When I start asking my clients questions about their family background, it always leads to more questions and amazing discoveries as they uncover the historical roots of their own family. They realize they didn't know they had certain relatives living in places of the country or that were even still alive!

In researching my father's family stories last summer, I talked to a few family members I had never met before. One was the self-proclaimed family genealogist and had created an extensive family tree. As I looked over the records she sent me, I was astonished to find out that I had several Great Aunt's and Uncle's who died in the Holocaust! Though this was a subject I learned in Hebrew School and more intensely in college, I always felt just slightly removed from it. It happened to the Jewish people, yes, but not to anyone in my family. At that moment, the Holocaust became very personal for me.

Though a great Aunt or Uncle might seem like a distant relative, on my Mom's side of my family, I was fortunate to grow up being close to not one but eight of my great Aunts & Uncles, who were like surrogate grandparents to me. The revelation that this same relationship on my Dad's side of the family perished in the Holocaust is still hard to comprehend.

Researching your family history can indeed be overwhelming, but there are many websites to help you discover and document your family tree and allow you to share those findings with other family members. Best of all, many of these great resources are free and incre

All of the above sites seem to have elements of LinkedIn or Facebook for your family. My favorite of the above is geni. It immediately makes it easy for you to start building your tree with the information you already know, then allows you to connect with other family members to add what they know.

Sometimes searching records on-line or asking relatives is not enough. Sometimes you need to go to where the records are actually housed. One of the best places to do this is at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, which has extensive genealogical records from all over the world. The center is run by the Mormon Church but is nondenominational and has records for all kinds of religions and nationalities. Closer to home, you can do a passenger search and more extensive genealogy research at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in New York.

However you decide to begin creating your family tree, have fun with it. Enjoy connecting with relatives you never knew existed and discovering your family history. Once you get started, I guarantee you'll be hooked!

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Genealogy Research Tip 1: Interview Family Members
The very best genealogy resource for discovering more about your family is, well, your family. If you have elderly ancestors that are still alive and their memory is still good, inquiring them about your family can help you cover years of family ground in just a few short hours-as well as give your living relatives a chance to reminisce. Besides, getting your great grandma to dig out the old film projector or the family photo albums can be quite a bit of fun. Here are a few sample interview questions you might ask your elderly relatives to learn more about your ancestry:

1. What do you know about our surname?
2. Is there a family cemetery?
3. Has anyone in our family compiled a family tree?
4. Do you have some old films or family photo albums?
5. Do you have any old family letters, or journals, or diaries?
6. How did your parents meet?
7. Do we have a family Bible?

There are over 150 more family interview questions in the Family History Questionnaire provided by the Lake Township Historical Society at Ancestry.com's Rootsweb. Make sure you take detailed notes-jotting down dates, names and places as your relatives divulge info about your family's history. Better yet, record your interviews with family members so that you can refer back to them later and save them for future generations. Some recording devices you might consider carrying with you on your interviews with your relatives include a video camera, a tape recorder or a smartphone with recording ability.

Genealogy Research Tip 2: Investigate Records
Useful genealogy information can be found through proper records research. There are a variety of records to explore, providing pertinent information that can help you trace your family tree. From vital records like birth, marriage and death records to ships' passenger lists; you can glean a lot of genealogical info about the names, dates and places of your ancestors and discover clues to help you map your family lineage. Here's a brief outline of records that often contain genealogical information.

• State & Federal Census Records
• Courthouse Records

o Social Security Records
o Land Records, Property Records & Deeds
o Wills & Probates
o Vital Records
o Immigration & Naturalization Records
o Criminal Records
o Civil Records

• Church Records

o Baptism Records
o Marriage Records
o Funeral Records

• Ships' Passenger Lists
• Military & Pension Records
• Cemetery Records

You can find these records in many places. Several of these records can be conveniently accessed for free online via government websites like The National Archives & Records Administration (archives.gov) and The Library of Congress (loc.gov). Several websites also contain billions of records to help you conduct thorough genealogy research.

Government institutions such as courthouses, town halls, and libraries are also excellent places to begin your records research. In fact, many libraries even have special collections of genealogical material that are often maintained with the aid of historical or genealogical societies. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Daughters of the American Revolution house some of the largest genealogical library collections in the United States and are free to the public, making them ideal places to start your genealogy research.

Churches sometimes keep records such as baptisms and christenings, marriages, and funerals. If you have a family Bible in your possession, that could help you locate a specific church to begin your records search. Otherwise, start your records research at churches close to where your ancestors resided. Once you locate the church or churches that are most likely to have your family's records, contact the church's office and ask whether they have any records about your ancestors and how you might obtain them.

Genealogy Research Tip 3: Read Newspapers
One of the best genealogy resources is newspaper archives. Newspapers contain many of the records noted above, as well as the news that was happening during the times that your ancestors lived. The historical context that newspapers provide can help to recreate the story of your family's past. Newspaper obituaries and death notices offer clues and details about your deceased relatives, as well as names and sometimes details about their immediate and extended families. Newspapers also contain news articles about your ancestors, information about family reunions, and interesting facts and stories that can aid in filling in the details on your family tree.

Many current newspapers are readily available online, and local newspapers can still be delivered in paper form directly to your doorstep. You can access old and discontinued newspapers in libraries, at educational institutions and online. GenealogyBank (genealogybank.com) has one of the largest collections of digitized United States newspapers available online for genealogy research.

Genealogy Research Tip 4: Hire a Genealogist
If you want to explore your family's past but simply don't have the time, you may consider contacting a professional genealogist to trace your family tree. You can find genealogists for hire through professional genealogical organizations and societies in your area and beyond. Start your search for a professional genealogist online at the Board for Certification of Genealogists (bcgcertification.org) and the Association of Professional Genealogists (apgen.org).

From interviewing surviving family members to investigating records for genealogical info, these genealogy tips and resources will get your family sleuthing started. Remember to document all of your findings. Have fun uncovering your ancestry and good luck!

Have you ever wanted to find out what your father or grandfather did during WWI, WWII or the Korean War? Many of us are simply resigned to the fact that we will never understand the wartime experiences of our relatives. However, the good news is that there is a way to uncover this information and to preserve the memory of the heroic men and women who played such a crucial part in protecting our nation in times of war. Most of the official military records of veterans who served in the 20th century are held at the National Archives in St. Louis. This includes everything, for example, from Elvis Presley's military records to those of your great-grandpa who served in World War I. So, If you are looking to unlock the mysteries surrounding your relative's military service, the answers you have been looking for are indeed out there!

Now, as we all know that dealing with bureaucratic government agencies can be frustrating. The National Archives does not have the time or the resources to fully pursue every single record request that comes their way. For this reason, your best bet is to hire a military researcher who knows what they are doing and who can devote their complete attention to your specific case. Hiring a competent military researcher is especially important because of the 1973 fire which destroyed millions of records. The fact that so many records were destroyed often means that a diligent reconstruction effort on the part of military researchers will be necessary to find all of the military records pertaining to your relative. Many of the military records at the National Archives are on microfilm and are not easily accessible for family members of veterans who live far from the records center. However, military researchers working on site have access to personnel files, medical records, morning reports, and unit rosters which allow them to trace the steps of individual veterans through their military careers. This process is absolutely essential to understanding the experiences of veterans who served in WWI, WWII and the Korean War.

So, what can military research at the National Archives show us? Surprisingly, an incredible amount of details can be learned if one knows where to look. Here are just a few of the details that military researchers can uncover for you:

- When a veteran joined or left a particular unit, which will indicate what battles he took part in.

- A veteran's Military Occupational Specialty or assigned jobs throughout his military career.

- The approximate date and location a veteran was missing, wounded, or killed in action (often including medical details on the type of wounds sustained).

- Locations a veteran was stationed at or moved to, often including map coordinates and the names of ships during transport.

- When and where a veteran was promoted, demoted or subjected to disciplinary action.

- When and where a veteran was sent to a hospital for treatment or to another activity for training.

- Many times army clerks also recorded a 'record of events' every few days which can include combat details along with the dates and locations where these events occurred. This is really exciting because it gives us an idea of what daily life was like for our relative's when they were in combat.

If you have always wondered about your relative's participation in WWI, WWII or the Korean War the answers to your questions might not be as difficult to find as you once thought. Military research of individual veterans can yield a great deal of insight into what they did and where they served. It is important that we prevent the memory of our veterans' service to our nation from fading away and there is no better way to do this than by gaining a greater understanding of their experiences during the war. Hopefully this essay will serve as an inspiration for you to begin a journey of discovery about your own family's military heritage.