WASHINGTON

Theoretically, one should easily trace his lineage back 4 generations to the great grandparents using census records. If this much is accomplished, at the point of the great-grandparents, it should be fairly easy to find others sharing the same lineage. The 1850 census was the first census to provide the names and ages of all family members, including where they were born. From 1790 to 1840, the date ranges helped estimate the births of the children, but you do not get the names. For this information, one must turn their research to deeds, wills, estates, marriages, tax digests, etc. in the county records where an ancestor resided. With each generation backward, this process is repeated. One can find the ancestors in American county records dating back to the first immigrants.