New to Genealogy - Help for Beginners

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New to Genealogy - Help for Beginners

Start Your Journey to Find Your Family Tree

Are you new to Genealogy? Are you lost and bewildered by the Genealogy websites you're finding online? This Newbie Guide will try to help you make sense of it all, and get you started on your journey to finding your ancestors.

10 Steps to Starting Your Genealogy Journey & Finding Ancestors

Step 1. Start with yourself

Step 2. Talk to Family Members & Relatives

Step 3. Find Death & Burial Records

Step 4. Find Ancestors in Census Records

Step 5. Find Marriage Records

Step 6. Find Birth or Baptism Records

Step 7. Contact other descendants in Genealogy forums

Step 8. Join a Mailing List

Step 9: Subscribe to a Free Newsletter or a Blog Feed

Step 10. Search the LDS Family History Library website

Olive Tree Genealogy Suggests Further reading:
* Making Sense of Alphabet Soup: Abbreviations and their meanings in Genealogy
* Genealogy Without Sources is Mythology!

Pedigree Chart: Begins with you and displays your direct ancestors. Most pedigree charts cover four generations, with a place for names plus dates and places of birth, marriage and death for each person.

Family Group Sheet: Used to record names and information on an ancestor and his complete family of spouses and all children

Source: The document, record, publication, or person used to prove or establish a fact.

Newbie: A newcomer or beginner in genealogy

Mailing List: A discussion group with similar interests. Subscribers join and participate in discussion on a defined topic. Distributed through e-mail

Website: A collection of pages put online by a webmaster or organization. Can be viewd in a browser such as Internet Explorer or Firefox

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