.Genealogy.?

I have used these with good results. Not straight back, but going back and fourth between families, I went back to the 1st century.
Happy hunting…

http://www.genealogy.com/index_r.html
http://www.ancestry.com/
http://www.rootsweb.com/

You start by getting as much information from living family members as possible, particularly your senior members. Tape them if they will let you. They might be a little confused on some things but what might seem to be insignificant story telling might turn out to be very significant.

Nothinguseful has already recommended your public library. Check it out and see what all they have. They might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com you can use.
Ancestry.Com has lots of records and seems to be getting more all the time. They have all the U. S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet. They have U. K. censuses also.

Just don’t take as absolute fact everything you see in family trees on any website, free or paid. The information is user submitted and documentation is not required. The trees are not documented or poorly documented. You might see in some cases different information on the same people from different submitters.. Then you will see the same info from different submitters on the same people without documentation.
Too often people are copying without verifying and there are errors on the trees on websites.

Also if people have Family Tree Maker and a subscription to Ancestry.Com, for instance, they can merged other people’s trees into theirs and then upload the merged tree into various websites. When people do this they are more interested in collecting a lot of names and not quality research.

A Family History Center at a Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church is very important to check out. They have records on people all over the world, not just Mormons. In Salt Lake City, they have the world’s largest genealogical collection. Their Family History Centers can order microfilm for you to view at a nominal fee.

I have never had them to try and convert me or send their missionaries by to ring my doorbell. I haven’t heard of them doing that to anyone else either.

TBM has given you some great advice about getting vital records. Now each state has its own laws about who, when and where a person can obtain these records. Also governing bodies(state,county,city), in a lot of states did not start recording vital information until the first quarter of the 20th century. Once they did a lot of people who were born at home or died at home did not get recorded. Birth and death certificates contain names of both parents, including mother’s maiden name, and their places of birth on the death certificate. The 2 social security number applications I have seen also have the same parent information and their places of birth.

If you find there is no recordd available then you turn to church records, Baptisms, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriage and Death. Many faiths keep these records and they contain parent information.

But documentation is a must.

Good Luck!

Taking out a piece of paper or using a program such as family tree maker begin with yourself then work backwards your parents and their parents including siblings. Do not over look birth certificates on hand, marriage,divorce, death records. The information on these records are very useful, As for websites I use rootsweb, family search and I have also found information just by typing the last name and adding genealogy to it. I have traced my family back to the 1500’s by doing this.