Advice from Genealogists / Historians

[Lyle1]

I agree that you should start by getting as much information from relatives as you can. However, be prepared to find that sometime of what they remember isn't exactly correct, though it can still lead you to the correct information. Also check out any bibles that your family members might have; a lot of people record family events in bibles.

I think Ancestry.com is a great tool. You can access a lot of official records, and you might find that someone else has included some of your ancestors in their tree. Always look for documentation of facts on other trees. I found one of my great grandfathers on another tree, and, as well, I thought, a missing daughter; on that tree unfortunately, the supposed daughter was born in Pennsylvania before my great grandfather came to the USA. On the other hand, I traced one of my German lines back to the 1500's in about three hours. I contacted one of the owners of a tree to which I kept being led, and found a 3rd cousin living in the ancestral town in Germany. She has given me a lot of documentation, and I have found data on an American line of her family. Ancestry.com also has message boards where you can make inquiries of anyone who might have information on your family.

The second the advice to use Google. I searched on a decidedly Italian name in my German line from the 1600's and found a few history books (on Google Books) that confirmed that he was an Italian living in Germany, and I found a very good website containing a very large and well documented family tree of a noted German industrialist who lived in the same area as my ancestors. I've found information for about a dozen of my ancestors in that tree.