Vital Records provid some of the most important clues about your family.  Once you have started your ancestor chart, you may have some information to discover about your ancestors--where they were born, married, died.  Not everything is available online, and your best answer is to write to the county where your ancestor lived.  If you know the town, and not the county, Rootsweb can help.  http://resources.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/townco.cgi  After you have discovered the name of the county, you can search online for the correct address to write to.  For example, in Pinellas County the link is http://www.pinellashealth.com/BirthDeath_Certificates.asp  However, there are some vital records available online.  Here is a small sample:

            < xml="true" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" prefix="st1" namespace="">Genessee County, Michigan

            http://www.co.genesee.mi.us/clerk/

            Ohio Historical Society

            http://www.ohiohistory.org/dindex/

USGenweb

http://www.rootsweb.com/~mngenweb/

           Others

http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_select.aspx < xml="true" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" prefix="o" namespace="">

http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/deathcertificates/