Names like these are patronymic, meaning they are derived from the father or a male ancestor, although some surnames are taken from mothers. Through residence or geographical location. Also referred to as topographic surnames, these names are derived from an individual's place of residence. For example, John of the hills, John from the river, John from the woods. There are also guidebooks that are available and which could help you in using the system of the library. Believe it or not, there are also classes available all through the day. These classes are free of charge and are given by the staff members and the volunteers of the family history library in order to further help you in using the library s database and other resource info. The basic foundation in performing genealogy is performing an extensive research. You have to do a lot of reading in order to gain knowledge and have a basis of your origin. Like for an instance, if you want to find out your real ancestors way back in the 19th century, a broad research is needed from the stored photographs in your house to the era of world war 1 and 2 and so on. Still, it is also just as good to take down notes as recorders both audio and video could malfunction, sometimes. Consult documents Documents are best to be consulted and used as supplements to any of your interviews. These documents could include birth certificates, marriage certificates, deeds, journals, baby books, pictures, naturalization papers, wills. There are several sites that offer free genealogy. Here is a short list that you could look through and consider in starting your own family tree : Perhaps the group of people that is most interested in searching for their kindred dead is the Latter-day Saints. They believe that genealogical work is a part of man s salvation. An early example is the genealogical record that is found in the Bible, which includes details on an individual and his sons. The only drawback is that most of these records only show male ancestors and descendants and only a few female members. The early years of genealogy research In primitive societies, genealogy is often established with a god, a hero or a fantastic animal as the earliest ancestor.