TOP 3 GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH TIPS

Start here with your most trusted source of information. Jot down whatever you remember—names, stories, dates, events, and locations—firsthand or told to you. There are other memories that you can rely on—Talk to parents, siblings, grandparents, or the oldest members of your family and ask them questions about their upbringing, names that they remember about their own family history. You may find many of them open and eager to share their stories with you.

There are a lot of free resources available both online and in print within your immediate reach. For example, a simple Boolean inquiry on Google can yield useful information on your search. Surprisingly, your local library may prove to be the biggest gem, housing regionally specific historical materials such as land documents and newspaper archives containing wedding and birth announcements and obituaries. It may also provide free genealogical research classes as well as free access to digital platforms revealed in your GOOGLE search that you may otherwise be charged to use.

Collect any and all information available, even if you think it does not make sense at the moment. There are no dead-ends. Each name, date, or place is a clue to another new story waiting to be uncovered in your family research journey.