* To read Part 1 of the Reuters series, Slavery’s Descendants: America’s Family Secret, click here

June 27 (Reuters) - Almost all genealogical research begins in the present and proceeds to the past. That means you – and what you know about your parents and grandparents – are the starting points for researching your family’s ancestry. You can begin to piece together that tree by identifying the ancestors you already know.

You might also have access to records that provide additional details about your relatives. These could include obituaries, marriage documents, birth and death certificates, wills, yearbooks, newspaper clippings, family Bibles, letters, or any other record that might include details that will make it easier for you to track down additional information.

Two websites Reuters used extensively were Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. Ancestry charges for access. FamilySearch is free but requires users to register.

In conjunction with this Reuters series, Legacy Family Tree Webinars is making available at no charge a variety of online genealogy webinars from its extensive library to help novices and experts alike. Taught by genealogists from around the world, the webinars from the group’s extensive online library, which can be found at FamilyTreeWebinars.com/reuters, require no registration and are accessible without membership. The webinars range from introductions to genealogy for novices to courses that explore African American genealogy. Only live webinars on the site require registration.

About 15 webinars from the library will be offered for free through the Reuters link each month before being replaced by a different set of 15 webinars in each subsequent month. The rotating roster of webinars will be accessible through the end of 2023.

Among the webinars available through July is Descendants of the Enslaved and Enslavers – Working Together to Discover Family.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars has a library of about 2,000 genealogy-related webinars.

(Edited by Blake Morrison)