my wife wants to start searching .her family tree.where does she start?

Answer 1

Start by talking to the PARENTS -- and from there ... any living relatives.

I would suggest at a minimum, she think first of bringing along a tape recorder or some form of photographic equipment (Camera or Camcorder) so that when she does ask them about family history -- she can ENCOURAGE each of her parents (and grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc) to talk about favorite memories from childhood, middle school, high school, the first date with the current spouse, all their marriage(s), the deaths in the family (and where they are buried), etc etc etc.

Answer 2

It is best to get a family tree program for your computer to keep everything categorized and in order.
The first thing she needs to do is input everything that she knows as far as who was born when, who married who when and what the maiden names were and the dates of birth.

When she has exhausted her memory bank she need to talk to her siblings. Same story, collect data, insert into tree.

Go to her mother. Collect all the data she knows including deaths and where they are buried.

Go to her father. Collect everything that he can remember including deaths and where buried. Also any military service by family members.

The grandparents come next. and the great aunts and uncles. Any part of the family that is older or may have some information she needs to talk to. Sometimes things can be pieced together by gathering part of the information from three or four people. Check to see if there are any old family bibles that anyone has that have been passed down.

Check church record and cemetery records. Social Security records will only be accessible after a person has passes away and then I think it is something like 4 year before the info is released.

I would urge her not to delay. The information that she is seeking is available in her older family members heads now. If the information isn't collected and put down it will be that much harder to locate later on when the older generation passes away. Experience is speaking. I am one of the older generation now. I started working on the family tree about 30 years ago off and on. I figured I had plenty of time, no rush.
Suddenly I have become one of the older generation and the older ones have mostly passed away.

Answer 3

, genforum, etc. She Find out as much as you can from living relatives, Maiden names, state and city where born, names of siblings etc. The Latter Day Saints have a very extensive library if there happens to be one close to you. They would be very helpful. There are also sites on the Internet, rootsweb.com, gencom. Also type in the Family name, state and the word genealogy. Things will pop up she can look at and start searching. Family Tree Maker has a good software program that let's you list your ancestors. Happy hunting!

Answer 4

If your family came in from ellis island check this site out
http://www.ellisisland.org/
Otherwise I know the Mormans keep records also but i'm not sure where to find that sorry.

Answer 5

From the roots. obvyiously from the oldest person in the family who can tell her about her forefathers.

Answer 6

With your own immidiate family. Then trace backwards.

Answer 7

I have done a lot of family research and I would recommend ancestry.com and usgenweb.org.

Happy hunting....beware, it's addictive!!!

Answer 8

Here's a great web page for getting started:

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Home/Welcome/frameset_information.asp

Answer 9

rootsweb.com