The last couple of days, I've been contenplating looking up my ancestry (sp). I know I'm 1/8th Native American on my Mom's side, and on my Dad's side one of my ancestors was the the Govenor of Plymouth, MA. I just don't know where to start? Does anybody have any ideas or advice you could give me to get started?

You can start , by using search engines, looking up your surname, the area your from, or you can check geneology sites (many charge money to join) . My mother is currently working on her mothers family name and has found messageboards and alot of stuff to help


On my fathers side they paid years ago to have a detailed family tree, it was pretty easy because of the high concertration on my surname in a small area , all do to inbreeding :) . They bascally tracked it to the first one to land in North America (1638 in Sudbury Massachusetts, later moving to York County Mass (now Maine) and his ancestors moving to the Annapolis Valley in nova Scotai in the the 1750's. ( the French in Nova Scotia were deported to Louisianna in the 1750's ie Evangeline and American , which were named planters from the came up to nova Scotia and took over the left vacant farm land .

And thats my family history inbreeders and scavengers:lol:

This link (http://home.earthlink.net/~howardorjeff/instruct.htm) has a few tips on how to start your search, Molly. Good luck! :thumb:

I've been doing genealogy for about 4 years now and it's a fascinating, but time consuming, hobby.

First off, go to Cyndi's List (link below) and print off some "Family Group Sheets". These are great tool for organizing your info by families (households). Use these to interview your living relatives. Then ask those relatives for any family records: birth/death/marriage certificates, family bibles, etc. Then you can find many types of records to help you at the library or the courthouse, such as census and land records. All these will help to piece together a good idea of your family lines. Also, I strongly recommend you buy software such as Family Tree Maker (around $20 for the basic version) to help you organize and share info. Then go on the web and start meeting your "cousins". :)
I'll be glad to help you if you have any other questions.

Here are some free sites I have used:

Cyndi's List (http://www.cyndislist.com/) - A huge clearinghouse of links for genealogy info. The sheer number of entries can be a bit imposing. Also you can print off the forms you'll need to organize your records.

the USGENWEB Project (http://www.usgenweb.org/) - Good localized info, down to the state and county level. Also a good place to meet other researchers who might have common relatives.

RootsWeb (http://www.rootsweb.com/) - the free version of Ancestry.com. Not as useful as USGENWEB in my experience, but a good back-up.

My mom finished a beautiful book on our family history just a few months before she died. It was actually 20 years worth of research and 3 years worth of writing the book and putting photos together and also all the info. I can't believe all the work into it. I am so thrilled she finished it though.
Nolan has a great start. I wish I knew more but it's not something I got too much into. I know that Family Tree Maker was really useful to her though. Good luck Molly! :)