What is the best method to research your genealogy?

Question

I am wanting to find out where my family is from. We have so many rumors about Native Indians and whether we were from France or England. We have traced a few records down to the Civil War, but those are even missing now. What is the best method to track these things down?

Answer 1

Hey Donkey,

The best method is with positive proof and records. That is what genealogy is about. You can get branches of your Tree from other Trees on the internet, but you should use them only as indications of direction, and look for their validation.

Native American, French and English are different research areas. So, you will need to use different databases and methods for researching each. The best method for tracking any thing down is to focus on the one thing at a time, first things first. The closer to you in the tree should be first. Use Cindi's list for the geographic links, go to the home, put the country in the search, and up will come many sites about that country.

Start with yourself, then your parents, then Gparents, then GG parents, then GGGparents, etc. Work your way out the tree branches. Remember these are your ancestors, be respectful of them and try to learn something about them, not just another node on a tree. Take your time and have fun.

Answer 2

Start simple. Try to find out about your grandparents or great grandparents. Then just go from there. Rootsweb.com is great for beginners, and has tons of information. The information you find there will lead you to information at other sites. There are sites that have Civil War veterans, where they were from and when and where they served, and even where they died if applicable. There are sites dedicated to just Native Indian research. Just start looking. Be prepared for a couple of false starts, but have fun!

Answer 3

Your family members are a great resource.

There are also numerous places on the web to begin your search. Places like the LDS Family Search site (free), Ancestry.com (mostly subscription) and RootsWeb.com (free & has a free newsletter available) are some of my favorites.

RootsWeb in particular has a lot of information for people just beginning to search.