Beginning Genealogy Resaerch

Written by Lynn Hildenbrand

A picture of my great-grandmother, 1903

For the last five years, I have been doing genealogy searches on my family. There are many intersting facts
I have learned about my family, such as part of my family came here in the seventeenth century.
I have ancestors who went to Texas, in the 1820's and fought in the Texas war for independence.
My Italian side even had some ties to a "godfather"!

All of this research can be a lot of fun and a lot of work. Here are some ideas for how to get started:

Makes a list of your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, 
      etc., as far back as you can go.
     
Make a list of any siblings there may have been.
     
If you know of any other relatives or ancestors, include
      them in your list.
     
Now list the birthplace, if possible, for all on the list.
     
Next, note all the "blank spaces", all the information you 
      don't have,and make a second list.

So you have your priliminary information and are ready to move on on to the next step. There is a lot of genealogical data now online which is very easy to access. By using various sites, you will be able to begin to fill in "the blanks". Below are some very useful websites:

Brigham Young Univ.Library

Cyndi's List of Genealogical sites

U.S. Genealogy Web Project

Family History Center in Utah

National Archives

Ellis Island

So now you have the tools to begin. As you go into each website, you will learn more about how to do searches. If you need more information, Click here to send an email to me

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