Genealogy research can be exhausting, but it can also be very rewarding. It's a little like detective work where you search for clues, piece together the bits of information, and come to reasonable conclusions.
You might encounter errors, inaccuracies, or contradicting information during your research, so this page provide some tips for searching and explains how to gauge the information you might encounter.
Some genealogy sites have a feature that allows you to create your family tree. A Family Unit Sheet is also a helpful tool for keeping track of family members as you locate them. It's also a nice (secondary!) document to pass along to family members. The Mid-Continent Public Library's Midwest Genealogy Center has a helpful assortment of forms to help you organize your research.
A primary source is an official record that was created at the time of an event. Primary sources tend to be more accurate than secondary documents. However, it's not impossible for primary sources to contain errors. A secondary source is a record created later by someone else.
When possible, use primary sources to verify the information you need.
Many documents can be used as both primary and secondary sources. See some example below of each, with explanations.
| Examples of Primary Documents | Examples of Secondary Documents |
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Vital records when used for the purpose they were created, such as birth, marriage, death certificates. For information on how to use vital records, visit Online United States Birth, Marriage, and Death Records from FamilySearch. |
Vital records when used for information other than the purpose of the certificate. For example, when using a marriage certificate to obtain birth information about a person, the marriage certificate would be considered a secondary source. |
| Personal letters | Newspaper obituaries, where the information is provided by a friend or relative who may not know the deceased's exact date of birth. |
| Church records | Census records, when used for information like birth dates |
| Court documents | History books |
| Factual newspapers articles written and published at the time of the event | Newspaper articles written later by someone analyzing an historical event |
| Military records | Compiled family histories (family tree or Family Unit Sheet) |
| Census records (a primary source for information at that time, like address and occupation) | Oral family histories |
| Naturalization records | |
| Passenger lists | |
| News film footage | |
| Artifacts like clothing, furniture, or photographs |
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