1. Scout local talent.

Performers paid their dues before hitting it big, so start locally to learn about your ancestors' talents. Scour high school and college yearbooks for their pictures and activities they participated in. In Duquesne High School's 1951 yearbook, for example, I discovered my uncle Nick was in the drama club — he's even in the group photo. Check the senior class highlights, too: The same annual profiled a student named Louie as “tall, dark, and handsome … outstanding voice, which he used in the Mixed Octette … plays violin well.”