GENEALOGY HINTS

A lot of people email me asking what's available on the web, or where to start when doing family research. Here are some hints to help you get started.

Please MAIL me if you've got questions or want to add information!

Find the Death Certificate! Most of the time you don't know exactly where someone came from. Or when they were born. But you can find out where they died! Write the town/city hall where they died and ask for a copy. Usually it's $5. It'll tell you their birthplace, age, maybe parents, maybe how they died or who survived them.

Then find the marriage/birth certificates Those have tons of information. Get them from the same place - the town or city hall. In Ireland, churches keep that kind of information. Write the church in the area you're interested in!

Check NARA for census and shipping records NARA, the National Archives, has 13 sites set up across the states with census information from the states taken every ten years - with everyone who was in the household. Later census records have more information than earlier ones, but most have "country of origin". NARA also has shipping records from most ships that came in to the country.

Check your local LDS center The Latter Day Saints have family research centers in most areas, open to the public. Find out when they're open and go in. They have tons of records, either on site or available to order.

Check web sites This is probably your last option - there is very little out on the web right now. Try the sites on my main page - Cindi's is very good, as is the 'most wanted'. For most places they have "where to write for information", but not the actual information itself. My web pages have a bunch of "places to write to" addresses - try those.

Lisa's Genealogy Page