Recently, I have been helping out some users of my Lists at RootsWeb and thought that some of you who are "newbies" might also benefit form the discussions. I get many emails from "newbie" researchers, most of whom have traced back only to grandparents, wanting to know how to get beyond the known ancestors, back to a time/place where they can tie into already researched lines. The answer, in most cases, is CENSUS RECORDS. Here's a short example of how to do it: Use the data for the ancestor for which you have a definite date and/or place of birth. Let's say you know that your father was born in 1941 in Kansas, his father was born in 1915, also in Kansas. Now the grandfather would not show up in the 1910 Census records, but should be found somewhere in the 1920 records. You should look for a family of the appropriate surname, in the appropriate Census district, in which you should find the name of your grandfather, listed as a child in a household. He will be listed as a child of someone of the same surname. Once you find him and can positively identify him as your grandfather, the hard part should be done. You read the Census report, find out who his father was, dates, places, etc., then just track backward for each generation, using the Census records. Usually, once you have traced backwards to a g-g-grandfather, you will find that someone, somewhere has information on that branch/line. To use an example, in my major research of BROYLES, I have found that if a researcher can find the name of his g-g-grandfather, some BROYLES researcher has already uncovered the g-g-grandfather's name and tied him into the main line. It's just a matter of doing some "leg work" yourself and not depending on others to fill in the blanks and to tie you into the main tree. There are many places to research the Census Records. Local genealogy clubs/centers, University/College Libraries, other Libraries, the LDS Family History Centers, etc. The best bet, and usually the most accessible, is the LDS Family History Center (FHC) nearest to you. Look in your phone book for LDS or Church of the Latter Day Saints. Call them up, make an appointment to use their computers and CD ROM Census Record databases, and start your search. You will find that the folks at the FHC will go out of their way to assist you in your searches and to instruct you on how to use the available resources. Once you have pinned down the places and dates for your ancestors, it is an easy step to researching the birth, marriage, and death records for individual counties. Some counties in some states have paper records of these vital recordings. Others have placed everything on microfiche or microfilm, which resides in the State capital. In any case, once you have zeroed in on your ancestor, you should be able to access the necessary records to keep going farther and farther back in time. Regards, SgtGeorge List Maintainer ==== DURMAN Mailing List ==== To unsubscribe from DURMAN, send an e-mail message to: DURMAN-L-request@rootsweb.com (for individual messages) DURMAN-D-request@rootsweb.com (for Digest mode) Subject: unsubscribe In the body include only one word: unsubscribe (Turn OFF your signature file when sending this command)