Parents from Scotland could follow the formula of naming their children: the first son could be named after the child s father s father, while the next son could be name after the mother s father, and so forth. Dates- is also vital to establish such occasions as marriages, births and deaths. Connections of parents to their children could be established by such simple information as dates of birth. Other info usually the best ones are found in filing cabinets, attics, as well as bookshelves in countless houses of genealogists all over the world. Thanks to roostweb, uploading one s family tree to the project WorldConnect a family tree database submitted by various researchers of rootsweb.com. Currently, there are almost four hundred thousand names of ancestors that could be found at rootsweb. The Shoebox page will keep the record safely until such time when the member decides what to do with it. Rootsweb.com Rootsweb.com has an online guide to help you trace your family roots. It also has a site search engine, databases and a surname list where you could look up possible relatives. A useful page is their Social Security Death Index, that allows you to check for ancestors who have disappeared from public records. Another possible cause of sudden disappearances may be attributed to geographical and political boundaries, which might have changed during the time your ancestor lived. When all else fails... Conducting your genealogy search to trace your family history can be exciting work. It can also be very exhausting. Americans can trace their family records to as far back as the arrival of the settlers, as long as records are intact. If you have foreign roots, you might have a little difficulty since records may have been lost or destroyed or written in a foreign language. Unless of course, you have British roots. Sometimes, knowing the meaning of the ancestor s last name could also be of help. Do foreign language family name search. Search engines that are in foreign language can be accessed in Google. It offers 140 versions of international search engines. MSN can also be a good source. The site that claims to have the biggest collection of family history (which comes in free, thank goodness!