Start With What You Know!

Jot down your parent's names first, and work backwards.

Are you interested in finding out who your ancestors were?  There's a great repository in Houston called "Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research."  Please check out their link at Clayton Library Center For Genealogical Research. When I first started out years ago, I regularly frequented Clayton Library who has so much to offer a budding genealogist.  Your stop at the Reference Desk at Clayton puts you in touch with the Reference Librarian who is able to point you in the right direction after you explain just what you're looking for.  Or perhaps you don't have a clue!  Not to worry.  The folks at Clayton will get you started on a fantastic journey into exploring and discovering your family tree.

I'm sure they'll tell you to start with what you know and then work backwards.  Start with your parents and grandparents and then work backwards.  Your parents and grandparents, both maternal and paternal, probably have a wealth of information to share with you.  Better capture and record those precious memories that your mother and grandmother are itching to tell you about.

At Clayton's website, you can click on "Research" where you'll find invaluable information and forms to get you started. Clayton Library Center For Genealogical Research.

Basically, to find your people in the census, you'll need to know the county in which they lived and, of course, their first and last names.  One thing that a reference librarian told me at Clayton, when checking the census for ancestors and family, was to make note of the entire page and several pages thereafter once you find your family/ancestors in the census.  Those names that appear on the census page sometimes before and after your family member are more than likely related to your ancestors!  In other words, you've found some collateral family members!  Other names on the page that you find your ancestors on are, of course, their neighbors.  The names of neighbors are important for the times that you may encounter "gaps" in your research.  And you will encounter some gaps.  For the census year(s) that I wasn't able to find an ancestor/family member, I would immediately look for those possible collateral names and/or those neighbors that my ancestor lived close to on previous censuses.  You just may be able to find a "lost" relative or family member just by knowing those "extra" names on the census pages, as names were not always spelled or pronounced correctly by the enumerator.

Well, I hope that you were able to gain some more insight about genealogy with this post and are confident enough to get your feet wet and go do some researching!