Many genealogical societies have exciting resources that aren’t available online. On-Site today are local genealogical societies that can point you in the direction to research your specific family. Please visit with the on-site genealogists or look at our website links to help break down your brick walls, fill out your family story or obtain direction to source documents for your family tree.

Start With What You Know - The first step is to begin with what you know and what you can document. There are often gems to your family story within the records of the area your ancestors lived beyond census records, birth/marriage/death certificates. What documents do you have for yourself and your family? Do you have a copy of your birth certificate? If you are married, do you have a copy of your marriage certificate? What information is in these records?  What documentation do you have for your parents and grandparents? If any of them are deceased, do you have copies of their orbituaries or death certificates? 

Speak With Relatives - Living relatives, especially older ones, can be a wealth of information.  Consult siblings and cousins as well. These different memories may affect your research strategy. Remember to be careful with family information. Family stories have a way of changing and becoming embellished as they are passed on from one generation to another.  For this reason, tradition is not usually considered documentary evidence. Living relatives can help you extend your research farther back in time by providing names of deceased relatives and where they lived and died. They may also be able to provide you with copies of records they have in their possession (obituaries or the family Bible). It is a good idea to share your findings with your relatives. Social media group conversations is a great way to have discussions with 'descendants of...' and share pictures that may or may not require identification. This may jog their memories and lead to additional stories and memories. A frequent problem encountered with talking to different people about the past is that people will remember past events differently. Such discrepancies can be troublesome. Is the information based on first-hand accounts?  It is important to keep an open mind and to consider all possible scenarios. Ask yourself what documentary evidence might there be to prove what information is correct?  Were vital records kept at the local or state level at the time of the event?  If not, perhaps newspapers and church records can fill in the gap. Some religious groups keep very good records, such as baptismal, marriage and burial records. Local or religious newspapers can be a wonderful source of information. 

We have plenty of maps and reading materials about researching Scottish, Irish, Welsh, and English ancestors if you want to come into the Genealogy Tent and take a break!

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