How to start genealogy?
Question your relatives. And make sure you document the sources of your information (believe me - I'm bad at this, and you WILL forget).
My favorite quote about genealogy:
"Genealogy... confusing the dead and annoying the living."
My tree is pretty simple because there aren't divorces or blended families in my tree. But write down your parents, their marriages, your siblings (and their marriages/children). Then write out your grandparents and all their marriages/children. Obviously your direct line of "greats" is most important, but branching out great-aunts and great-uncles you have more people to compare notes with.
Sometimes the work is done for you. There are two sides of your family, and each of your parents has two sides of theirs, and so on. Just think how many people are descended from each of your great-great grandparents. Someone is bound to done some research on those families (at least a few of your branches should have some people already researching them). They key is to be able to get far enough back to where you meet existing family trees.
The internet is useful - I'm not saying that the information you find is 100% accurate but I have made contact with several people (and distant cousins) and was able to compare notes. Familysearch.org has digital resources such as death records from several states, US censuses, etc. Additional records are available places for a fee. Obituaries are also very helpful - I've mailed off to libraries that had the newspaper editions I was needing on film and they sent me copies of the articles.
What is your goal for the research? Is there a side of the family you know nothing about? My mother's extended family was always a mystery to me - very bad feelings between the cousins. But I'm all about completion (if you couldn't tell) and finally have all her cousins/aunts/uncles/great-aunts/great-uncles/etc. recorded. "Academically" I probably now know a lot more about her part of the family than she does.
My goal is pretty much to be able to make a family tree poster of my direct lines (they have these cool ones you can complete and order off ancestry). I want to get it about 6 or so generations each way (counting me and sis, of course) and there is a spot for a photograph for each person (at least the most recent generations). I'm still working on getting some of the photographs and am stuck on the names for some of the very farther branches of just a few lines. I'm hoping if I can find the right distant cousins I can find the pictures/info.
Just seeing the family resemblances is so incredible. I'm also trying to find where everyone is buried.
My biggest problem is some of my relatives were the last kids in big families (or got married late) so there are some pretty big generation times. For instance, one of my great-grandpa's was born (1870s) when his father was in his mid-60s. So I think I might be out of luck for a few of my pictures.
Example of the poster I want (but mine would have more branches):
I'm still not quite sure why I'm so interested. I think it's "genetic," haha. I've been going to family reunions for various branches my whole life and there is this group of elderly aunt/cousins always sharing info and I used to make fun of them to myself. Now the bug has bit me!
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