The best foundation for genealogical research is to start with the information you know and work backwards. Who you are and who were your parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc?

We recommend first of all, that you talk to older members of your family (e.g.) your grandparents, and prepare some questions beforehand. It is a good idea to record their answers with a tape recorder.

Your relatives can probably give you information about people going back some years, but as you move through the generations you generally need to start checking other sources. This is where the birth, death and marriage records held by the Registry can help.

Certificates provide information not just about the subject of that registration but also other family members. For example, a death certificate contains the deceased person's name, their age at death and often their occupation. Depending on the information supplied at the time of registration, it may also contain the names of their parents, the name of their spouse and often the names and ages of their children.

A death (or birth or marriage) certificate is the stepping stone to previous generations. For example, as a death certificate may contain the name of the deceased person's parents, you will be able to search for the parents' marriage certificate.

The parent's marriage certificate may contain their place of birth, their age at marriage, the date of the marriage and sometimes their parents' names. As you now know their approximate year of birth, you can then search for their individual birth certificates which will give their parent's place of birth.

As this is a step-by-step process, it is important to realise that your family history search may take some time.

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