How do I get started doing genealogy if I don't know anyone?

Question

All I have is up to my grandparents on both my mom and dads side. Where do I go from there? How do I possibly find who there parents were and what not?

Answer 1

better ask the oldest member in your family...they could help a lot...

Answer 2

I am one of the few who does not tell newcomers to start with talking to family.. because many people (like yourself) can't get the info from family.  It would help if mom/dad remember THEIR grandparents, if only to say "no, they died before I was born" (which automatically provides you with a time frame.. ie before 1950).  

Shift thinking... genealogy is research, meaning you need to find records and documents.  I know darn well mom and dad won't remember back to 1850, but that is an easy time for genealogy.

Start with birth certificates for mom and dad, which documents them. Since grandma is 92, that gives you year of her birth estimated.  Since she was born before 1930, she should be findable in the census for that year (which is the most recent one open for searching).  Except for 1890 (it was destroyed by a fire), all the other censuses (every 10 yrs) are open, back to 1790.  You did not say, but I am giving you US info.. for the UK, it is only open up to 1901.

http://www.cyndislist.com/beginner.htm

I think this is one of the best places for beginners to start.. and it is only one section of cyndi's list... she has thousands of research sources.  I really suggest you just browse around the site, to see what kinds of things are out there.

Always work from now to the past.. and don't try hopping over.  The documents are your foundation to "prove" each link in the chain.  A wrong record sends you off on the wrong family, which can cost time and money.  It is not all free.

And people here can help, each step of the way.

Answer 3

That's a good place to start.  

Go to the public library in your city and ask one of the professional genealogists to show you how and where to start your search.  

Ask as many living relatives, as you can locate, to give you as much information, as they have, on your family.

The Mormon church is very big on family and has an extensive family tree history on their website.  It's an excellent source.  

Don't forget, call, write, talk to family members on both sides. You never know who/what will turn up.  Best of luck.

Decide which side of the family you want to trace, your mother's side, or your father's side, it doesn't matter.  

One side may be easier to search than the other depending on where family is/was located.

The genalogists at the public library will become your best friends as you get involved in your search.

Answer 4

Their birth and death certificates can yield a lot of information.  Both give names of parents.  The death certificates will usually give their place of birth, i.e., country or if in U.S., their state.  

Don't know where you are. Each state in the U.S.  has its own laws about who, when and where a person can obtain vital records on another, but if you are in the U.S., you might start with your county courthouse or city health department.

After you get that information, you can turn to censuses. Ancestry.Com has all the U.S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet. They also have U.K. censuses.  If you find the website too pricey, your public library might have a subscription to it.

Just don't take as absolute fact everything you see in their family trees or the family trees of ANY website, free or not free.  The trees are not submitted by experts on the payroll of the websites but are submitted by folks like you and me.  Even when you see the same info from many different subscribers on the same people, that is absolutely no guarantee it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying.  The info can be useful as CLUES as to where to get the documentation.