There is more to family history than searching the census and finding birth, marriage, and death records for your ancestors, although these records are very important. Add flesh to the bare bones of dates and places by finding out if your ancestors were in the military, if they ever appeared in court and why, if they own land, if they applied for a passport and where they went, what organizations or church did they belonged to, and what did they leave in their wills and to whom. How do you locate this interesting information? Read on!

• Vital Records (Birth, Marriage, Divorce, Death)
• Adoption Records
• Bible Records
• Census Records
• City Directories
• Records of Religious Groups
• Cemetery, Mortuary, and Funeral Home Records
• Military Service and Pension Records
• Land Records
• Maps and Gazetteers
• Court Records
• Wills and Probates
• Immigration and Naturalization
• Tax Records
• Voting Records
• Employment, Business, and Other Institutional Records
• City, County, and Town Histories
• Newspaper Stories, Obituaries, and Announcements
• Diaries, Journals, and Manuscripts
• Ethnic Sources
• Foreign Research
• Photographs