Add it up: federal income taxes, Social Security taxes, Medicare taxes, myriad federal excise taxes (check out your phone bill), state income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, gasoline taxes, electricity taxes, water taxes, sewage taxes, airline taxes, hotel occupancy taxes (if you vacation or travel for business), road tolls, vehicle registration fees, driving license fees, marriage license fees and marriage penalties (Washington's version of family values is to tax people for getting married), dog license fees, etc.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

Ancestry.com offers some free tools, but it keeps many of the most useful databases draft registration cards from World War I, lists of passengers and crew on ship crossings, international marriage records behind a pay wall.

WSJ: Using Wikis and Other Forms of Group Research, Family Historians Are Making Surprising Connections