Getting Started

Begin by deciding what your goal is. Think about which family lines you want to research. Everyone has two parents, four grandparents, and eight great-grandparents. You may not know who all of them are, but you will need to develop a plan to track down information about them.

Work backwards from known information. Then try finding your ancestors by using marriage, birth, and death records. Talk with your family and relatives; ask questions; see if they have documents, letters, or certificates (maybe a family bible or photographs) that you can borrow and copy.

Establish, as completely as possible, the basic genealogical facts – date and place of birth (baptism), marriage (date and place), and death (date and place/burial) – of as many of your relatives as you can.

SEARCHING RECORDS
Vital records include births, deaths, and marriages. There are many places to find these records. NEHGS offers the Social Security Death Index. This database can provide the date of birth and death along with a Social Security Number (SSN). Once you have an SSN, you can ask the Social Security Administration for a photocopy of your ancestor’s Social Security card application. On this card you can find information about the parents’ names and their SSN, if available. For a list of where to get vital records, visit the National Center for Health Statistics.
 
Once you have gathered some information – and at this point we hope you have more than you know what to do with – it’s time to start organizing your information.

CHARTS
Pedigree charts provide an overview of the family and enable you to track your progress. This is a great way to identify the direct ancestors of one person and offers the flexibility to include a great deal of information.
 
Family group sheets are used to gather information on couples and their children; this makes it easier to summarize a family and everything known about them.
To learn more about getting started in your genealogical research and using the NEHGS website and library resources, please use the links below to view our online seminars.