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- Define your goals: A family tree? A family history? Your family? Your spouse's family? A book? A Website?
- Start with your family and work backward, one branch at a time.
- Put your family tree on paper, software, or online.
- Ask for help from volunteers at MGS. Hire a professional genealogist.
- Use links to the Internet for census records, birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, obituaries, and RootsWeb message boards and mailing lists.
- Gather readily available information, such as family trees, birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, obituaries, and photographs. Google your ancestors.
- Interview older family members about their occupations,
birthplaces, marriage, ancestors, and immigration. Record what you learn.
- Read about genealogical research in the MGS Newsletters, in books, and on Internet links.
- Attend workshops such as the program Meetings of MGS and other organizations mentioned in the MGS Newsletters.
- Visit libraries, archives, historical societies, town halls, churches, cemeteries.
- Look for your ancestors in city directories and county histories. The New York Public Library has directories for cities across the country.
- Beware of ready-made family histories and coats of arms, usually worthless.
- Share information with family members and others who are working on your
family. Consider putting your results on your own Web site to attract input from distant cousins.
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