Trace Your Roots with Family History Research Tools

One of my friends is a huge genealogy buff, and recently she told me all of the neat things she has been discovering about her distant relatives and ancestors. She's not related to anyone famous or anything like that, but she still derives a great sense of satisfaction from knowing her familial origins. She has also made e-mail contact with a few long-lost cousins, striking up friendships with them based on knowledge of common relatives. I really had no idea that family history research could be so rewarding, so now I'm thinking about trying it out.

If left to my own devices, I probably wouldn't even know where to begin my family history research. But fortunately my friend is willing to help point me in the right direction. She gave me a checklist of things to do and resources to try, so I'm currently working off that list. In the meantime, I thought it would be helpful to share some of her family history research tips with all of you.

The best way to start this type of project is to gather as much information as you can from living relatives. Talk to your grandparents to get the full names of their own siblings, parents, grandparents, and anyone else they can remember. Middle names are important for accurate family history research, as are maiden names. Any birth dates your living relatives can remember could turn out to be critical as well, so be sure to record those where applicable.

Once you've got some names and dates to work with, you can begin tracing your genealogy in earnest. This is actually a very popular pastime right now, so there are plenty of resources at your disposal. First of all, you can visit a few family history research websites on the Internet to take advantage of the vast amount of data the sites have gathered. Most of these genealogy sites rely on past U.S. census data and historical records (like passenger manifests from ships at major ports of entry) to help you discover information about your ancestors, so they're definitely worth a look. You might have to pay a membership fee for access to the best databases, but if family history research is important to you, the associated fees will merely be a minor inconvenience.

Another tool you might want to try is genealogy software. This type of product works pretty much the same as the websites I just mentioned, but because the software runs from your computer, the results you come up with from your family history research can remain 100 percent confidential. So if privacy is something you're worried about, this would be the route to go.

Personally, I can't wait to get started on my family history research! I'm excited about all the interesting details I'll be able to uncover, and am hoping to reach out to a few distant relatives along the way. And who knows, maybe it'll turn out that I have a wealthy uncle out there in need of an heir!