by Davran

1. First of all, make a note of what you know (or think you know).
   
   
2. Check this information with other members of the family and revise any ideas you first had.
   
   
3. Ask older generations for any family stories and rumours. Make notes of who told you what and crosscheck with other family members. Ask to see photos, diaries and any documents they may have. Get them to tell you who is in the photos and WRITE IT DOWN! Make a note of anything, no matter how absurd it may seem.
   
   
4. Find out names and dates of birth of earlier generations.
   
   
5. Start working backwards by buying any certificates you don’t have. You will probably have your own details and possibly those of your parents, so move on to those of grandparents. FreeBMD is a good website for finding where and when ancestors were registered and you will be able to find the references needed for ordering a certificate. Certificates are obtainable online via the General Register Office.
   
   
6. Once you have reached about 1900, then is the time to start looking at the censuses, which are available online at various websites – FreeCEN, FindMyPast, Ancestry and others.
   
   
7. Census information is available for 1911, 1901, 1891, 1881, 1871, 1861, 1851 and 1841. Although there is some census information for 1831, it is not usually much use, as householders were not listed by name.
   
   
8. There is a vast amount of information available online and on CD or in book form. Useful general websites are GENUKI and Cyndi’s List.
   
   
9. More specific information is available from the IGI (International Genealogical Index) on Family Search, but you must be wary of so-called ‘submitted’ records as these can be very misleading. A safer way to search the Family Search website is through the IGI batch numbers for different parishes via Hugh Wallis’s website as these are ‘extracted’ records and therefore more likely to be accurate.
   
   
10. If you are researching Scottish ancestors you will probably need to use the Scotlands People website. This is the official website of the General Register Office of Scotland. Although it is pay-per-view, credits last a long time and the information contained on Scottish certificates is much more comprehensive than of those in England.
    
    
11. One of the most useful websites is Google – it is absolutely amazing what you can pick up from there.
    
    
12. Beware of jumping to conclusions. However much you want John Maxwell (born 1869) to be the son of James Maxwell and Susan Howard (married 1868), don’t add him to the tree until you have found a birth or baptism naming the parents. You can keep him to one side and hope that he will fit in somewhere as he may be related.
    
    
13. A good ploy is to post details of queries on as many free websites as you can.
    
    
14. You may find you are contacted by another researcher who says they have details of your family. This is really exciting, but you must be very careful to check any information they give you as it may not be accurate. If you find they have made an error, politely inform them of this fact, so that they can change their records if they wish.
    
    
15. Having joined BG Forums ASK FOR ADVICE if you are not sure of something. Better to feel a little foolish for asking something obvious, than to take a wrong turn in your tree and have to unravel it all afterwards. Most of us have done that at some time, so don’t be embarrassed to ask.
    
    
16. Have a browse through the material available on Parish Chest. There may be just the thing you are looking for there.
    
    
17. Above all, keep going. Sometimes it’s nice to have a break from one branch, but do come back to it again. As you get more experienced you may find a new source of more information or you may have a sudden burst of inspiration.
    
    
18. Last of all, have fun. It may be frustrating at times, but when you look back and see how much you have learnt and how many wonderful people you have ‘met’ on the way, it will all be worthwhile.