I have more information, but first...

I have more information, but first I thought I would start a discussion on how to begin in genealogy or the study of family history.

Searching for information on your family could be hard, especially if you have decided to start near your retirement age. (I started over 30 years ago, before Internet.) I find that using a program for genealogy is useful. There is a good free one on the Internet - http://www.myheritage.com/family-tree-builder
First enter all of the information you can. Start with yourself. Then you start working backwards.
The next step is to find obituaries about individuals in your family. Go to your public library if they are local. If not go to a library that would be have the newspapers for the area of your relatives.
Go to the courthouse, check records there.
Join an ancestry site if you are real intense on genealogy.
Also your local Mormon organization could tell you where they have a library of ancestry documents that you can search. At their libraries you can use their ancestry.com site for free to search records.
Talk to relatives.
There is a great public library in Fort Wayne, Indiana that has many records. Make plans to visit there.
Go to the cemeteries where you think individuals may be buried. I take pictures of all the grave markers with names in my family. I come home, label on my computer, and then search to see if I have them in my tree. If not, I hold on to them in a folder I labeled grave markers and then I make individual folders for each cemetery so I will know where I have found it. With digital it does not cost me anything more than my time. Also some markers only have years on them and not the full date. If you need the full date because you don't know when they passed, go to the cemeteries office and they can help you.
This will get you started. Have fun.