This was posted to a surname list I belong to it is packed with great information on how to get started with your research work. The only thing I might add is write down the neighbors on both sides from the census and if you can copy the complete page. Barbara ************************************************************************ Welcome to the world of crazy genealogists!! This is a great pursuit--totally interesting and often frustrating! I can't help you with your immediate query, but offer some "beginning" advice, based on my years of tree-climbing. 1-Gather and organize and study all the information you have in your own family and extended family. Develop a pedigree chart, and family group sheets for each couple on it. Put all pertinent info on a family group sheet, so you have it in easily usable form. This includes Bible records, certificates, newspaper clippings, funeral programs, letters, etc. Talk to all the older generation you can contact. Get their memories recorded while you can! Get PLACES and DATES as well as names! Even a "that was before I was married" is a better date than none at all. Ask them to tell you about THEIR grandparents and aunts and uncles, people who died before your birth. 2-Keep a separate folder for each of your 4 grandparents, and expand them as you go further back (add folders for each new surname) Keep all your research results in the appropriate folder, and KEEP a good record of places you have searched, so that you won't duplicate your efforts. (Sometimes you will WANT to go back and re-do a source, when you have additional information) 3-Begin to construct a time line for each family you are researching. This is writing down in chronological order the major events of their lives, starting with date and place of their birth (known or guessed at); marriage date and place; birth of their children with dates and places; date and place of death, and other events, such as moves. This guides your research efforts--you work to confirm and fill in the blanks. 4-As you research, go from the known to the unknown. Start with death info--get the record if it exists, see what it says about who parents and state of birth was. Although birth and parentage info on a death certificate/record is OFTEN not completely accurate (who gave it?) it is somewhere to start. Was there an obituary in your grangrandmother's box of papers?? Work backward, tracing your ancestor. This is when you start using the census as a locater to place them in a specific locality each ten years. As soon as you have identified a specific locality, you can look at their vital records (birth, marriage, death) and land records, local histories, etc. Start with the most recent census and work backward. I love the 1900 census because of the wonderful information it contains. So even though you think you know about what you would find, look it up anyway, as it gives the states of birth for the parents of each individual, which you may not have known, how long the parents have been married (this gives an approximate marriage date) and the month and year of their birth, which is more accurate than reporting age. Also tells how many children the mother has had, and how many are still living (although sometimes this question appears to be misunderstood by the respondent to mean how many are now living in your home!) Census is not a 100% accurate document, but it is a wonderful finding tool. 5-If you do not have access to census index and films, you can go to your nearest Family History Center, where you can order any film the Salt Lake Family History Library has for a small rental fee, keep it for 6 weeks, and read it at the Center. There are also pamphlets there on getting started, and some general reference books. Because these centers are staffed by volunteers, they are not open all day every day, so find their address (http://www.Cyndislist.com has EVERYTHING, so you can find it there) and call for their hours. You can also now do a lot of automated searching on the computer at http://www.familysearch.org and other web sites, some of which have census records you can see. The Family History Library has filmed MANY county records, so you can order those films, too. I have done this over the years, when I have lived in places not convenient to large libraries. 6-Try to schedule time for mundane things like eating and sleeping ;-) Hope this helps!