Sample articles include how to get started and descriptions of various record sources. Free genealogy charts and forms may be downloaded at this site, such as research calendars and extract forms. More Tips for Getting Started After working at the Family History Library for several years, I discovered that many people wanted to trace their family tree too far too fast. One person wrote to me and wanted help finding the English origin of an ancestor, but there were several generations still missing in Ohio. It is best to work on one pedigree objective at a time, working from the known to the unknown, and documenting each generation.
Some people become overwhelmed because they try to do too much.
I assisted one patron at the Family History Library who took some 9,000 family group records with her. It would be better to place your family group records, pedigree charts, and research notes in a manila folder and only take three or four families with you when you go to the library to do research. It is good to have an effective note-keeping system. I once found my ancestor's given name spelled four different ways on one page of a Civil War pension file at the National Archives. People were not concerned about how their name was spelled.