One can become quite the zealot about family information. Try to temper your zeal and present your need for information to family in a way the encourages their support and sharing. Always be as eager to help distant cousins you connect with with what you know.

You. Start with all that you know about you, your parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, places, dates, etc. When you have exhausted all you know, including all the documentation you have to back up what you know, ask your parents, grandparents, anyone who might know something to help you go farther.

X-rays are usually only needed in forensic genealogy or archaeology.

I am not aware of any standard genealogical use for X-rays.

Forensic genealogy is usually the process of finding living relatives for an inheritance. It could also play into police cases, usually missing persons, or murder victims, in an effort to locate next of kin.

The only other topic I could think of was eXamine your data and sources, but I have covered those topics adequately elsewhere.

If you send off for records be prepared to wait. Find other things to do while you wait.

Just because you are waiting for a death certificate does not mean that you can’t be doing other research ,or organizing records, or going for a walk.

Daily life doesn’t stop while we wait. Down-size your possessions and streamline your records now while you are healthy so your family isn’t left with the mess when you are gone.

Periodically review your own research as well as verify everything you get from other researchers. If they don’t have citations, don’t consider it official until you look into it yourself. This is especially true of online genealogy sites. Each person who uploads information is on the honor system that they have verified it and have it well documented. All too many people just copy and merge online information into their genealogy program without verifying that it is really their family and is quality research.

You will need one if you go tromping through cemeteries and travel around to different courthouses and libraries and other record repositories. A good pair of boots for getting in the mud is helpful too.

Being a genealogist is about both musty records and getting out in the woods. Imagine yourself as Indiana Jones of the genealogy world.

The need to go through old overgrown cemeteries or just walking through large cemeteries without easy road access is another reason to stay in shape. Staying in shape also helps the brain do a better job of thinking and making connections in your research.

It takes time. Time can be your enemy if you are new to genealogy and you find that you are your oldest known living relative and don’t remember all the boring stories your family used to talk about when you were a kid. Time can be your friend if you are organized and plan for the long haul and are persistent.

Whether pen and paper, electronic document or spreadsheet, or Genealogy program, have a system to your research.

The system you use will help you to organize, file, and retrieve information as needed.

The longer you do research the more often you will get requests from distant cousins or possibly distant cousins, or distant in-laws on a certain group or family or person. The better your system the better you can answer these queries.

Genealogical research has a lot in common with doing a research paper for high school or college. You need to know how to locate information and they best types of records and information and where to locate them. In the old days you had to travel to the location of the county where your ancestors were. In the age of the internet, this is not needed as much, but even with all the information online, you may still need to visit a courthouse or a library with genealogical holdings. Knowing what you are looking for before you make a research trip will speed your research.

Your end product is only as good as the effort you put into it.

If you don’t follow up on other’s research and just import a GEDCOM into your database, you end up with a mess that no one can follow.

I knew someone who said that they just imported every GEDCOM they found online with a name they were researching hoping to make a breakthrough. Hundreds of unverified GEDCOMS imported into your live genealogy database just makes a mess that will never get resolved.

It is best when you start out to only put things into your genealogy database that you have verified, or have very good information on them. Obviously people you personally know in your family, you can put in. People your parents and so forth personally knew you can put in, but be sure to back the information up by finding them in censuses, tax records, and other records.

The better job you do, the person who inherits your research will be very glad.