You are now ready to
enter into the world of public records. The first thing you are going to
need to do is to figure out where the records you want are. Records may
be stored on a town, county or state level. Once you figure out where
you ancestor was born, married or died, you need to figure out where the
records are held.
I can't tell you where yours will be, there are just too many variables. There is a book however call "The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy" which your local library may have or be able to get for you and it tells you in every state where the records are stored.
Before you go looking for
records, you may want to join a local genealogical society. Some states
require that you be a registered genealogist to be allowed access to
records, especially birth records that are under 100 years old.
Someplace may let you
make photo copies of records and other places may require you buy a
registered copy. This can start to get expensive but it is worth it to
have the hard copies. You want to try to get not only your ancestor but
all of their siblings. You never know which record might have that gem
of information.
Always treat any books
you are looking at respectfully and politeness goes a long way when you
are visiting places where people are trying to do their jobs at the same
time. Town Halls were not created for genealogy research and the fact that they share these records is something to be grateful for.
Before heading off to
look for records, check to see if they might be available online. Some
states have digitalized their records.
Happy hunting.
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