The BASICS

Start with yourself and go back

ALWAYS use a woman's maiden name when recording her name, but remember to search by married name

Counties changed borders: records stay with original counties

No standardized spelling until mid-1800's, write surnames in ALL CAPS

Early BMD records held by county, before that, churches or traveling pastors

Primary, Secondary, and tertiary records

Stick to one family at a time, but do entire family ("cluster genealogy") Complete

Errors and omissions rife, records destroyed: use more than one source to prove (derivative)

Few original records on internet, many not yet indexed

NEVER NEVER NEVER put data about living people on the internet

DOCUMENT! DOCUMENT! DOCUMENT!!!