Beginning Genealogy – 10 Steps to Success!

by Lisa Cooke | May 19, 2025 | 01 What's New, Beginner, Genealogy Gems Podcast | 0 comments

SHOW NOTES: Ever wondered about your family history? Delving into your ancestry can be both exciting and overwhelming. I’m going to break down the basics of genealogy research, offering beginner-friendly tips and tricks to help you get started on your own family tree journey. These tips are also great for getting back to genealogy after taking a break, or if you’ve been at it a while, just making sure that you’ve covered all of the most essential bases.

Listen to the Podcast Episode

To Listen click the media player below (AUDIO ONLY):

Download this episode’s show notes. (Premium Membership required.  Join today.)

10 Steps to Genealogy Success

1. Gather what you know

Start with yourself and work backwards. This provides a foundation for your research.

Compile all the information you already have about your family, including:

• names, dates, places of life events.
• Scour your house for records, photo albums, family bibles.
• Write down stories or anecdotes you’ve heard.

2. Get a genealogy software program

You need a place to put the information. Yes, you can build a family tree online, but it’s critical to have the main tree that you work on be the one on your computer. That way you own the files forever and you’re not reliant on an ongoing subscription or a group tree where others can change it.

There are a wide variety of genealogy software options, but the good news is you only need one.

It’s not a big investment. For less than $40 or $50 you can get a powerful program that can track everything you find, keep it organized, make it easily searchable, and even run reports and connect you to hints on your favorite genealogy websites.

Rootsmagic, Legacy Family Tree, Family Tree Maker and Reunion are some of the most popular and have been around the longest. I use RootsMagic https://rootsmagic.com/store/rootsmagic/

If free is more in your budget, try the Family Tree Builder by MyHeritage.  https://www.myheritage.com/FP/ftb-welcome.php?lang=EN

3. Back up your computer

Make sure your computer is automatically backed up to the cloud.

• Backups need to be offsite so an external hard drive in your desk drawer won’t cut it.
• Sign up for a yearly plan, install it on your computer and forget about it.
• My favorite: Backblaze https://www.backblaze.com/landing/podcast-lisa.html

4. Interview your living relatives

It’s really important to take the time to talk with family members. You’ll want to gather information, uncover stories, and gain insights into your family history. Encourage them to share their memories, photos, and documents. And let’s be practical, it’s best to start with your oldest living relatives first. Prepare your questions ahead of time and record whenever possible.

5. Get familiar with AI tools

• Embrace AI-powered tools. Even if you don’t use them for anything else, there’s no denying that AI can dramatically speed up your research and do a ton of the heavy lifting.
• Get comfortable with at least one of the leading AI Chatbots. You can start out with the free version, and if you want more horsepower, subscribe for a low monthly fee.
• Leading options: ChatGPT, Grok, Google’s Gemini, Perplexity and Claude.
• Pick one, bookmark it on your web browser, and use it.
• AI and Genealogy playlist at the Genealogy Gems YouTube channel.

6. Know what you’re looking for

Once you’ve laid this foundation, you’re ready to make your first new discoveries. At first it will be easy to know what to work on because you’re still working backwards. Most of us can fill in most of the blanks on our grandparents. But then it’s time to move to your great grandparents and so on.

You’re going to focus first on finding ancestors. These are the people you are directly descended from: grandparents, great grandparents, and so on.

You’ll also be filling in the tree with your relatives. These are your aunts and uncles, cousins and so on. For each ancestral couple, take the time to find all their children. These people may feel more secondary, but the record of a great aunt might be the key to unlocking information about her parents that you couldn’t find by only researching her brother your grandfather. When it comes to all your relatives, that’s totally up to you. You can invest time on finding them now, or wait until you make more progress on your tree and then come back to them later when you have time.

7. Gather Foundational Records

You’re going to focus on essential milestones for each ancestor in your tree. Think of this information as the backbone of your family tree. You can add flesh to the bones later.

Start with the most recent event for that ancestor, which was probably their death if you’re working on a great grandparent, and then move back to their marriage, and then their birth.

From there, you’ll want to fill in some of the most important items such as:

• Their children (records: census, obituaries in newspapers, etc.)
• Where they lived throughout their life (records: census, city directories, voter registrations, etc.)
• Military service (records: draft cards, service records, pension records, etc.)

8. Leverage the power of search engines

While not everything is online by any stretch of the imagination, here are some of the best online sources to search for the records we just mentioned:

• FamilySearch – https://www.familysearch.org
  All kinds of historical records, digitized books, and family tree info.
• Find a Grave – https://www.findagrave.com
  The world’s largest gravesite collection.
• The National Archives – https://www.archives.gov
  Governmental records (ex. military)
• Chronicling America – https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
  Digitized old newspapers.
• Google Books – https://books.google.com
  Over 25 million digitized books and printed materials.

You’ll also need to up your game with Google so that you can find things beyond just the most popular genealogy websites. And these skills will come in really handy with Google Books.

• Use search operators to target specific resources.
• Quotes around a word or phrase for exact matches.
• Use a minus sign in front of words you want to exclude from the results.
• Place an asterisk between two words within quotes to include a few words or initials between the exact phrase.
• There are many more search operators and strategies. These are covered in the wide range of Genealogy Gems videos. Visit https://lisalouisecooke.com/videos/ and click the “Google” category.
• Use Google Alerts to continue the searching for you 24/7. https://www.google.com/alerts

9. Put Flesh on the Bones

It’s time to put some flesh on the bones so to speak. In other words, creating a more comprehensive timeline for your ancestor. Your genealogy software probably has a timeline report feature. Pull it up or print it out and start filling in the gaps.

• Where they worked (records: census, city directories, industry catalogs, etc.)
• Land they owned (records: land records, tax records, probate records, etc.)
• If they immigrated from another country (records: passenger lists, citizenship papers, etc.)
• Photos (sources: family members, Google search, old photo databases, genealogy websites like Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast and FamilySearch, etc.)
• Any other interesting life events (records: Newspapers, books, etc.)

10. Mastering the art of record interpretation

It’s not enough to find records. You’ve got to really understand what they are and are not telling you.

• Take the time to familiarize yourself with the record collection.
  • Why was it created?
  • Who created it?
  • What timeframe does it cover?
  • What doesn’t it include?
• Use AI tools to help you transcribe or translate records but always check for accuracy!
• Find out what the abbreviations used in the documents mean. (ex. Census instructions)
• Use multiple credible sources to verify the information you find.

Resources

Download this episode’s show notes. (Premium Membership required.)

Become a Genealogy Gems Premium Member

Premium Members have exclusive access to:

• Our extensive archive of genealogy video tutorials
• The Genealogy Gems Premium Podcast
• downloadable ad-free show notes PDF cheat sheets for all videos and podcasts. 

Become a member here.  Learn more about Genealogy Gems Premium Membership.

Our Sponsors:

Goldie May

Download the Goldie May software for free. Upgrade to the full features at a great discount at goldiemay.com/genealogygems

Newspapers.com

Get 20% off a Publisher Extra subscription. Click here and use coupon code GenealogyGems

MyHeritage

Order your MyHeritage DNA Kit today.

Genealogy Gems Podcast App

Get the app here. 

Get the Free Genealogy Gems Newsletter

Sign up today here and get Lisa’s free ebook as a bonus.  The Genealogy Gems email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about what’s available with your Premium eLearning Membership. 

Follow Lisa and Genealogy Gems on Social Media:

• Instagram.com/genealogygemspodcast
• Facebook.com/genealogygems
• Pinterest.com/lisalouisecooke
• YouTube.com/GenealogyGems