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Margot Williams, 50, a minister of education for St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Bethesda, Md., is of African-American, Cherokee, Seminole and Saponi descent. During her first visits to the National Archives, she pored over an 1880 census to find some of her black ancestors. She was getting discouraged after 21/2 hours, until, she recalls, "lo and behold, I began to find family members. Once the 'Aha!' factor and the 'Oh, wow!' factor take over, you don't mind the hunt at all."

Before delving into local libraries or faraway archives, begin your search at home:

As a first step, study several of the dozens of good genealogy how-to books that are on the market

Record or write down everything you know about yourself, your parents and your grandparents, then work backward

Interview relatives, asking questions about themselves and their memories of others; ransack attics for old family photos, letters and diaries

Whether you use a pencil and notebook, index cards or a sophisticated software program, develop a system that helps you organize your material; always remember to cite your sources

Decide on a focus and narrow your search by choosing the family branch that interests you the most, then concentrate on that

Find out what additional information you need to shed light on your family's history and where it is located. Churches and synagogues have birth, death and marriage records; other excellent sources are old newspapers and federal, county and town documents

SOURCE: THE NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY