Let us look at a sample research exercise.
Step 1
Get your Long Birth Certificate!
You will need it!
You can obtain the birth certificate forms at this link.
You will have proven who your parents were by original documentation!
Step 2
Ask your parents where each of them were born, and married. Record the date, town, county, province and country for each event (Birth Marriage Death) on your Ancestral chart
http://www.ancestry.com/trees/charts/ancchart.aspx?
or within your genealogy software if you have it. I use Brothers Keeper
Ask your mother what her maiden name was. Record her using her maiden name. Please do this!
Step 3
We must now attach your parents to your grand parents. Here the same rules apply. If your parents are deceased obtain a death certificate , then a long birth certificate. If they are alive have then apply for the long birth certificate.
Other Ways
If your grand father was born in Perth, Ont., Canada we have a starting point. The first place to start looking is in the census. The place of residence is so important now!
If the census fails I would try the earlier census then Birth, Marriages and Deaths and in the local papers. Go to the local library or research center nearest their birth place and start looking.
The local church records are your prime sources. Baptismal and marriage records.
These documents are your proofs.
Step 4 and beyond .....
By now you should be well on your way. Parents and grandparents all recorded.
Good Luck, and remember this takes a lot of time and commitment. Document everything, make notes and always record your sources. When you find the proofs in original documents always, always get a copy.
Complete those Ancestral Charts .... and enter all the info in your genealogy program ...
Always document where you find your sources in such a way that anyone else can also find them.