Genealogy began with the Bible. In Genesis it is told of the genealogy of Adam. People are important to God as is our genealogy. Stories have been passed down for years about families.

I find the challenge of genealogy fascinating. You want so badly to uncover those questions and sometimes that clue is sitting right there in front of you but you just don't see it.

This week it happened again to me.. One of the best tools is the US Census. Sometimes if you look closely you will find that a neighbor is a relative that you are looking for. I found this out with not only my great great grandfather by finding his father this week but have found before relatives that were important to my tree. I found that my husbands grandparents were neighbors so that was probably how they met.

Sometimes it's necessary to do a road trip to find vital information. Looking in local libraries, historical societies or genealogical societies. This helped in finding where my husbands great grandfather was buried. My husband shares his name so it meant a lot to find this information.

It is also necessary to look for people with variations to their names. I found a great grandfather when his name had been inverted on a US Census. Hey.. no one is perfect.

I'm hoping someday to take a class on genealogy to see if that could help me find those clues that continue to hide from me.

Beginning the Search

I've been interested in genealogy for as long as I can remember. There is quite a lot of information you can get without having to pay for it. Of course, you can begin a 14 day free subscription to ancestry.com or any other site you have to pay for but still you can get things from simply doing your own online search or going to the library or local LDS church that has a genealogical site.

Try to get as much information that you can from other family members before you begin your search. And get those stories! They may help in some way in finding what you are looking for. I started basically with my grandparents and went from there. I DO have an Ancestry account as well as my sister also has one. We share the research and have connected with others who have done research in there areas that helps match ours. And if you get frustrated hitting those brick walls that you are bound to hit.... Give yourself a break! Cause the frustration will just get worse!

I will be adding more as I get used to my thoughts being added here on this blog.