Most novices get started in the hobby with little more than a pencil and a notebook. Almost six in ten have written a family history or created a family tree. Searching for documents is less popular with genealogists. It's not surprising that genealogy hobbyists prefer visiting the old homestead to digging through dusty volumes at their local county courthouse. Document research is a slow process.
Researchers meet many dead ends while carefully tracking birth, death, and marriage records.
Visiting an ancestral house or cemetery where one's forebears are buried is usually a more fulfilling experience. Carol Garino, the amateur genealogist, traveled to Italy in 1990 to visit relatives and conduct more research on her ancestry. Most recently, she spent time in Washington, D.C. at the National Archives, scouring boat passenger lists for her aunts and uncles. The effort turned up the names of two family members. Knowing where to go to trace family roots is itself likely to involve some of genealogy's more painstaking tasks.