Step Three - Talk with Your Living Relatives

The most logical step in any ancestral research is to start at the easiest resource - your relatives. Perhaps your parents, grandparents, an aunt, in-laws, uncle or cousin has a similar hobby and has kept track of your family's heritage throughout the years. Ask to look through these records, or offer to assist in recording your heritage.

Ask specifically if there is any record of anyone who was enrolled in the armed forces of either side during the period of the American Civil War. Gather all the information you can, write it down, make copies of it, and include in your documentation files.

At the same time, don't overlook obvious documentation. Items such as family Bibles, copies of wills, letters from grandparents, granduncles, etc., often has a phrase of information or two that leads to other family names or resources that can be checked. Also, talk with the elders in the family, listen to family stories or legends, and take notes of any spelling derivatives or pronunciation of the names.

There is a wealth of information available from real, live sources within your own family. Take advantage of that, as this, too, is your real heritage. I was not as fortunate in my research efforts, and would have welcomed this help.

Do not be bothered if you have no or little information with the exception of your own name and that of your father or grandfather. This just means you have to be more determined and dedicated to locating that relative.

If no one in your family has any records, or knows anything, then it is up to you then to preserve your family name and be the family researcher for your unit.