Where Do I Start?

About a month ago I received an e-mail from a distant cousin.  He was just getting into family history and asked me where he should start.  I pondered this for a while, remembering how much I used to struggle with this.  After trial and error, here is what I've found works best for me.

First, I pray to Heavenly Father to guide me as I'm researching that I may be guided in the right direction.  Don't forget to ask for patience!  (If you skip this step, you can always go back and do this at any point during the process.)

Second, I decide on a family group.  (This is probably the easiest part.)  A family group is parents and their children.  I emphasis this because it is very easy to get "side tracked" with other closely related family members, like grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.  I'm usually working on a particular family line, so I just go up!

Third, I start with the marriage date of the parents.  This is the date that this family began.  Sometimes children were born before this date, but I still start here.  You may be tempted to get info on the parents regarding their birth and census records.  I don't recommend this.  You will eventually get to their info when you do their parents' family group.

Fourth, now the fun part, RESEARCH!  This can be very overwhelming, but just go into it knowing that you may not find anything.  And when you do find something, it will be very rewarding.  Listed below is my research schedule.  (Keep in mind that based on what you find, you may have to do these in a different order or more than once.)

1. Get with your Family History team, if you're lucky enough to have one.  (Mine is a small group of distant cousins that work together on our common lines.)  Verify that you all have the same information.  If the info varies make a note, but don't change any of your own data without the proper source(s).  You should be able to verify which is correct as you research.
2. Review the burial location and try to get a picture of the headstone.  Depending on the info listed on the headstone, you may have a source for birth dates, death dates, marriage dates and the more "modern" stones even have children listed on them.  At this time, it is a good idea to review the cemetery interment list.  Siblings and other family members are often buried in the same cemetery.  I have several sites that I go to for this information.  I look at each site verifying the info as I go.  (If I see any discrepancies, I will contact the site or the contributor and ask questions or make requests.)
3. Look for sources on the "Big Three" - birth, marriage and death.  (NEVER pay for sources, go to your local Family History Center and get onto the PAY sites from there.)  Sources vary and may be taken from church records, civil records and other documentation.  Some genealogists use other researchers personal records as sources.  I confess that I sometimes use these as a baseline, but am hesitant to call them sources.  We all make mistakes and without sources to back it up, it may all be incorrect.  With that said, I would tend to regard contemporary accounts to be more accurate than an account written several generations removed.
4. Find any other factual info that you can, including pictures, census records, tax documents, school records, military records, immigration records, medical records, legal documents, voter lists, etc.  (In researching the "Big Three", you've probably already located most of this information and were hopefully "saving" info as you went.)
5. Locate anyone that personally knew your ancestor or that may have any information about them.  Talk to them, ask questions, dig.
6. Learn all you can about the area that they lived in, including the geography and demographics during their lifetime.  Be sure to include political, social and religious information in your study.

Fifth, recognize when you need to move on.  Don't get stuck and stay stuck! 

I hope that this info has been helpful to you.  Like I said this is what I do and maybe your way works better for you.  I'd be interested to know of any ways I can improve my own process!