Most likely, the names of relatives you do not know or have not heard from for a while, will crop up as these names could have been vital during the growing up years of your parents. Usually, your parents could be able to help you as well as they might have access to and eventually look up legal family records such as certificates of death, birth, records in the military, etc. At first, names were used to identify an individual through a unique characteristic: his family (usually his father), his place of residence, geographical location and even a personal trait like hair color or height. Other unique information about the individual was also used such as occupation and nicknames. One could also have a checklist of books and articles that the researcher finds to be relevant to the genealogical work. Some software could also be downloaded for free. Examples are the Brother s Keeper Genealogy software, Family Tree Legends (claiming to be a powerful software in genealogical search), Gedmark (used in securing any information on an author on GEDCOM files), GeneWeb (genealogy program that has Web interface), and GenFinder Freeware, TimeLine Maker (maker of charts that show histories, also, colored printouts There are also free tools for translation. Find the library directions as well as a layout of all the records of the library, and any accommodations of nearby hotels if you plan to go through your own genealogical search. Note the hours of the library s opening and closing. The family history library is open from 730 in the morning up until six in the evening every Monday as well as 730 in the morning to 10 in the evening from Tuesday to Saturday. Be open When asking, try as much as possible to be flexible, catering your questions to each interviewees digressions. These details could bring valuable information that though unexpected could be a vital treasure. However, do not also forget to stay on track. Be courteous and considerate Be as polite as possible. Other than that, most early marriages don t have hard documents to support them, or records may have been destroyed, lost and yes, even misfiled. You can try to get around this by looking at other documents such as church records or newspaper announcements and bulletins. Disappearances from records There are other reasons that people's names disappear from a record other than death.