done some of the research already!. in a search engine type in
(your last name)+genealogy
you can also try
(your last name)+family
Good LuckWww@QuestionHome@Com

What do you mean!?Adding different nationality's to your family tree!?Just have a kid some other countryWww@QuestionHome@Com