The First Step

The easiest way to begin is to write down what you know.  You should list all the facts you know about yourself to start your family tree.  Make a list of your complete birth name, your date of birth, place of birth, spouses names, childrens' names, nicknames, schools you have attended, places and dates where you lived, military background, professional organizations, race, sex and any other data that is important in your life.  Next, expand that same data gathering to your immediate family.  Once you have your family finished work on your parents and grandparents.

BEWARE!  You will think that the information you get from your mother or grandmother is the gospel and you will depend on it as the truth.  DON"T!!!  As well intentioned as family members are to give you accurate information, they depend on memory, heresay, gossip, other forms of misinformation and you must consider everything they tell you as a starting point but confirm it with other records.

EXAMPLE:  My mother told me she was born in Georgia. Her entire life until she was 68 years old she put on every document, marriage license, census, job application, etc. that she was born in Georgia.  When she went to get a passport to travel outside the country she needed a copy of her birth certificate.  She went to the Georgia State Records Office to get it and they said that they did not have one on record.  She called her mother to ask why she had not gotten a birth certificate.  Her mom said she had. My mother said the state had no record. My grandmother asked her what state.  She said Georgia.  My grandmother told her she was born in Alabama.  Even though they never lived in Alabama she was born on a trip to visit relatives.

Gather everything as fact and then verify.

Once you have gathered about ten to fifteen people and their information it is time to organize.  At a minimum you need a notebook, a large envelope and some family group sheets.  Family group sheets are a manual way of grouping and gathering names, dates and locations.  You can find these on the internet in many locations and print them for free.

At this point the notebook is the core of all of your research.  I still keep one next to me today and I have about 4000 names in my family tree.  The envelope is for articles, notes, photos, and other stuff that won't stay in the notebook. 

Completing this first step is the core of building your family tree.