Tips on gathering your family info

1. Ask all your family members. Set a special time to gather facts.
2. Ask specific questions to get their memories going. Use a tape recorder.
3. Record the info on a standard form - 1 page for each family/marriage - 
   called a Family Group Record.
4. Put the Family group records into a 3 ring loose-leaf notebook with
   dividers for each family name.
5. Use an Ancestral Chart to get the big picture, not for detailed info.
6. Put Ancestral charts into the 3 ring loose-leaf notebook.
7. Verify all information with primary sources (Census, Birth certificate. etc)
8. Store all primary source info in a separate folder by family name.
   Any official record: birth, baptism, marriage, death, military, group
   membership, immigration, naturalization, graduation, newspaper notices,
   photographs, published articles, cemetery documents, probate, wills,
   land records, business incorporations, family Bible, old letters, etc.
9. National Archives: Federal Census (every 10 years - must be 70 years or older
   to be legally seen by the public; Military records (Compiled military service 
   record, and the pension application record); Passenger arrival records 
   (began in 1820); Federal Land records (30 states from Ohio west where 
   people bought land from the federal government).
10. State and Local Records: Vital records (birth, death, marriage); Probate
   records (wills, executors or administrators appointed by the court); Land
   Deeds; Guardian Bonds; Newspapers (birth, marriage, death notices); Church
   records.
11. Keep a record of all research done: Date, where, who, what in a log or
   format with a column for each heading. Use as many lines as needed for
   each entry.

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(I suggest you print this out or save it as HOW.TXT)