"Where do I start?" This is usually the first question asked by someone who has gotten interested in researching their family roots. The answer: "It depends on what you know already."

The first thing to do is to write down what you do know about the person whose ancestry you want to work on, even if that person is you. There are two helpful forms to make this easier. One is a pedigree or ancestor chart. It simply diagrams the generations going backwards: parents, grandparents, great grandparents and so on.

The other form is a family group sheet which helps to organize each family of the individuals listed on the ancestor chart. There are spaces on this form for husband, wife and their children and all their birth, death and marriage dates. Most forms also have spaces for additional information such as other marriages and the parents of the husband and wife, military service, occupations, etc.

It is not really necessary to buy these forms. Just use ordinary looseleaf paper, one sheet to each family. You can diagram an ancestry chart yourself as well but it can be difficult and as only a few of these will be needed it can be easier to buy those. The Harlan Public Library has both family group sheets and ancestry charts for sale.

Once you have organized what you do know, contact others in your family who may know more. If you don't know exact dates, put down approximate dates. For example, if you know Grandpa Jones died in 1956 and he was bout 70 when he died, you can write down that he was born about 1884. Do be sure to note that this date is only approximate. The standard method to show this is to use the abbreviation `ca' which stands for circa, the Latin word for `about.'

Once you have written down in an organized manner everything you do know or can readily find out from relatives, it is time to review your information and start discovering more. This is where the "it depends on what you know" phase comes in to the picture.

Most people have little difficulty getting back to the early 1900's. In our example above, Grandpa Jones would have been about 16 years old in 1900. You may also have the additional information that he married your grandmother, Mary, when he was 20 years old. With just this little bit of information you already have several clues to follow up in your search.

First, you can check the marriage records for about 1904. Most counties have these records indexed and it may be a very simple matter to locate the record which may tell you not only exactly when they married, but may list the parents of both the bride and the groom. You can also check the death record for the state and county in which Grandpa Jones died in 1956. Assuming the informant knew, these records usually name the deceased's parents.

For even more information, you should search the 1910 census for where he lived, looking for John and Mary Jones of about the right age. They very likely would have had a couple of children already and you may even know these names from your own sources. This information would help to confirm that you do indeed have the correct family.

It is always a good idea to make a note of any other families of the same name in the immediate neighborhood as they are quite likely to be related. The 1910 census listed each individual in a household, their relationship to the head of the household, their age, marital status, number of marriages, birthplace and the birthplace of their parents. It also listed, for women, the number of children they had had and the number of these children still living as well as the miscellaneous information.

From here, you work your way back through the census records: 1900, 1880, 1870 and so forth. follow through on your clues to other records such as births, deaths and marriages. Often, when records cannot be located for your ancestor himself, similar records can be found for a brother or sister which will give you the same information.

It is always an excellent idea to join or at least check in to genealogical or historical societies for the area in which your ancestor lived. If you're lucky someone else, possibly a distant cousin has been working on the family for some time and has already done a lot of the work.

Local libraries can often be very helpful as well. Those with southeast Kentucky area ancestry are fortunate as the Harlan Public Library has one of the best collections of books and microfilms covering the area. Some of the library staff know how to be of assistance to you in your search and often one might run in to a fellow searcher who can help you get started.

Don't be afraid to ask questions...happy searching.