Winter is a great time to work on inside projects and one of the projects Ott, E has been working on is his family's geneology. If you think about it each generation probably only knows the two or three generations before them. Unless you actively seek to find out more about those previous generations, there is a good chance they could become forgotten.
Ott, E had a good start on his family's tree because his paternal grandmother had some excellent records and pictures stored in a book which organized the families lineage. So while he worked on a couple obsecure relatives from his family, he also set out to work on mine. I must admit he has found some really cool facts about my family that I never knew; from exactly where my ancestors came from to when some of them changed the spellings of their last names. It has been a fun searching the internet and looking through boxes of old photos, letters, and important documents. He has also been working on scanning a lot of these pictures and documents so they will be stored digitally and future generations will have access to these same records.
So if you have any interest in tracing your family roots; Ott, E has some helpful tips to pass along to get you started.
1.) Start with what you know and right it down. You probably know your parents names, birthdates and birthplaces. You may also know your grandparents or even great grandparents.
2.) Talk with your family and ask them names of relatives further back. Chances are they can recall another generation back or fill in some dates and places you might not know.
3.) Get all your information organized and then you can start to dig deeper. Use the internet and do some random google searches for the names and places you have. You may find some additional random facts about your ancestors from where they lived, went to school, worked, etc. This kind of information can give you a better feel for what they did or where some of your interest come from.
4.) Finally there are several great websites that can assist your research further.
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp?PAGE=library_fhc_find.asp (too find a family history library near you.)
http://www.ancestry.com/ County and State historical records (Can try for free for 14 days)
Hope this helps you as your build your own family tree!!!