As a child I dreamed of writing the Great American Novel--South American, that is.

My mother's stories about her metropolitan, aristocratic family from Valparaiso, Chile and my father's rough-and-tumble tales of las pampas of Argentina set to a tango beat, always fascinated me.

Besides an artistic need to create what would be a fictional historical novel, I wanted to understand the South American roots that shaped me.

For Latinos researching our roots, genealogy is just beginning to take off on the Internet. And like the Latin population itself, resources can be a real mixed bag.

The Latino population is a vast and diverse group that spans countries from South and Central America to the Caribbean. Web genealogy resources reflect this diversity.

Young, first-generation Americans like myself, the children of Latino immigrants arriving to the United States in the 1960s and after, are spearheading the trend to the Internet.

A key discovery was the Hispanic Genealogical Society of New York, right in my home town. I contacted Alfred Sosa, one of the society's founders, about Hispanics' place in genealogy. He said the society was created to encourage Hispanics to get in touch with their history.

But the society's purpose goes beyond genealogy. "We are losing our history and heritage as we speak, and we hope to raise funds for special projects to save this historical information for future generations and to encourage other groups to take on similar projects," Sosa said.

He also hopes genealogical research will be a way to get Hispanics writing and publishing about Latino history. Sosa said he has seen a lot of interest in genealogy from twenty-somethings.

"Among young people, the reception has been good. Many of our young people know very little about our history and culture, let alone about themselves. They are hungry for the facts, Sosa observed.

"For Hispanics born in the USA, genealogy is a connection with their parents and grandparents. It affords an understanding of why we do the things we do," he continued.

Sosa's words were very true in my case. What I was ultimately looking for was an understanding of my parents' lives, a big-picture focus of a continent and a way of life I could only barely grasp.

Sosa spoke about this as well. "Researching one's family history will benefit each individual differently. It really is a very personal search. At the core of it all is a search for one's self, Sosa explained.

"The value is that it will provide the researcher with knowledge about his family--his/her true origin, his people--and the researcher will of necessity delve into our hispanic history and culture and see it from our point of view," he said.

Sosa said there is much to be gained in a genealogical search. "Besides the pictures and other family heirlooms that one ends up with while undergoing a genealogical search, the greatest benefit is knowledge of self. There is no more confident individual than the one who truly knows himself."

A genealogical society is probably one of the most important steps a novice can take, especially in the sub-category of Hispanic genealogy. Most Hispanic genealogical societies are in the western and southwestern United States.

With its large Mexican and Central American populations settled in those areas, the western U.S. seems a mecca for Mexican-Americans looking for their roots. A good listing of them is on Cyndi's List.

As with most genealogical searches, however, I could not confine my research to just one or two countries. While my parents' families were from Chile and Argentina, I knew that just a few generations back, the lineage extended to Europe.

My paternal name, with the suffix "esti," signaled a Basque lineage, the northern Spaniard region that borders France.

I needed to explore South American (and some European resources), and I began at that big clearinghouse, Cyndi's List and listings for Hispanic, Central and South America, and the West Indies.

This is the most comprehensive resource available to Hispanics on the Net and should be the first stop for any beginner. Among the dozens of links here for South American, Central Americans, and other regions, I found links to the Chilean Archives and National Library of Argentina.

To stay in touch with others on the genealogy search, subscribe to the newsgroup soc.genealogy.hispanic. This bilingual group is very active and responds to postings quickly.

America Online's Hispanic Genealogy Group (keyword: roots) or hosts weekly chats by region. For message boards, I tapped Delphi's Forums.

A quick, free registration got me into the Hispanic Genealogy Internet boards. This relatively new area (begun in November 1998) already has 200 registered members and is growing in popularity.

While there are some excellent resources available, there are still some gaps. As a Latino focus is relatively new to the genealogy field, Latino historians will have to dig that much deeper on the Internet.