Digging up your family tree... Getting started.

Ok, although this will sound much like an infomercial it's true: it has never been easier to follow your family tree.  What took my mother almost ten years to do, pre-Internet, took me about forty-five minutes.  Because I know how to research, and I know what to look for its pretty easy for me to follow my family tree. 

You don't need to have a masters degree to hours of research experience to start digging up those roots, all you need is an Internet connection and a little starting information.

What you need to start (ideally):

Your full name and birth date.
Your parent's names, birth dates and places of birth.(wedding date if possible)
Your parent's siblings names and birth dates
Your grandparents names,birth dates and birth places (wedding dates if possible)
Some time and a computer
Family Tree software or pen and paper.
Access to a map or google maps/earth

Any family documents that might aid you in your search.  These might include military papers (DD-214, draft cards, etc), marriage certificates, death and birth certificates, family bibles, already compiled family trees, family photos, and anything else your family might like to share with you.

The more you know starting out the easier you are going to find information.  But you can trace it all back without more to go on than the above. 

I have quite a lot of information that my mom had already compiled on the Lancaster and Davis families.  I also had a Family Tree Maker file from a guy that does this stuff for fun, and it had over 200,000 people on it.  But I decided while I had some time on my hands and those files not in sight, to start with just me, well, me and Don.

I went to Ancestry.com and entered my name. Now you get a "shaky leaf" if you have a document that might match the information on a person. Some of it is a match, some of it is not. You can make a tree online for free, but you can not look at or save the documents without a membership.  I joined. 

On my name there were several "hints", that's the stuff that might be a match for my name. My wedding license, and some public data base information came up.  I checked it, and it was actually me.   It is IMPORTANT to check to see if the hints are actually for the person you are looking for.  Sometimes the dates might match and some times just the names.  Sometimes there are different spellings, and other times dates are not complete.  This is where you have to look at the data, match it up and "attach" the document to the family member or "ignore" it. 

Then there are the already done trees for your family.  When people load family trees up online, often there will be a hit for someone in YOUR tree. You have to look carefully to be sure it is a match before you add the people to you tree, but it grows your information very quickly this way.  I check census records and other documents or sources to be sure there are matching names and places and dates and such.  Spellings often change (like McGahee for McGaha) but if the spelling is too different (Smyth for say Samuels) you should question the link.  If I'm not sure, I don't add the person.

As you grow your tree you find out all kinds of neat things.  Some people have already linked photos, other times you find a link to a news paper article or even a copy of a census page or military record!  There aren't any census records past 1940 online, and some of the military records were destroyed in a fire in 1973, so there is a gap there you may encounter.  Some states have great records online, others, like SC, its spotty and depends on the county. 

I hope this is enough to get you started.  I'll add more as I discover it, but this is a beginning.

Some tips:

• If you aren't sure, don't add.  Double check other family trees, if they short cut they might not be as reliable as you want for your record.
• There are great videos and classes on both the Mormon's site and Ancestry.com. 
• If you choose to get a book to help you, "The Everything Guide to Online Genealogy" is fantastic.  Don't short cut, get the newest version even if you have to order it at the bookstore.  Its worth it.
• Online databases grow every day.  Check back in a week or a month, you'll be shocked at how fast those databases grow
• Google stuff you don't know.  (Dropsy is edema, and it killed one person in the tree. I had to google it)
• Ask, Ask ASK family.  Ask extended family, ask everyone.  Get copies of EVERYTHING.  They might have already done the leg work for what you are already doing.
• Share your tree. Nothing sucks more than to find a tree that you KNOW has information you need and its Private.  You request access, and no one answers you. 
• If you insist on the DNA stuff, www.23andme.com is a much better deal than what ancestry has, and is now just 100 bucks.

Oh, and GOOD LUCK!!

Here are some links to get you started:

http://www.cyndislist.com/    This is a site with links to thousands of other sites on line. It is a GREAT starting point for anyone wanting to look online for records

https://familysearch.org/  a free site that is run by the Mormons.  It is GREAT, free, and has LOTS of info already ready for you to delve into. 

http://www.ancestry.com  A pay for use site.  Many trees are already loaded into this site, and this makes it easier to get started.  LOTS AND LOTS of archived documents are easily accessible here as well, saving time getting the documents you need to "prove" your lineage.  Its free for the first 10 days, then its 25 bucks a month for the US records or 35 bucks a month for access to the "world" records.  You can upload and save all kinds of data, and its integrateable with the Family Tree Maker software. For the money, this is a great site.  You can make your tree private (though I wouldn't) or you can make it public for others to share.

https://www.23andme.com  If you want to see genetically where you come from. This site offers the best deal for DNA sequencing.