Some people claim that they can trace their ancestry all the way back to George Washington or Napoleon or Queen Elizabeth I, all except for one "missing generation" in between. That "missing generation" may not exist! So all the effort and money you spend tracing the ancient famous person's line forward in time is wasted in terms of tracing your own family tree; obviously, you might like to do this as a matter of interest or entertainment, but that is a different thing.

There's one more important thing to remember: unless you plan to become a professional genealogist, then this is a hobby for you. And the main purpose of a hobby is to be . . .

You are free to do whatever you want. You may impose a strict discipline on yourself if you like, or you may just dabble in family history in an unstructured way if you prefer. The choice is yours. I'm offering this checklist as guidance to those who WANT guidance; if you have a different way of working, that is fine.

Having said that, though, I am aware that quite a few Mayflower descendants resided in Rensselaer County, NY. If you suspect that you may have a Mayflower line, and if you think you might like to apply for membership of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, then you will need to submit your research to the Society, and your research and proofs will have to measure up to the Society's stringent requirements. This Beginner's 10-Step Checklist alone will not be enough for that. However, it WILL start you out in the right direction, so that the practice you get in gathering together proof of descent generaton by generation will serve you well later on.

Step One - Assembling What You "Know"

1. Write down everything you "know" about yourself:
...your full name
...the exact date of your birth
...the exact place of your birth (hospital name, city or town, county, and state)
...the exact date of your baptism
...the exact place of your baptism (church name, city or town, county, and state)
...the full names of your godfather(s) and godmother(s) and their relationship to you
...the exact date of your marriage(s)
...the exact place of your marriage(s) (church or other location, city or town, county, and state)
...the full name of your spouse(s)
...the exact date of birth of your spouse(s)
...the exact place of birth of your spouse(s)
...the full name of the father(s) of your spouse(s)
...the full maiden name of the mother(s) of your spouse(s)
...the exact date of the death of your former spouse(s) if applicable
...the exact place of the death of your former spouse(s) if applicable
...the exact date of your divorce(s) if applicable
...the exact place of your divorce(s) if applicable
...the full names of your children
...the exact dates of birth of your children
...the exact places of birth of your children
...your religion
...your profession or occupation
...your Social Security number
...your employer
...your military service. (dates and places)
Reason: All this information forms the framework of your family search. You are looking for the exact same information for everyone on your family tree, including yourself.

2. Write down everything you "know" about your father - all the same information as above:
...the exact date of your father's birth
...the exact place of your father's birth
...the exact date of your father's baptism
...the exact place of your father's baptism
...the full names of your father's godfather(s) and godmother(s) and their relationship to your father
...the exact date of your father's marriage(s)
...the exact place of your father's marriage(s)
...the full name of your father's spouse(s) (all his spouses - not just your mother)
...the exact date of birth of your father's spouse(s)
...the exact place of birth of your father's spouse(s)
...the full names of your father's spouses' parents
...the exact date of the death of your father's spouse(s)
...the exact place of the death of your father's spouse(s)
...the exact date of your father's divorce(s) if applicable
...the exact place of your father's divorce(s) if applicable
...the full names of all your father's children (your own brothers, sisters, half-brothers and half-sisters)
...the exact date of birth of all your father's children
...the exact place of birth of all your father's children
...your father's religion
...your father's profession or occupation
...your father's Social Security number
...your father's employer
...your father's military service (dates and places)
...the exact date of the death of your father, if applicable
...the exact place of the death of your father, if applicable
...the exact place of the burial of your father, if applicable
By the time you complete this step, you might find that you have a few gaps to fill in. Writing all this down at the start helps you know where the gaps are.

3. Write down everything you "know" about your mother - all the same information as above.

4. Write down everything you "know" about your paternal grandfather - all the same information as above, including that for his children, who are your uncles and aunts.

5. Write down everything you "know" about your paternal grandmother - all the same information as above, including that for her children, who are your uncles and aunts.

6. Write down everything you "know" about your maternal grandfather - all the same information as above, including that for his children, who are your uncles and aunts.

7. Write down everything you "know" about your maternal grandmother - all the same information as above, including that for her children, who are your uncles and aunts.

8. Write down everything you "know" about any earlier generations, always one generation at a time.
When you have written down everything about your ancestors that you yourself "know", then you can start filling in the gaps by turning to others in your family.

9. You then ask others in your family to tell you everything they "know" on the same subject. This is often very easy - for example, if you ask your wife, who organizes the sending of birthday cards in your household, for the birthdates of your siblings. Sometimes this involves making a few telephone calls - for example, if you ring your eldest brother in another state to see if he can remember what your shared grandfather's birthplace was. Sometimes, this can be very difficult - for example, if your parents divorced when you were three and you haven't seen your father since. Sometimes this needs to be done with care and tact - for example, if you have a 91-year-old maiden aunt who can probably fill in an awfully lot of these blanks - but she is frail and might be frightened if you suddenly appear from nowhere with a tape recorder giving her the third degree.
The aim here is to gather together in one place as much detail as you can. When you have assembled everything that you "know" and everything that all your living relatives have told you, then the verification process begins.

Step Two - Documenting Your Ancestry

10. You begin accumulating primary documents substantiating your information. Primary documents and secondary documents are very different from each other. The General Society of Mayflower Descendants is my source for categorising documentation.

... A primary document has these characteristics:
......It was raised by one of the principal parties himself or herself, or by an official acting directly on behalf of that principal party.
......It was raised at or near the time of the relevant event.
......It is an original document, not a transcription.
......It falls into one of these categories:
.........Birth certificates (from 1881 onwards in New York state; see Where to Write for Vital Records)
.........An entry in a Births register at a relevant vital-records office, town hall etc. (click here for a list of addresses)
.........Baptismal certificates (issued by the church itself at the time; not usually available for past baptisms)
.........An entry in a Baptisms register of the relevant church (see Church Records for examples)
.........Marriage certificates (from 1881 onwards in New York state; see Where to Write for Vital Records)
.........Marriage Bonds with returns (I've never seen these in Rensselaer County; they seem to be mainly a Southern US thing)
.........An entry in a Marriages register at a relevant vital-records office, town hall etc. (click here for a list of addresses)
.........An entry in a Marriages register of the relevant church (see Church Records for examples)
.........Social Security application cards (see SSDI for how to order these)
.........Death certificates (from 1881 onwards in New York state; see Where to Write for Vital Records)
.........Naturalization records (click here for more guidance)
.........Military service records (highly informative about the soldier, but give little genealogical info; click here for more)
.........Military pension records (chock full of genealogical info; click here for more)
.........An entry in a Deaths register at a relevant vital-records office, town hall etc. (click here for a list of addresses)
.........An entry in a Deaths or Funerals register of the relevant church (see Church Records for examples)
.........Cemetery Burial Logs (a superb one for Troy exists on LDS microfilm 1434103, covering 1833 until well into the 20th century)
.........Wills recorded in county will books (see Wills section for examples)
.........Other probate documents (held by Surrogate Court of Rensselaer County; LDS church has also microfilmed these)
.........Deeds recorded in county deed books (see Deeds section for examples)
.........Census entries that give relationships within households (1855, 1865, 1875, 1880, 1900, 1905, 1910, 1915, 1920, 1925, 1930)
.........Letters written by the principal party himself or herself (check every attic, trunk, safe and shoebox in your family)
.........Family Bibles if the entries were recorded at the time of the events by the principal parties (click here for examples)
.........Genealogical reference books, but only a VERY few approved ones, and they MUST cite SPECIFIC primary documents
.........Livestock brands (These were not much used in Rensselaer County, NY, but that's not to say "never"; click here to read about Town Hall registration of cattle and sheep brands in Grafton, Rensselaer County, NY.)

... A secondary document has these characteristics:
......It was raised by someone not closely involved with the relevant event; and/or
......It was raised some time after the relevant event took place.
......It falls into one of these categories:
.........Birth announcements in newspapers
.........Marriage announcements in newspapers
.........Death announcements in newspapers
.........Obituaries in newspapers (click here for examples)
.........Gravestone inscriptions (search our superb Rensselaer County cemetery database)
.........Wills not officially recorded
.........Deeds not officially recorded
.........Census entries that do not give relationships within households (all pre-1850, 1850, 1860, 1870)
.........Letters not written by the principal parties to an event
.........Family Bibles if the information in them was written much later than the events
.........Biographies in 1880s county histories (click here for examples)

There is much confusion about what constitutes a "source" and what is really only a "finding aid". This is not to dismiss finding aids, because some of them are excellent, and we need them. But the proper use of a finding aid is as a means to an end, and not as the end in itself. Finding aids are not proof; finding aids LEAD us to proof.

... A finding aid has these characteristics:
......It was compiled long after the event.
......It was compiled from a variety of sources; some of them could be rock-solid reliable, and some could be decidedly dodgy.
......It usually does not specify its sources or else mentions them only vaguely.
......Examples of much-used finding aids would be these:
.........The LDS Church's multimillion-name International Genealogical Index (IGI).
.........Surname genealogies and other books that fail to reveal how they substantiate their claims.
.........Gedcoms giving dates and places but not giving sources (gedcoms with no dates or places aren't even a finding aid).
.........Web pages that give no sources.
.........Family lore or oral tradition (an excellent finding aid, but details often become confused over time; it needs to be substantiated).
.........All the data that you and your family decided that you "know" (yes, I'm afraid it's true - this does all need to be documented).

Netiquette tip: It is considered good manners never to post on the Internet genealogical details about people who are now living unless you have obtained in advance their express written permission. It is also considered polite never to email a gedcom or any other attachment to someone without first asking the recipient's permission.

There is a tendency to assume that something we read in an unsourced book is true if we have also read it in another book or two. This is a fallacy. The earliest of the three books may have been written carelessly or may have drawn unsafe conclusions, and the later two books simply based their claims on the first book. This is why we cannot be sure of any claim we read in any book until we can substantiate it with primary documentation.

Of course, you don't need a marriage certificate to know when and where you yourself were married. But keep in mind that in the year 2095, your great-great-granddaughter may be looking through your genealogical files, and SHE would be absolutely thrilled to find there YOUR marriage certificate.

These primary and secondary documents, but not these finding aids, prove the link between each generation and the generation before it. As a rule of thumb, it is good to obtain at least two primary documents linking every person to his father and at least two primary documents linking every person to his mother. In the recent generations, this is easy. But the farther back you go, the harder this becomes. Eventually you hit what all genies seem to call their "brick wall": a person who you can prove was indeed your ancestor, but whose parents you cannot, cannot find. Some people search for 10 years and then get really lucky. Others have been searching for 30 years and are still looking for those well-hidden parents. We "genies" all sympathize with each other about this!

Some people, however, talk about a "brick wall" who have never seen a will or a census or a death certificate, and who have never visited a genealogical library, a National Archives branch or an LDS Family History Center. They have sat down at their computers and have gone to the LDS website and have entered a name as a search value, and they have come up with "no match". All this means is that no one has submitted this name to the LDS Church's extensive finding aids such as the IGI. It does NOT mean that that name cannot be found in any of the MILLIONS of primary records that the LDS Church has microfilmed from record offices all over the world. Every day, more and more genealogical information comes online, not only at the LDS website but on the Rensselaer County, NY GenWeb site and at countless other genealogical websites. This IS a wonderful thing. But it will be a LONG TIME before all the genealogical information that exists in the world is online. Anyone who has conducted 100% of his genealogical "research" online has not really hit a "brick wall". The truth IS out there, but you do have to go out and look for it.