How can I research my family if they came to the U.S. in the 1800s?

Answer 1

Lots of good info so far..also look on ancestry.com.

Answer 2

Hey Evil Mand,

You are really getting into Genealogy based on the three questions I have seen so far of your postings.

GENFORUM is a place where you can converse with people, through postings, and Email that have interest in the same Surname as you. Try that site.

You can open Cindi's list, and type the Country that your families came from in the search criteria, and get specilaized lists of Genealogy research sites for that country.

Sometimes, Family Search has PEDIGREE files, that you can see the lineage of your ancestry - because someone already did the work and gave it to LDS Family Search.

In one of your other questions, I gave you how to get passenger lists on ships (Ellis Island included, + host of others)

Then there are the specialty sites, that take time to find. Here are some, they may not apply to you.

Also, if you go back in the RESOLVED questions of GENEALOGY section, you will find hundreds of other sites posted in other peoples answers.

Hope to see you in my research. ttyl

Answer 3

try the GenWeb family forums....look for the surname (last name). Someone else might have already done the research and posted the info there. The best way to track ancestors in the U.S. is thru the U.S. or state Census....they go back to the 1700s and there are lots of sites online where you can check them. Some will tell more info than others. If you are lucky, a census will tell you what state or country your ancestors were born in and what state/country their parents were born in, too. Be sure to check any alternate spellings of the surname, too. They weren't too literate back in those days and names are often misspelled (Neal, O'Neal, Neil, Nial, Niall...for example).

Answer 4

My husband told me his brother once went to the Mormons in Utah and researched their family tree. I've heard the Mormons keep extensive records on such things.

Answer 5

This is a good place to start http://www.cyndislist.com/. There are a lot of genealogy links here.