1.Interview your family members, especially the older members of your family, while they are still with you. They usually have a wealth of knowledge about the past and can be an important resource for your research (especially if you are starting from scratch)

2.That being said, take what your family members say with a grain of salt. Your great aunt Mabel’s story about the family being distantly related to royalty should probably be treated with a healthy degree of skepticism. You will eventually need to back up any story with documentation (birth certificates, marriage certificates, census results, etc) in order for it to be credible.

3.Be prepared to find a few skeletons in your family closet. I found out that my grandmother’s older sisters were born out of wedlock (back in the early 1900s, this was extremely shocking). What was even more shocking for me was that my 80 year grandmother was totally unaware of this fact. Suffice it to say that I tried to break it to her as gently as possible.

4.Watch out for false leads and dead-ends. Try to confirm your findings with as much documentation and cross-referencing as possible and don’t assume that some piece of information is correct just because it seems that way. The last thing you want is to spend 6 months painstakingly researching 10 generations of your great-grandfather’s ancestors, only to find out that the John Smith you thought was your great-grandfather was in fact not related to you at all.

5.Take advantage of local resources. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) has free archives containing birth, marriage and census records from around the world. These archives are open to the general public (and not just members of the Church). Join a local genealogical society. The Prince George Geneaological Society has lots of resources, including members who have a great deal of genealogical experience and can set you on the right track.


Gary Wilson has researched his family tree back to the 1700s. And no, he hasn’t found anyone famous, but his mother insists that Ringo Starr is a distant cousin.