Once a hobby quietly pursued by retirees, genealogy has become more popular as modern technology makes records more accessible.

When she was in school, Dereka Smith Langhans studied the Revolutionary and Civil wars, the western migration, the Great Depression and other defining episodes of America's history. But none of it captured her imagination until, as a mother of grown children, she began researching her family roots and discovered she had relatives who had participated in those events.

"Once you begin to realize it's your own grandparents who made history, who lived history, who were history, it's more relevant," says Langhans. "Through genealogy, we get to put ourselves into context."

More and more people are beginning to ask "Who am I?" and "Where did I come from?" says Langhans, who oversees the archives at the National Genealogical Society in Arlington, Va. Adoptees searching for biological links research their birth parents' ancestry. Prison inmates seek the causes behind their disjointed lives. American Indians research tribal rights, while geneticists trace disease through family lines.

"Part of growing up is beginning to understand yourself as part of the human race," says Langhans. "Some of the isolation and alienation felt by children today can be lessened if they begin to see themselves on the continuum of human history, past and present."

Many beginning genealogists are surprised by how little they know about their own families. Most can name their parents and their four grandparents, but few know each of their eight great-grandparents or even one of their 16 great-great-grandparents. The sheer number of relatives can be daunting.

"Until you get into it, you don't think about the geometric progression of ancestors," says Langhans. "But by the 10th generation, you've got 1,024 grandparents."

Don't be overwhelmed. The genealogist's credo is to start with what you know. Instead of attempting to diagram a family tree, family researchers work with simple, pre-printed "pedigree sheets" that move back through each generation of parents from left to right. (The National Genealogical Society provides free blank pedigree sheets.)

Parents and children can begin work at home by interviewing their oldest relatives. Researchers should not assume they already know all the stories, says Dorothy Spruill Redford, who traced her family's roots back to slaves at Somerset Place, a plantation in Washington County, N.C.

"I thought I knew the answers, so I never asked the questions," she writes in her book Somerset Homecoming: Recovering a Lost Heritage, which chronicles her 10-year investigation. Her work culminated in 1986 with an event that brought together more than 2,000 descendants of the slaves who had worked and lived at the plantation.

Scrapbooks, family Bibles, photo albums, diaries, letters, school records and baby books help breathe life into the memories of forgotten family members, especially when used to coax stories from parents and grandparents. But the best-known and most popular written records are the federal censuses.

"If you can trace family back to the 1920 census, it's the place to start," says Langhans. That census is the most recent, complete account of the population, household by household, open for perusal. (By law, census records must be 75 years old before they are made public.) Records are available on microfilm at the National Archives in Washington as well as at other mayor research facilities, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Library, which has more than 2,000 branches across the nation. (The censuses from 1880 through 1920 are indexed using the Soundex Coding System, which allows people to search for a last name by sound, rather than spelling.)

Birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, divorce decrees and death certificates also are good sources of information, as are church and cemetery records. Family histories are sometimes available. Search local libraries under your family name and the categories "local history" and "genealogy." Keep in mind, however, that published genealogies often contain inaccuracies.

Applications for naturalization stored at the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington, or at local courthouses in the city where your family arrived, are good I sources as well. (Usually, it is of necessary to send a self addressed, stamped envelope and a check for a small service fee.) African-Americans can find records of their ancestors, even though most weren't recorded in the census until 1870, through property books and bills of sale, since slaves were considered commodities. Finally, contemporary genealogists have a tremendous new tool: Many printed genealogist records are available over the Internet. Cyndislist.com, created by genealogist Cyndi Howells, categorizes and cross-references more than 28,000 online resources. Other web sites include:

* JewishGen (www.dewishgen.org), the primary Internet source connecting researchers of Jewish genealogy worldwide. Its most popular components are the discussion group; comprehensive directory of information files; and a variety of databases such as Family Finder, a database of more than 70,000 surnames and towns.

* Roots-L (www.rootsweb.com/ roots-l), a mailing list, for people who are interested in genealogy, with about 10,000 subscribers.

* Vital Records State Index (www. inlink.com/~nomi/vitalrec/ staterec.html), with information on how to order vital records -- marriage licenses and birth and death certificates -- from each state. The site also provides links to archives overseas.

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