The obvious answer to that question would be "at the cemetery" and that's a good place to find information. If you know where your grandparents are buried, go there and take photos of their graves. Look at the graves nearby for extended family. Often times other family members are buried all together in a family plot.
Warning: The dates of birth and death carved in the headstones are not necessarily correct, but they should be close enough that you can use them as a starting point when you start looking up other records. Two of my great grandparents and one of my grandmothers have a wrong date on their headstones. The ones shown above for my maternal SESSUM grandparents are correct as far as I know. The death dates are correct because I remember when they died and I have certified copies of their death certificates. However, I have not found birth records for either of them, but I know we always celebrated their birthdays on those dates, and the birth years seem okay if the census records closest to their births listed the correct ages.
One of the best places to start looking for information about your ancestors is by interviewing living relatives, especially the older ones. My first interview was with Vivian, a first cousin of my grandmother - my dad's mother. Vivian was the oldest living person I could find that new my grandmother's family from way back. And as luck would have it, she was also the first cousin of my husband's great grandmother. And yes, my grandmother and his great grandmother were also cousins. That happens a lot in south Louisiana. This is considered an endogamous area, where so many people are descended from a small number of families. All three of these ladies were descended from the PREJEAN family.
You can also find information on your deceased relatives in libraries, state archives, churches, courthouses, boxes of photos and memorabilia, and websites such as Ancestry.com, Family Search, Find A Grave, Google, and many others.
Some local, state, and university libraries have Genealogy sections with some of the local records. You can also use their computers to access many genealogy databases for free. The public library in downtown Lafayette, LA has a great genealogy section and at this time they have a group of volunteers from the Lafayette Genealogical Society that will help you with your search on Tuesday mornings. The University of Lousiana - Lafayette library has archives located on the third floor.
Most state websites include a link to Vital Records. Some have those indexed (not the actual record, but a list of people and dates) and some require you to order copies for a fee. You can usually get copies of death records that are over fifty years old - no questions asked. If you want one less than fifty years old you may have to prove that you are a close relative to obtain it.
Click here for Louisiana Vital Records.
Catholic churches have really old records, but they may not let the public access the actual files. Most will be happy to provide you with a copy or at least names and dates.
Courthouses will have legal documents like marriage records, wills, land deeds, and some also have birth and death records.
And don't count out Facebook to find your living relatives. I have searched by last name only and found many relatives. You'd be surprised at all the information they post there. Birthdays, spouses names, anniversaries, children's names, in-laws, and place of work.
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