Sometimes family trees look like the one in my front yard after the utility crew came through recently. One side is nice and round and bushy, but after the kid with the wild chainsaw pulled out.... Well, we now call our tree “Garfield.” It looks like the cartoon cat with a gaping mouth getting ready to take a gigantic bite of a telephone wire sandwich.

My family name seems to have changed in the early 1800's. Why did that happen and how do I find out why it changed?

My mom says that my father's family came from Ireland but I can't seem to find any evidence of that. How do I find the origin of my family name?

I'm looking to find more information about my ancestors and specifically where I can find public death records.

My family is trying to find their roots. People are telling me that I can simply search for their names online. How do I do that?. Is there a good website to start my research?

I am new to genealogy and I want to find the best way to tracy my ancestry. What do I do first?

Tricky genealogy, researching those ancestors that seem to have showed up and immediately disappeared can be very challenging. However, if you do unravel the mystery it can be the most rewarding work that the family genealogist undertakes. The research can be intimidating. Where should I start my search? What reference material should I consider for my searches? How do I find that elusive ancestor? Searching for each family tree and properly documenting your research can be difficult and time consuming.

Genealogy searches provide windows into the past. Researching your family's ancestry can be an exciting and rewarding hobby. But the research can also be intimidating. Where should I start my search? What reference material should I consider for my searches? Much of the information that you are searching for has already been found...and even stored in searchable databases. Like any worthwhile cause, the search can be frustrating. Searching for each ancestor and properly documenting your research can be difficult and time consuming.

Starting with this free printable family tree chart will help you get your research going in the right direction. Organizing your family trees in a logical and easy to visualize fashion is frequently the biggest problem the amateur genealogist has to overcome. Those first few interviews and research excursions into your families can be very frustrating and leave you very uncomfortable because without charts, you can't see the overall picture clearly.