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GETTING STARTED 1. The 5 Steps to Beginning:

      (1) Write down what you already know
      (2) Draw information from records in your home
      (3) Ask relatives to help fill in
      (4) Create a Note-Taking and Filing system
      (5) Decide which gaps you want to fill first

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WRITING YOUR LIFE STORY Break it down in 5 or 10 Year Periods
Or by main event periods

Prove that you exist:
      Birth: Certificate, Hospital Record, Baby Book, Bible Record
      Marriage: License, Photograph Album
      Membership in Organizations: professional, fraternal, military
      Diary/ Journal/ old letters
      Scrapbook/ events file


SUGGESTIONS from Everton Publishers.

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2. Vital Statistics: Marriages, Births, Deaths

      Births and Deaths
           US=by states since about 1900; previously by county, scantily
           Marriages primarily county by county
      Where to Write for Vital Statistics
           Link: Where to Write

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3. Starting an Area of Search

      The WHERE & WHEN
      Finding Lists
           To order books: Sources
      Research Outlines

Help with U.S. Places. Looking for the county? Supply the town and state and this site will supply the county.

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4. Libraries/FHC/Documenting Your Records

      Salt Lake City - FHCs - Catalog
           Locality - Surname - Subject
      Local Repositories: OGS, TLC, Archives, SMSU
      Historical/Genealogical Societies
      State Archives
      National Archives

Internet Sites:

      Some sites to help you Get Started on the net.

      STATE ARCHIVES: Georgia has links to all the other State Archives.

      LIBRARY OF CONGRESS: Links to all State Libraries.

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5. Documenting your work
      Author, Title, Date, Publishing Co, Place, Vol, PP.

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5. Census Records/Mortality Schedules, etc.
      Purposes of censuses
      Tax Lists
      1790
      1800-10
      1820
      1830-40
      1850-70
      1880
      1900-30

Heritage Quest through the Springfield-Greene County Library
      Go to Research Guides and Online Resources. Use your library card number
Local Holdings/Sources
Foreign Censuses

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6. Court Records: Probate
      Probate Index
      Wills, Intestate Records, Letters of Administration,
      Inventories & Sales
      Settlement
      Original Files

7. Court Records: Land/Deeds etc
      Variations in States: Marriage Records
      County Clerk - County Map
      Recorder of Deeds
      Probate Court
      Circuit Court
      Chancery Court

Deeds: Grantor/Grantee Indexes - Direct/Indirect Indexes
      Value of Deeds:
      Plot on County map to locate nearest church/cemetery/civil twp
      Info: See Collier
      Land Patent Search

     Research Tips - Land Records (by Judith McClung)

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8. Cemeteries, Obituaries, Sexton Records

      Printed censuses - transcribed secondary source
      How to read tombstones

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9. Evaluating Records: Primary/secondary sources
      Reconciling discrepancies

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10. Military Records
      French/Indian War
      Rev.
      Civil
      20th Century wars
      State Records-Adjutant General’s office
      National Records

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Historical and Genealogical Societies

      Links to Historical and Genealogical Societies
      National Genealogical Society
      ogsoc@dellepro.com for the Ozark Genealogical Society. See RootsWeb.
      Railroad Genealogical Society

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12. Fraternal Organizations:
      B.P.O. Elks Online: Elks

      IOOF Lodge Phone Directory

      Masonic Library and Museum Association: Masons
Fraternalism in America: directory

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Search for anything at Google.com

New Genealogy Search Engine

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12. Organizing your Records
      Review of systems
      Computer data files
      Hard copy notebooks
      Source books

PAF: Personal Ancestral File
      To Order PaFinder @ $15 per year.

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13. Publishing your Work

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Return to: Home Page

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Page Begun 23 Sep 2002
Page Updated 26 June 2004
Page Updated by J. A. McClung