FAMILY HISTORY : FIRST STEPS 1

If, despite my warnings, you've decided that family history is for you, then your first step has to be to talk to your living relatives, the older the better.

My maternal grandfather died before I was born and his wife died when I was 12, so I had no real chance to find out anything from either of them. To add to the difficulties on this side of my family, both were born abroad and neither ever passed on much knowledge to their children. In fact, until I started investigating the family, my mother was unaware that her mother came from Germany rather than Switzerland as she had always let people believe, and didn't even know the name of her own maternal grandmother. I still haven't made any progress at all with the family of my grandfather on this side.

My father's family has been a bit easier as, although my grandfather died when I was 13, my grandmother lived to be 96 and I was able to talk to her at length. Details that she passed on gave me a starting point and continue to provide confirmation with various discoveries I've made in the archives.

If grandparents aren't around, try finding elderly aunts and uncles or, better still, great aunts and uncles. Try talking to cousins whose own parents may have learnt more about their ancestors than did yours. Some may even have old photographs or documents of which your own parents are unaware.

Once you've gained as much knowledge as you can from these investigations, draw up a family tree with as much detail as you have. Only then should you really start to get stuck into the business of researching, be it on the internet or in archives. With the information you've already obtained from family members, what you find from further research will have a solid foundation as you'll be able to more easily dismiss misleading lines of enquiry, at least in the early generations.

With a solid base, your tree will grow reliably, unlike many that are around today.