Newbie to geneology....?

Question:

Newbie to geneology....?

Where is a good place to get started? I have no idea where to start. I already asked my father for as many names and birth places as he can remember of his family. I don't mind paying a site, but I want it to be worth the money. I've also heard the Mormons are really good at this stuff. Should I contact them?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: With your family. Get as much information as possible from them, particularly senior members. Tape them if they will let you. Some of the information might be confused but what might seem to be insignifcant ramblings and story telling might turn out to be very significant. People who do this say after doing research for a few years they go back and listen to the tape and hear things they didn't hear the first time around.

Yes, you should call your nearest Mormon church and find out if they have a Family History Center and if so the hours they are open for the general public. They have records on people all over the world. They are very nice and helpful. They won't be sending their missionaires by to ring your doorbell.

Check out the genealogy section of your public library. Find out what all the have.
They might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com which has a lot of records and is obtaining more all the time. They have all the censuses through 1930. The 1940 is not available for the public yet.

Now, information in family trees on any website must be taken as clues, not as fact.
Most is not documented. Even if you see the same information over and over by different submitters, a lot of copying is being done. That is poor family history. What the copiers are doing most often is copying errors over and over. They will give you clues as to where to look for the documentation. Also you will have the name and email address of the submitter.
Some might not know anything on your relative as it might be someone that just happen to marry into their family.

Death certificate and applications for social security number have both parents names and place of birth. I feel the application for social security number is more trustworthy since the person applying for a number most likely knew where their parents were born while the death certificate depends on the widow or widower remembering where their inlaws were born.

Ancestry.Com, Rootsweb and FamilySearch.org has the Social Security Death Index. You don't have to have a person's number in order to find them. The number will be there. On Ancestry.Com if you find a person, you can just click on a link while you have them up and a letter will be pulled up and all you have to do is put your address on it, attach a check and sign and mail.

Courthouse records, Wills, Deeds, tax records.

Before the 20th century not very many vital records were being recorded by a governing body. Most of the records will be found in churches.

One thing once you go to your library and the Family History Center, you will most likely be talking to people who can give you a lot of advice and help.