Excerpted from Lacey's 15 Steps Along The Ancestral Trail by Earnest Edward Lacey. Copyright © 2003. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved

"Your search begins with you. What you already know. Start with yourself and work backwards. Secure a family group sheet from the Library or local Genealogical Society. Place your full name, date of birth and place of birth on the sheet. Give your present address, your father's name and the maiden name of your mother. If married, the date and place of the marriage. Indicate whether you had a prior marriage and if so, indicate whether you are divorced and when. List your wife's maiden name, wife's father's name and her mother's maiden name. List all siblings in birth order, complete with birth, death information and marriage information where applicable."

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