Family and other relatives are often the source of very good genealogy information that could be extremely difficult or impossible to discover on your own.  Start your research with your own family, but always be prepared to interview relatives. Don’t put off interviewing that Great Aunt.

First of all, you want to be prepared to record the information that may come very quickly from family members. Do not attempt to enter the information into the computer while you are conducting the interview. Print out several of the Family Group Sheet forms and be prepared to write fast.

Interview family members

Here is a list of information that you might try to obtain during an interview:

• The persons full name and any nicknames
• Other members of the family such as father, mother, brothers, sisters, spouses, etc. All of this can be particularly helpful when we start exploring census information.
• Dates and places of important events such as birth, marriage, and death. Make note if they were married multiple times.
• Where they lived as a child and as an adult
• Their occupation
• Any military service

After you have gathered all you can from that source, work back to the next generation. The information you obtain could influence your decision of which family line to research first.

Look for information in your home

This is very often irreplaceable information. For example, my mother had remembered rumors that her father had been married before but his entire family died in a flu epidemic (1910). By shear luck, a fellow researcher had at one time seen a bible that contained all of this information and had the foresight to record and make copies of the information. It is a good thing because the original bible was lost in a hurricane that struck Mississippi.

Here is a list of information to look for:

• Family bibles – make copies of the important pages
• Pictures, especially with names written on the back — scan them into the computer at your first opportunity
• Birth, marriage, and death certificates
• Funeral programs & obituaries
• Wedding announcements & family registers

Record the information and the source

Record the information in your family history program. Record the sources of the information in the Notes section in your family history program. This helps you and others know where the information came from. Some people will suggest using the sources section in your family history program, but I feel that you can make the information more meaningful and in a narrative format in the notes section.

Now is also a good time to purchase a file cabinet to organize your information.

Genealogy research is my hobby. Hobbyist genealogists typically pursue their own ancestry and that of their children and spouses, without spending a lot of money.  That will guide my recommendations on family history software packages.

• If you want free, then checkout Personal Ancestral File.
• If you are going to subscribe to a service like Ancestry.com, then you might want to consider Family Tree Maker.

Personal Ancestral File by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Personal Ancestral File (PAF) is a widely used Windows®-based genealogical management program. It helps users organize their family history records. It can produce, either on screen or on paper, family histories, pedigree charts, family group records, and other reports to help users in their search for missing ancestors.

The best news is that it is free! I have used it for many years and it does everything that I needed it to do.

• Download Personal Ancestral File
• Personal Ancestral File Lessons

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides a huge amount of information free to all. The Church operates the largest genealogical library in the world—the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Church also operates branch libraries throughout the world that are open to anyone interested in family history. You may trace your ancestors and find information about family history resources at the Church’s family history web site.

Family Tree Maker by Ancestry.com

As I mentioned above, if you are going to subscribe to a service such as Ancestry.com, you should consider purchasing Family Tree Maker. The program retails (as of June 2009) for $29.95. The Ancestry.com “U.S. DELUXE MEMBERSHIP” is $155.40 annually.

By using Family Tree Maker together with Ancestry.com, you can:

• Quickly compare information you find on Ancestry with the data in your tree and use a merge wizard to selectively import new facts and records
• Take advantage of Ancestry Hints—a contextual search feature that automatically suggests records pertaining to people in your tree
• Back up your Family Tree Maker data by automatically creating a member tree on Ancestry (you can choose to share your tree with others or keep it private)
• Create heirloom-quality books using the new Ancestry Press self-publishing tool

What about online services?

I do not recommend using an online service for your master database. Most will use your data to drive more subscribers and it is just too difficult to use, especially if your laptop is not in wireless range.