How would I go about finding my family history without having to ask my family or paying for it?

Question

I just want to know more about my family and my ancestors without having to pay for it!!

Answer 1

The more you know beforehand the easier it will be...so you might have to ask questions. Here is a site that has helped me quite a lot in my search....AND it's free. I love the price.

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/us_genealogy.htm

Good Luck!!

Answer 2

Many people have put their own Family Trees on web sites. You might just find something helpful if you google your Family name and area of the World/City in which they live. It's possible that a cousin has done all the work already. I did the Trees for our Family, some 30 years ago before there were web sites to help, by making a Tree of all the information I had, speaking to an elderly Aunt, and buying Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates working back generation by generation. I'm afraid that there aren't many free rides in life, because someone out there has to work at finding the information, compiling it, and putting it into record sources. Inevitably there are mistakes - many of the Mormon records have been compiled from Parish Registers and entries have been misread or incorrectly written.

Answer 3

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 they ask in the genealogy category,
Arts & Humanities -> Genealogy.
Sometimes they don't. Since this is a general answer, some of the paragraphs may not apply to you. If you search or browse the resolved questions in the Genealogy category, you can find more links from other people.

Two warnings:
1) It takes time. Compiling a good family tree is like writing a term paper for a high school history class. You have to research.
2) 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.

I used to suggest people who were in favor of free data volunteer to ADD to it, instead of just taking it, but I gave that up as a lost cause. If you are interested, write to me via my profile. You will restore my faith in humanity.

Answer 4

Well, a lot of sites will make you pay for the search results. So, I'd suggest going to your local library and talking to them about it. They might be able to find it for you or offer a lab unit that you can go to.

Answer 5

The Mormon Church spends a lot of time going around the world and logging geneology data. Visit www.lds.org for access to their Geneology Library. It is quite extensive.

Answer 6

go to the library and do some research