Need help in researching geneology etc ...

[Tiamat]

I thought it would be a nice Christmas present for hubby to go back as far as possible and research his family history. Before his father died a few years back he said he had it done and that they were related to Mary Queen of Scotts but Steve didn't believe him. I told him that it could be possible with a last name like Buckingham ya' know. Anyway I don't know how to do something like that and don't know who is reputable or not or if anyone here has done it and had a good outcome can point me in the right direction.

It may be a bit spotty because my mother in law just never paid attention to family names etc...go figure. I looked in our local phone book to see if there was a place I could phycially go and do this but nothing. So any ideas?

[SlowwHand]

Scots. I think it will take more than a couple of weeks.

[BlackCat]

A good source is churchbooks where you (maybe) can find out about weddings and births. You of course need to have an idea about where and when - otherwise it could be a bit problematic .

[Cort Haus]

Tiamat , there are a gazillion sites on the web for this.

[Wernazuma III]

Yeah, if there has not been done any genealogic pre-work, you're definitely much too late for this christmas...
First, gather the information you have easy access to by oral tradition - just ask your relatives. If you can get far enough to make a connection with a higher aristocratic family, things tend to become easier because of probable family archives. If not, churchbooks (wedding records, birth records, death books) are your only hope. And that's a tough work, since especially in the US, population was very mobile, so it would require a good number of trips to get from generation to generation - IF YOU'RE LUCKY. Because it's quite probable that some link got burned in a fire or got lost by a lousy alcoholic priest - end of the road.
Good luck.

[SlowwHand]

I'm downloading Family Tree Maker 2008 now. I'll let you know how it goes.

[Tiamat]

Cool! Thanks, his birthday is in February so if I can't make it by christmas I still have that. Besides I just found the coolest Christmas present for him An offical Star Wars pop up book!