I FIND MYSELF SMILING as my fingers touch the keyboard to start writing this article. I am smiling at the memory of my grandchildren as they visited the Family History Center (FHC) with me and made handprints and face prints on the photocopier. Their particular delight was turning on a film reader and watching the fuzzy dust bugs run across the illuminated reading surface as they cranked the film handle. Perhaps these are the first steps for future genealogists but then there are so many entry points to this fascinating hobby. It would be difficult to itemize all of the motivations of the tens of millions of North Americans who become involved but it has always been my contention that to continue with the hobby one needs to enjoy a certain amount of early research success. And to enjoy success requires that the first steps that you take be successful or at least steps that are most likely to produce good research results.

"The "star view" of a family offered through the OneGreatFamily.com website."

Your Own Family
Step one should always be to talk to members of your own family. In normal circumstances, getting your parents' information should be easy, and they should be able to provide grandparent information that gets you off to a flying start. In seminars and lectures that I frequently undertake I use my own personal example to demonstrate how vital and important a start this can be. I have many cousins, nieces and nephews, all of whom have married and had their own children and now number in the hundreds. The chance that one of them will get interested in the Wild family history is very high but where will they start? If they do not start with me they are going to waste a tremendous amount of time, but this also places an obligation on me to make sure that the fruits of my research labors are available. I have personal knowledge of six generations of Wilds and have researched back a total of 15 generations; for someone to start again from scratch would be a great tragedy. Contacting family members has never been easier and posting family histories and pedigrees on Internet databases and in family web pages is one way of ensuring that the fruits of your research labors are available to future generations. The time and effort that you expend on contacting family members is always of value and if you run into the family historian it can be extraordinarily so. This is a valuable first step that can put you solidly on the right track and frequently re-unites you with unknown or forgotten family lines.

Compiled Records
Once the contacting of family members has got you off to a solid start then the next important step is to consult compiled records. These are collections of records like the International Genealogical Index (IGI) that has been a favorite for decades. Six generations of my Wild ancestors have been on the IGI since 1933; if I had known how to search it when I started, I could have saved years of research time. The IGI is available on the Internet (via www.FamilySearch.org), and is also one of the records you can search at FHCs where staff can show you how to do searches.
        Although the IGI is still an important index to check, there are now even larger indexes some of which have as many as a billion names for you to search. Ancestry.com and MyTrees.com both allow a free search of their billion-name databases. While these are both fee-based subscription databases, they allow you a trial period in which you can familiarize yourself with the database contents and decide whether you wish to become a regular subscriber. There are now thousands of smaller compiled records for specific towns, parishes and cemeteries that are searchable at websites like RootsWeb.com and Ancestry.com. These compiled records can provide valuable information as to ancestors whereabouts at different times and can focus your research efforts in the places where you will enjoy success.
        At this early stage of your research, you will likely be overwhelmed by the vast number of records available to search and confused about what you should do next. It is important to stay focused on what you want to achieve and to avoid wandering all over the Internet and the library. If you have faithfully talked with family and looked at compiled records, you should have at least parents, grandparents and some great-grandparents. The facts you have gathered about them will provide the stepping-stones for your next research goal. Move from one event in an ancestor's life to the next. Start with a birth, then look for the marriage and children and repeat this process with each name you research.

Seven First Steps 1. Contact family members and relatives. 2. Start looking at compiled records. 3. Get to know the people at your local FHC. 4. Join a genealogical society and attend meetings. 5. Learn how to find and search parish, census and vital records. 6. Select a genealogy software program. 7. Start sharing your research with databases and newsgroups.

Pedigree-Linked Indexes
We are far from finished with compiled records, but with the two or three generations we have found we are in a position to try a more sophisticated level of research. The jumping-off point to making great finds will likely come with the fourth generation back, your great-great grandparents. We are not there yet but before we start looking at parish records, vital records and census records we will take one last chance at looking to see if someone has already done much of our research work for us.
        Millions of researchers are uploading their genealogical files to pedigree-linked databases where it is now possible to find several generations of a family linked for four, five or more generations. The search takes a few minutes and is well worth the effort after you have found three or four generations. Most, but not all, of the pedigree-linked databases are fee-based but offer free searches to researchers who are prepared to upload their data. The largest pedigree-linked database is found at MyTrees.com, which has more than 100 million linked pedigrees available. MyFamily.com offers around 70 million linked names and WorldConnect.com has around 73 million. A new linked database is OneGreatFamily.com, which offers around 45 million linked names in a technically advanced presentation. The granddaddy of pedigree-linked databases is Ancestral File with roughly 40 million names that can be searched online for free (via www.FamilySearch.org). Ancestral File will likely be particularly useful to those researchers who have enjoyed success with the IGI.
        Success with the linked pedigree databases could leave you with more work than you care to imagine and your research efforts will switch from finding to verifying sources. As you progress, it is important to go back to the compiled databases time and again as every new name you find could be the name that links to many generations.

"The Family Tree Maker facts screen shows four generations of colonial American Taylors. Forty more generations can be found on Internet databases."

Starting to Dig
The preceding first steps are based on the premise that someone somewhere has already found and recorded facts about your ancestors but even if this is true there will be missing individuals and families and this is when the real digging begins. A sound research plan should be based on the premise of going from what you know and looking in an organized and informed way to add to this information. Great leaps of intuition and serendipitous finds are not unknown but they are hardly the basis of a sound step-by-step research plan.
        From the information you know, let us suppose that you have found a grandfather born in 1911 who lived in Ohio. No further information is available from family sources and you have not found any information on him on the compiled databases. What now? There are a variety of sources that could provide a wealth of additional information. A Social Security Death Index search will give you the address to which his last check was mailed. A request for a copy of his Social Security Application will give you his street address, his parents' names, his place of birth and workplace and this information will open many doors. You can do a 1920 census search to try and find the entire family. You can do an Ohio vital records search and obtain a copy of his birth certificate that could have valuable information about his parents. The census information would likely allow you to estimate or know his parents' marriage date and a likely place where this took place; this in turn should lead to a marriage certificate that will reveal their parents. In April 2002, the 1930 US census data will be available and this too will provide much information that will lead to an informed research strategy. City directories were available in many large cities at this time and can provide information on where an ancestral family lived.
        By this time you will likely have visited your local FHC, started using the Internet or joined a genealogical society and developed friends who can show you how to complete the searches we have mentioned. As you roll back more generations, different research resources will need to be used and possibly research resources in other countries will need to be consulted. Become familiar with the Family History Library Catalog that contains information on over three million genealogical record sources and will permit you to do much of your overseas research right here in North America. Useful books like The Source from Ancestry.com are filled with research tips and sources, CyndisList.com has more than 70,000 links to genealogy websites and this issue of Family Chronicle has an index to five years of articles on sources and research techniques.

"The Family History Library Catalog, now available on CD, contains information on more than three million genealogical record sources."

Record Keeping
About this time, your first three ring binder and its pockets will have become stuffed to capacity with work sheets, printouts, certificates, maps and notes and you will be thinking about better ways to organize your data. The simple approach is to have a separate binder for each family surname and carry with you the binder for the family you are working on. There is a fair degree of duplication required to make this system work but it works fine. A more sophisticated approach is to load everything onto your computer and have a laptop or palm computer that is with you at all times and can bring up any information you want in seconds. There are many approaches in between these two extremes but the portable computer solution seems to be becoming popular with instant e-mail and Internet connectivity being add-on features that allow you to stay in touch at all times.

Future Steps
There will never be a time that you are not learning as your research progresses. You will learn about geography, history and social conditions. It is likely that you will want to write a family history to record your unique family knowledge for posterity. For this reason you may want to start a daily journal now in which you will record the finding of key information or the effort you expended to find a particular ancestor. This daily journal will become an invaluable resource when you come to set down your thoughts on a family history; it will also become a treasured heirloom for future generations.
        Most North Americans sooner or later find that their research efforts take them "across the pond" to any one of a hundred countries where the research sources available vary from non-existent or unavailable to too many to mention with archives dating back to the Middle Ages and beyond. Most Western European ancestors can be traced back to the 1500s with the right application of technique and perseverance. Eastern European records require very specialized research techniques in archives that are difficult to access, though conditions are improving.
        Whichever century or place your research takes you, moving from the known to the unknown one step at a time will serve you well and produce the research results you desire. As your research progresses, share the information you have researched with online databases, newsgroups and one-name study societies who can make your research available to the world and perhaps to long-lost cousins or others who are searching the same family as you.

This article originally appeared in our September/October 2001 issue.