I am new to DB design and MYSQL (using MYSQL workbench for 1st time) and trying to model a simple family tree DB. Each member of my family has contact info, and a tree of relationships. Any suggestions on how to approach the design?

(I'm NOT a database designer, obviously), although I have some old (10+ years ago) DB2, Oracle exposure

The "simple" family tree is actually one of the more difficult relationships to model.

At its most basic, you are going to need a table of Persons, a table of RelationshipTypes, and a table of PersonRelationships that implements a many-to-many self-join on the Persons table.