Patience and determination are keywords here. Undertaking a family history is compared to putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Sometimes hours or days may go by without finding a piece that fits, but gradually bits of information from here and there are pieced together to produce an overall picture of a family. It is at this point that you'll really begin gathering together those bits and pieces of your own family's puzzle.

Begin with papers at home. Search for family records such as family Bibles, newspaper clippings, obituaries, old letters, school and military certificates, scrap books, diaries, baby books, wedding books, photo albums, birth, death, and marriage certificates. In other words, look for names, dates, and places on every item you can think of.

While you're doing all this digging out and making a mess of your home doing it, please realize that this paper hunt is going to provide you solid basis for future searching and the details you uncover now will give clues on the dates and localities in the lives of earlier generations.

Below is a list of household places where you may find genealogical information. When you're looking for information at home, you may find items that are dated, but don't have years. For example, Thursday, March 8. This is especially true with diaries, letters, and clippings found in scrapbooks. You can figure out what the year is by using a perpetual calendar.

Autograph books
Bibles
Books (check for inscriptions in them)
Certificates (from schools or jobs)
Closet doors (look for writing on the inside)
Clothing and hats
Cookbooks
Diaries and day books
Family trees
Furniture (sometimes you'll find names and dates on the bottoms or backs of furniture)
Photo albums
Important papers (wills, titles, and deeds)
Jewelry (such as pins, ID bracelets, charm bracelets, lockets, or anything else that may have an inscription or indicate membership in an organization)
Letters
Newspaper clippings
Pictures (don't forget to look at the backs)
Resumés
School papers (report cards can have parents' signatures)
Scrapbooks
Sewing samplers, quilts, and other handmade items
Trunks and chests
Yearbooks

"Home sources" are the things that can be found right in your home or the homes of your parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. If you do a thorough job on this step, the next steps will be much easier! The idea here is to contact every single living relative you can find to see what they already know and what documents they already have.

Below is a list of just what to look for while scouring through those boxes, trunks, closets and drawers:

FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS AND OTHER BELONGINGS

If Aunt Mable has your great-grandmother's journal and a box of old cardboard photographs she's willing to let you see, please don't presume that means she will GIVE you those items. It simply means you can LOOK at them. To make sure you don't come away empty-handed and risk those items being submerged in the family where you'll never see them again, take a camera with you when you visit. Take pictures of those photographs and items that others won't let you have. Even if you just want to run down the street to have a copy made most people will NOT let you leave with their original pictures, diaries, letters, etc. Don't be upset about this. Just think if it was some stranger coming to your door wanting to "borrow" your treasured pictures for a few minutes. Would you? At least you'll have a photograph of the item[s] and perhaps, one day, Aunt Mable will even part with those memories and give them to you.

Utmost, be considerate of others and their privacy, records and views. You are asking your relatives for help. They don't owe you a thing - not even information. Treat your relations with all the respect that you would also want. You will find some have information, but are unwilling to share it with you. [The usual reason is there is a skeleton hiding in the closet.] Try to find out why they feel this way and do your best to set their minds at rest.

Especially in this phase of your research, keep in mind the old adage, "You catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar." That truism will carry you a long way toward familial assistance.