This book is a pre-primer for the absolute beginner who is interested in genealogy. How far back can you go? Where did your family start? Where did your family name originate? What is their story? Where do you begin? With this book! The author's method will help you achieve your long-term goal: a family history or genealogical form. Learn how to organize material before you collect a mountain of clippings, vital records, correspondence, census figures, etc. Learn how to collect data on yourself and your family and where to keep it, how to organize it, document it, and finally... put it all together. These easy-to-follow procedures will help you avoid back-tracking, duplicating work, losing records, and more. Correspondence and queries, documenting information, federal census records, church and cemetery records, obituaries, and land records are some of the topics covered. Examples of documents augment the text.