How do you get started looking up your family history?

Question

I've heard that you should start with your grandparents and I've traced back to my great great grandfather, Edward Davis, but I don't know where to go from there. Any ideas or suggestions?

Answer 1

I used Google. I typed in my fathers name, use this format: "first middle last"
When I did this I got a whole family tree, going back a long ways. See if that works.

Answer 2

Ideally, if your planning on making a family tree, you would want to start with you, your sibs, your parents, their sibs, flesh it out with cousins and work your way back as you did. Most people want to know birth, marriage & death dates as well as where the person was born and where they died. Some people like to trace any travels in between, espec. if an ancestor came to america. Also some ppl like to know occupations and if an ancestor was a craftsman or military/political , there might be an organization that has some of its members listed in particular areas. Check the historical society in yr area. If your G.G.Gr. Davis was in another country, you'll have to try and make contact over there if you want to go back further. If he was in another city/state in america then try some of the websites suggested above. If you have contact with your oldest relatives you might be able to get some information. Any old trunks, bibles, books around yr house/atttic/bsmt? A lot of times vague family rumors/stories have some truth to them. It's a lot of detective work, but can be lots of fun. GOOD LUCK!!!

Answer 3

Start by talking to the as many of the oldest people in your family that you can. You'll get a lot of information this way. Then once you have that information you can look up birth, death and marriage records. Census records are also a good source of information. Now days there is a wealth of information online as well. Good luck, it's a lot of fun and more than a bit like detective work and putting together a puzzle.

Answer 4

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

What are good free sites for genealogy?
Does anyone know about the {surname} family?
How can I trace my family tree, for free?

Sometimes thay ask in the genealogy category, Arts & Humanities -> Genealogy. Sometimes they don't. If you search or browse the resolved questions in the Genealogy category, you can find more links from other people.

Two warnings - It takes time, and you can't start with yourself. Most of the genealogy data on the web is about people born before 1900, to protect living people's privacy. You'll have to find your grandparents (or great grandparents) off the web.

Here are some large free sites.

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)


These two are for the UK & Ireland only:
http://www.genuki.org.uk
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/


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

http://www.tedpack.org/begingen.html
has some tips for beginners.

Answer 5

Hey there, a lot of times big libraries will have genealogy departments and staff that will be glad to help you. They will have all kinds of material there that you can borrow and sometimes check out to help you at home. One of my mom's cousins was able to trace our family all the way to the pilgrims, and we're related to the infamous John Billington on the Mayflower...pretty cool. =)

Answer 6

Start with Ancestry.com or the Mormon search library in Utah, most ancestry research eventually ends there for something. I've heard even the government starts some searches there.

Answer 7

You really just have to keep digging, kinda like solving a mystery. Find out who his parents were just like you did with your grandparents, just don't give up it could take awhile. Go to ancestry.com you might find some help there. Try looking up death records and birth records and things like that.
Good luck and have fun!

Answer 8

familysearch.org