Below are a few tips on how to get started with family history research:

1. Inquire of cousins and other family members to see if anyone else has done any research and seek out their records.
2. Interview the eldest living relatives you can find and, if possible, tape and document their recollections.
3. Gather together any available family vital statistics registrations (birth, marriage and death certificates) which will contain a wealth of information. Likewise family bibles often have valuable genealogical data.
4. Carefully document the findings of all of your inquiries.
5. Consider purchasing a family tree software program which will facilitate this documentation. There are free versions available on the Internet but I recommend using the full featured offerings of Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic or Legacy Family Tree which are all available for under $50.00
6. Perform a search on your ancestors’ names in the free website of the Church of Latter Day Saints – www.familysearch.org or consider subscribing to a commercial website like www.ancestry.com which has extensive databases of vital records and census records from the 19^th century.
7. Buy a genealogy research guidebook and consider joining your local family history society.

List created for inclusion in an article on Genealogy published in the September 2010 issue of Au Courant.