Tips for beginners

[marie]

TIp one - Talk to and record the information of your living relations - they may not be accessible tomorrow. Try to get birthdays, marriages,their children and their parents information.
Tip two - Sibling information is very important when starting to look for people in censuses. A single John or William born in 1890 can be hard to find - but if you know he had siblings - Tom, Dick and Harry - you can look for the grouping - even if the surname is spelled incorrectly.
Tip three - Use a software program to help you organize your data. http://www.familysearch.org has a free downloadable program that handles all basic information and is called PAF5. Legacy and Roots Magic also have free versions.
Tip four - the standard in most genealogy circles is to record women by their maiden names. Using the standard diminishes confusion when contacting others about your tree.
Tip five - Record a place for every event - even if it is only a country. Mention the place when asking others for help. It narrows the field they need to search to help you.
TIP SIX - DOCUMENT ALL YOUR SOURCES!!! - then two years later, you will still know where you got information from