Emily, There is nothing dumb about your question. We all had to start somewhere, and five years ago, I would have asked the same question, as would many others on this list, I'm sure. Step One For the sake of future generations, start with yourself, your husband, and children. Acquire for each: birth certificate, marriage license, and death certificate. Where possible, add property deeds. Step Two. Buy a GOOD genealogy program: forget the freebies My personal favorite is Family Tree Maker, for I particularly like the amount and type of information it permits for each person, as well as the various formats in which one can display data. Step Two. Work backwards Generation-by-Generation: i.e. document your grandparents births, marriages, and deaths before researching your great grandparents. Step Three. Attend a course on construction family trees. Join local organizations that focus on history. Join appropriate surname and geographic mail lists; these may be able to give you specific guidance, but in worse cases, you will learn a lot about researching areas where your ancestors lived. A Note on Personal Experience with Mail Lists: When I first got on Internet, seven years ago, I joined a Rootsweb mail list for my maiden name, and I posted what little I knew about my grandparents. I didn't even know my great grandfather's first name. To make a long story short, the next day, I had a reply from a person who was writing a book on the surname, and he sent me all of my father's ancestors back to 1713. This did not mean that I had completed my work; but rather, that it was just beginning, but what a start! Now I knew the names for which I needed birth certificates, etc. Best wishes for your success, Helen ----- Original Message ----- From: <favreoaks@comcast.net> To: <PLANTAGENET-DESCENDANTS-PROJECT-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2004 11:45 AM Subject: [PDP] Proof of descendancy? > Hello, > I am fairly new to family history research and very new to research on this branch of my family, so I hope you will forgive what may be a "dumb" question. > > First some background. About 40 years ago my mother was given a family history by my cousin, her nephew. At the time, I was a young wife and mother and thought it was interesting but I had no time to indulge in further explorations or explanations. Now that I am old, I am vitally interested and would like to know how I should go about authenticating the family history my cousin compiled. > The cousin is deceased and there are no sources listed for most of the information, only occasionally is there reference to a source document. > > In the history my cousin states, "Col. Thomas Ligon was born in England and came to VA abt. 1641. He died in 1675. He married Mary Harris and Mary is descended from Edward III, King of England, and thus from William the Conqueror, through Lionel Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence and his daughter Phllippe, who m. Edward Mortimer, Earl of March, and their daughter Elizabeth, who m. Sir Henry Percy, (Hotspur of Shakespeare's 'Henry IV'). We descended through the Percy and later the Harris lines for 12 generations, etc., etc." > > Can anyone tell me how I should proceed? > Any help or advice will be appreciated, > Emily Elstrott in Washington State > > > ============================== > Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration > Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237 > > >