websites to find out about ancestors?

Question

Does anybody know of any good free websites to go on to look up and find out about ancestors?

Answer 1

If you've got a mormon chapel anywhere near you, you can't beat actually going out and checking their records. they have acres of microfilm and microfiche, census's, county records, IGI (international genealogical index).....far superior to anything you could find on the 'net.
they wont try and convert you, if you just go in for genealogical info :-)
if you're in the UK you can get the chapel locator from their UK website: http://www.lds.org.uk/

Answer 2

There's no such thing as a good free website. The two terms do not go well together.

Ancestry (either .com or .co.uk) is about the best, but the "30 day free trial" is not all its cracked up to be, and it is up to you to cancel the agreement before they take out their (rather hefty) years subscription. Other sites are pretty similiar - it is free to register for basic membership at sites like Genes Reunited, but to actually DO anything, contact people and utilise the full range of services on offer, you need to start stumping up the cash.

And your question is nowhere near specific enough for anyone to be sure what you want. There are some excellent websites out there covering World War One for example, especially useful if you are trying to trace granddad's war service, but these are mostly reference aids, and aren't in the business of providing free lists of dozens of names of soldiers and their records and neither can you google a name into a search engine and magically bring up all the details of your ancestors - because it won't - not unless you are British royalty at any rate. Genealogy doesn't work like that.

One free site that is worth trying is Rootsweb. There is always a chance that someone else has been there before you and already put their family tree file online here - or at familysearch.org, the mormon site. Some people also use a place known as "tribal pages" to host their trees. They might let you have access to their research notes, but might not. After all, they have probably spent many years and thousands of pounds trying to prove all the names and dates in their tree, and then you come along and want all the answers in five minutes gratis and for nothing without leaving the comfort of your PC.

If you can't at least afford a per-per-view subscription to some of these websites then you don't really have any business being in the hobby in the first place. Pay up!

Answer 3

Ancestry.com
Genforum
One Tree World
Roots

Answer 4

If you just want to dip into the water so to speak try the web site below, there is also a web site called rootsweb, you might just get addicted in which case it will cost some money at some point.

Answer 5

try
http://www.byubroadcasting.org/ancestors/

Answer 6

Try genealogy.com

Answer 7

Try www.familysearch.org

Answer 8

www.ancestry.co.uk have a free 30day trial.

Answer 9

www.genesreunited.com