Is anyone into family history research without joining expensive genealogy websites amazingly enough people have lots of info at there fingertips and dont even realise it the info is ask your family or communicate with other people on this suject and you would be surprised at what you can find out for free I have done a vast amount of research on my own family found amazing things hence my name, now I search for other people and it is the greatest hobby Ive ever had
In questioning your family first you are only following the standard advice.
Based on my starting knowledge, I was able to make dramatic progress when I joined a well-known website; chiefly because I was able to spot the correct families in all the censuses. A powerful 'library' of census records built up astonishingly quickly.