What is the best/easiest way to trace my family tree?

Question

Are there websites, companies, do you have to pay?

Answer 1

Search your roots.

Answer 2

Here are some large free sites.

I save this and paste it because people ask the same question 1 - 4 times a day, either in

Arts & Humanities -> Genealogy

or somewhere else. If you search or browse the resolved questions in the Genealogy category, you can find more links from other people.

http://www.cyndislist.com/
(240,000+ links, all cross-indexed.)

http://www.familysearch.com
(Mormon's mega-site)

http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi
(450,000,000+ entries, some excellent, some bad, most in between)

http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx?ln=
Surname meanings and origins; no specific individuals, but fun.


These are for the USA only:

http://www.usgenweb.net/
(Subdivided into state sites, which all have county sites.)
(Canada has a Canadian Gen Web, with sites for each province.)

http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
(Social Security Death index - click on "Advanced".)

http://find.person.superpages.com/
(US Phone book, for looking up distant cousins)

If you get serious, you should probably buy a genealogy program. I like Roots Magic. Family Tree Maker is very popular. Both are $29, but you can sometimes find old versions in discount bins at software stores.

Ancestry.com has ads all over the place. They charge for data. They also support large free sites. Don't be surprised. You can't watch the Super Bowl without seeing a Budweiser commercial, and you can't surf for dead ancestors without seeing an ad for Ancestry.com.

"Best" and "Easiest" are mutually exclusive. A prime rib dinner and a 10-year old bottle of Bordeaux in a restaurant on the 53rd floor with cloth napkins and real flowers is going to cost you more than a Big Mac.

The easiest way is to hire someone to work for a month or two, at $30 - $50 per hour. The best way is to devote a couple of hours a week to the task and do it yourself. You can find a lot of data on-line for free.

You won't be able to enter your name somewhere and get a 12-generation pedigree like magic. You can't make $12,000 a month working for a few hours a week from home, either. That pill that lets you lose 5 pounds a week while sitting around eating cheeseburgers is a fake too. Finally, there aren't any Nigerians with $5,000,000 in a security deposit company who need your help.

Answer 3

First of all ask all your relatives about everybody. Find all their photos and ask questions who are everybody is and how they fit in with everybody else. Scrounge every Birth, Death and Marriage certificate. Work back through Marriages and Births by using the information. you will have to purchase a lot of documents. You can go online to the Family Records Centre. Then work your way back using the census documents and glean all the information from the addresses. Go on line and there are oodles of free sites such as the LDS [church of the latter day saints] then try to find localised areas and work through parish records. There are plenty of records on microfiche.

Answer 4

there is a website called genes reunited that will help you trace your family tree and there is a charge of £7 and that lasts for a year.

Answer 5

You could try www.genesreunited.co.uk - my mum is researching our family tree through this site (she's got as far back as 1800!). You can use some of it for free, or you can use the full site for £9.95 a year. You put in the dtails you know, and the database generates 'hot matches' for you. Pretty interesting stuff!

Answer 6

type in family tree into google, some will let you put your family tree on for nothing but you can only add the main people like mum dad and siblings, most tell you before you put any details into them wether or not you have to pay.

Answer 7

www.familysearch.org is the free URL of the Mormons (Latter Day Saints). It does take work to learn how to do it, but it's probably there.


Ask the oldest person in your family if they have any family records of old family bibles, or if they know anyone who is working on this already.

Answer 8

Start with as much information you can get from your parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc. Then use RootsWeb.com or FamilySearch.org as they are free and have message boards and census information to help you. There are other sites, but most others have a membership fee required.

Answer 9

Definetly use www.myheritage.com. Upload your picture and then it will scan your face and look for people who have similiar traits then you do. These people might be related to you. Or just do the old "type-your-last-name" and you're bound to find family members. They match celebrities to you too.

Answer 10

Go on Genes reunited xx

Answer 11

Family records office I guess.