Public Records

In working on family history there comes a time when the information you have runs out….
Perhaps the family members you interviewed don't know anything else, or there are gaps in their knowledge, or you have simply gone back far enough that it's time to employ a new method.
This is when gathering information from public records comes into play.
There are many different kinds of records that we can search- often governments and churches keep records of specific life events.
Some examples of records include:

Vital Records: These often contain the dates and places of marriages, and deaths. Vital records are typically found in government offices and churches near the places where your ancestors lived. It's important to note that in some countries vital records are called civil registration records.
Sometimes you might not know exactly where an ancestor was from (hence the searching for records) but we can usually make an educated guess to be a jumping ground based on where their children lived and then contact their local church or government office (local or central).

Census Records: which are super cool! Have you ever gotten to take a look at old census records? They note the date that the record was taken, the people living in the house (including boarders), their relationship to the head of house (it might be wife, mother-in-law, son, etc), the age of the person at the time the record was taken (simple math can tell us their birth year-approximately), birthplaces, and sometimes occupations. I'm especially fascinated by the occupation part because there are jobs we just don't have anymore.

Immigration Records: These are records that were created when an individual or family came to a new country. These records are fabulous because they notate where the family or individual came from, and when they arrived etc. Immigration records are ones that also help us better understand our ancestors, but more on that another time.

Newspapers: Remember in the movies when the kid had to go to the library basement to dig through giant books of newspapers to look up an old and mysterious event in their town? That now gets to be us Hunters! We get to be that library basement hunter. Newspapers may include articles about our ancestors like obituaries, marriages, and perhaps even accomplishments like an award, leaving for or returning from military service etc. However, obituaries in particular can be a wealth of information. They often include information about the birthplace, family members, religion, and burial.

Church Records: Through the years churches (of all denominations) have worked to keep track of their parishioners. Events like births, christenings, baptisms, marriages, deaths and so on could be recored and just waiting to be found! Getting ahold of this information means having an idea of where your ancestor grew up, or lived and then contacting the local church to see if they have any other information.

Cemetery Records: Cemetery records, such as tombstones and sexton records, may have information like birth dates, death dates, age at death, name of spouse, names of children, and maiden names. Birthplaces are occasionally mentioned as well. …but wait- what's a sexton record? A sexton is the office of a person or persons who are in charge of a cemetery. They are often referred to as the caretaker. These are the people who maintain the records of the people buried in their particular graveyard. This helpful person would be able to help you locate information about your ancestor buried in their cemetery as well as the location of their grave in the cemetery rather than wander around and hope you find it. Did you know cemeteries are set up in a grid format? It's true! Also meaning that the location of your ancestor's grave may be as easy to find as knowing a grid point.
Also, the word "sexton" is said to come from the Anglo-Norman word "segerstein" which means "someone who looks after the sacred objects." Clearly a name given by people who understand how important our acceptors are to us!

Death Certificate, or Birth Certificate: also known as The Old School Way of Family History! This is when you need to know the county or state your ancestor was born or died in and then you can actually request their death or birth certificate (for a small fee) and with it comes a wealth of information. Taking this method has been helpful for myself and my family because we don't know the names' of my maternal grandfather's parents. To make a long story short, we just don't know much about him, and this is a way that we can start down the path of his ancestry!
As an example here is the web site to request a death certificate if your ancestor died in LA county (California, United States).
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/dca/dcadeath.htm

Whew! That was a lot of information!

Now the question is, 'well that's some good advice but HOW to I get in contact with these government agencies or get ahold of census records….?'
On familysearch.org as well as ancestry.com there are a wealth of census reports already available to be looked over, and just a reminder, Family Search is a free site- it's true!
A lot of family history work is exactly that- work! It's research, and hunting. Finding where your ancestor came from is the first step or their children because then you're able to contact their local church, or town civic center and get started on finding out more. If you're ready to look into other countries for information start with the internet. Find the site of the town, or village, and make a phone call. We live in an awesome time of international phone calls, and Skype meaning we have the capability to talk to people who are really far away from us about these things. Don't forget about email, and letters too!

Good luck Hunters and Huntress! Our ancestors are out there- let's go find them!