Genealogy isn't a game of instant gratification. Facts about your family tree may take months or even years to emerge, and you might follow a set of clues a long way before discovering that everything you thought you knew was wrong. It takes patience and persistence — after all, you've got hundreds of years of family history to dig into.

But you can make real progress on finding your family tree in an amazingly short period of time, if you know where and how to look. You can even get a good start on your genealogy in just a weekend.