Genealogist Tips

• With the abundance of genealogy tracers available on the Internet today, it is clear that a lot of people are interested in finding out about their family trees. If you are the resident family tree maker in your clan, it is helpful to know the best ways to go about tracking down ancient family members. These methods can range from a simple Internet search for the merely curious to hiring a professional genealogist for the serious seeker.

Make a Family Group Sheet

• To ensure that you get started on the right foot, create a Family Group Sheet that allows each individual member to fill in the basics about his own immediate family. This sheet should have a space for the individual's name in the middle and then allow him to fill in his parents, grandparents, siblings, spouse and children (if applicable).

  Make photocopies of these sheets and hand them out to all of your relatives. Once they are all completed, you can begin to compile the information into one unified tree.

Involve Everyone

• The best way to ensure that you don't miss out on any known relatives is to involve everyone in your family in your quest to complete the tree. Older relatives are usually a wealth of information as they remember relatives that younger members may not know about. The older the relative, the more people they are likely to recall. Once these relatives are gone, the personal information they can impart is lost forever.

Obtain Legal Documents

• Search online for birth certificates, marriage certificates and death certificates for older relatives. These documents usually include names of parents, which will give you the lead you need to start researching the preceding generation. Using websites such as birthdatabase.net and searchbirthrecord.com that contain birth records from all 50 states should get you off to a good start if your relatives are American citizens.

Find a Genealogist

• If the information that you are able to find on your own is insufficient and you are on a serious quest for specific family history, or your relatives are from countries whose birth records and marriage certificates are not available for public viewing, then you may consider hiring a professional genealogist.

  A genealogist is someone who has been trained in researching family history and has a network of experts to turn to for help. When choosing the right genealogist, consider hiring someone who has been certified by the Association of Professional Genealogists (APG). The APG boasts a large variety of employees from diverse backgrounds, making it easier for you to find someone with knowledge of your specific ancestry.

  Additionally, each employee is trained and expected to abide by a certain standard, so you can be sure you are not wasting your money.