Getting Started
Gather papers, photographs and mementos from your family, look at your birth and marriage certificates, and begin to build your tree with the help of the basic forms linked below (forms are in pdf format and can be printed):
- Use this Ancestral Chart to keep track of your direct ancestors. You are in the first slot, your parents in the next slots, then their parents and so on.
- Use this Family Group Record to flesh out specific family details.
- Keep track of where you have researched with this Research Extract form. Not finding something today in a source doesn’t mean that you won’t find it later.
- Census Worksheets are vital tools. Use the sheets to help you read through these lengthy columns.
- This Relationship Chart can help you understand your connection to kin.
Further Resources
- CAPL has a subscription to Ancestry Library Edition that must be used in the Library. You may use a public computer or bring in your own laptop to access it.
- Fold3 and Heritage Quest can be searched from home. Visit our Genealogy page to access these resources with your CAPL card.
- Sign up for a free account on FamilySearch. CAPL is a FamilySearch Affiliate which opens up more records when searching at the Library.
- The Illinois Digital Archives (IDA) is an Illinois state project to digitize images and documents making them available to everyone.
- Check out our Local History information if you’re researching family local to the Cary area.
- Visit Cyndi’s List and Link Pendium for a wealth of genealogy-related websites.
- Join a genealogy group. CAPL has a group that typically meets the fourth Sunday of the month from 2-3 pm. The McHenry County Illinois Genealogical Society typically meets the second Thursday of the month.