I received an e-mail from a Columbian reader who just started working on her genealogy. She wants to know how to track her ancestry beyond her grandparents. When I think of the exciting information and the stories she will find, I wish I was in her shoes. There are so many new resources for genealogical information than when I started "back in the dark ages."

The first steps are still the same, though. When you begin the search for your family history, you need to work backwards from one generation to the next. While it may be fun to begin with a famous person like Benjamin Franklin and try to work to your generation because someone said your family was related to him, it's usually a lot of wasted time.

Write down what you know about your family, starting with yourself. Record your birth date and place. If you are married, put down the marriage date and place and the name of your spouse. Do the same for your parents. If you know something about your grandparents, write that down too.

This vital information goes on a pedigree chart and a family group chart. If you have a computer genealogy program, it will generate the charts. You can download charts from several Websites. Go to Cyndis List of Internet Sources, www.cyndislist.com and look at the Forms category.

After you have charted what you know, seek out records to back up the data you have on the charts. This gets you into the habit of seeking out documentation. That will be extremely important when you get back to those generations no one living can remember.

Birth, marriage, and death certificates are some of the first documents we seek out.

There are books to tell you where to write for birth, marriage and death certificates. The following two books are available at many public libraries.

The Handybook for Genealogists, United States of America

Ancestry's Red Book, American State, County & Town Sources

You can also find information about birth, marriage, and death certificates on-line at the National Center for Health Statistics's "Where to Write for Vital Records. See "Online Searchable Death Indexes for the USA" for a list of fee and free indexes.

For more help in getting started with your research, check out "RootsWeb's Guide to Tracing Family Trees". You will see many different lessons that will introduce you to different resources and how to use them.

© 2001-2008

Connie Lenzen, CG

CG, Certified Genealogist, is a service mark of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, used under license by board certified genealogists after periodic evaluation, and the board name is registered in the US Patent & Trademark Office.