Heres an idea too, if ya parents or grandparents are still around start asking about the family history. Im 50 and me Mom is in her 80s. She never until the past 2 years talked about alot of the family history. Like how they came down the mississippi river in 1830s on a flat barge. And how her father ran off when she was a kid and her mom worked in another city so she stayed with grandma and grandpa. So the lady I had met at age4 or 5 wasnt her mom but grandma. I never met me real grandma, she passed.  And i heard stories about her childhood id never heard before. We have a pretty close family but that was very very special.