Every research project begins at home. Whether you are looking for information for the first time or searching through your personal research folders, your home is a valuable source of family information.
Take time to look for records you might already have. Use the following list as a guide to sources of information that you might find in your home or in the home of a relative.
- Birth: Birth certificate, adoption record, baby book
- Citizenship: Alien registration, deportment papers, naturalization papers
- Civil and legal activity: Bonds, contracts, guardian papers, summons or subpoena
- Death: Death certificate, funeral book, memorial cards, obituary, will
- Divorce: Paperwork
- Employment: Apprenticeship records, disability records, income tax records, pension records, retirement records, Social Security card, union records
- Everyday life: Biography, journal or diary, letters, newspaper clippings, photographs, publications, scrapbooks
- Family: Bibles, bulletins or newsletters, coats of arms, histories, lineages or genealogies
- Health: Hospital or medical records, immunization records, insurance papers
- Household items: Dishes or silverware, engraved items, quilts, tapestries or needlework
- Land and property ownership: Abstracts of title, deeds, estate records, land grants, mortgages or leases, water rights
- Licenses: Business or occupation, driver or motor vehicles, firearms, hunting or fishing, passports or visas, professional
- Marriage: Anniversary, wedding announcement, wedding book
- Military service: Disability records, discharge records, National Guard records, pension records, selective service records, service medals or ribbons, sword or firearms, uniform
- Religious activity: Baptismal or christening record, blessing, ministerial record, ordination, confirmation record, church records
- School: Awards, graduation diplomas, honor roll, report cards, transcripts, yearbooks
See other articles at Genealogy by Barry
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