Record your information:

• Record the information you already know on family group sheets, a pedigree chart, or in a computerized genealogy database.

• Include as much information as you can to assist in future searches.

• Record where you obtained the information.

• Keep copies of photographs, letters, etc., with your family charts.

Decide what you want to know:

Choose an individual for whom you have incomplete information and work on finding his/her records and information.

Always work backward from known information to unknown information – work back in time.

Choose useful records:

Vital records are kept by state and local governments:

• Birth certificates

• Death certificates

• Marriage licenses

• Divorce records

Census records track people and households through the Federal Census administered every 10 years.

Searchable census records are available online through several sources.

Microfilm rolls of census records are held by libraries.

Some census years are indexed – index books and microfilms are in libraries with the census records.

Published family genealogies are kept in many local libraries.

Other records:

• Deeds

• Wills and estates

• Court minutes

• Social Security Death Index