Starting your family tree?
Genealogy is a fascinating hobby, once started it becomes compulsive. Compiling a family tree is both satisfying and at times frustrating. We are fortunate today in that many have gone before us to show the way in how to proceed in our quest. There is a rich source of information now available to assist us. Before starting the adventure one must bare in mind that even with technology it is impossible to go from start to discovering your ancestor was cousin to royalty before bed time. there are many hours. days, months and years involved.
It is important to understand that anyone can publish anything on the internet with out having to justify or qualify where they got that information from, so before copying anything ensure that they are a reliable source. Many people are in such a rush to get back to their roots that they will slightly alter information to make it fit their own without first researching to make sure it is the same family.

There are many sites on the internet where you can get free information to get you started, or to get some leads from, often to see more detail a payment is required, many of these sites will have periods where they have special joining offers, some with a few days free. They will however ask for your payment details, they are hoping that you will forget to cancel before the trial period ends. In my opinion it is far better to pay a site where you can obtain genuine recorded information, rather than paying to exchange information with other members, if your flush, join both, its surprising what you might glean from someone researching the same family.

There are many books to help get you started, and books to assist once your on your journey. It if often helpful to read history books about an era that you are researching, to understand things such as people movement, religion and names.
Once started you will need to record your findings. Always keep the paper copy of any documents, it is also helpful to keep some sort of card index for referral. But once started you cant beat having your information in a GED file. This will allow you to view your tree in an easy to see format, and to share your tree on websites and by being able to email your tree to family and friends. Each software saves the file in its own format, but they all allow you to export it into a GED file, and to import a GED that you might have obtained and wish to view.