I really want to find out about my ancestors, where are they originally from, i dont know how to find out HELP

Question

i really want to know where my ancestors are from, am i related to any president, am i related to a friend, were any of my ancestors killed or in a war??
i dont know where to find this out, will you please help me???!!!???!!!???!!!???


THANX!!!!!!

well, i dont know anyone futher up than my grandma, i want to know their names, homes, and biography, where???
thanx

dad side: grandma- alive grandpa-dead
mom side: both- alive

Answer 1

I hope you'll accept a general answer. These questions come up every day:

Where can I find my family tree for free?
Does anyone know the {Surname} family?
What are good sites for ancestors / genealogy?

They are all about tracing your family tree on the Internet. The fourth time I typed in my favorite beginner's links I realized I should save them in a text file and paste them in. This is long and general. Because it is general, not all the links will apply to every question or questioner.

These may help get you started. They are large and free.

http://www.cyndislist.com/
(240,000+ links, all cross-indexed. If you want Welch or Pennsylvania Dutch or Oregon or any other region, ethnic group or surname, chances are she has links for it.)
http://www.familysearch.com
(Mormon's mega-site. Click on "Search")
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi
(460,000,000+ entries, of varying quality)
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx?ln=
Surname meanings and origins
http://www.tedpack.org/begingen.html
My own site: "How to Begin"

United States only:
http://www.usgenweb.net/
(Subdivided into state sites, which all have county sites.)
(The Canadians have Canadian Gen Web, by province)
http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
(Social Security Death index - click on "Advanced" You may find your grandparents.)
http://find.person.superpages.com/
(US Phone book, for looking up distant cousins)


United Kingdom Only:
http://www.genuki.org.uk/
(Biggest site for United Kingdom & Ireland)
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/
(Free Birth, Marriage & Death Records)

(If you posted your question in Genealogy, ignore this paragraph. If you posted it in the "Family" category, read on.)
Tracing your family tree is called genealogy. YA has a category for genealogy,
Home > Arts & Humanities > Genealogy
There are hundreds of more links in the resolved answers there.


Notes:

You usually have to do some research. Sometimes you get lucky. Don't give up if your Great grandfather with your surname isn't there. Try all eight great-grandparents.

You won't find living people on any of the sites except the phone book one. You won't find many people born after 1920 on any of the sites except the SSDI one. Genealogists hide the birth dates, birth places and other facts of living people to protect their privacy. You will have to find your grandparents' or great grandparents' birth dates and maiden names somewhere besides the Internet.

The free sites are supported by advertising, just like TV. You can't watch the Super Bowl without seeing a beer commercial, and you can't surf for dead relatives without seeing an Ancestry advertisement. Many people complain about advertisements. Please don't. They bring you the "free" sites. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

If you get serious you'll need a genealogy program. They are to family research what "Word" is to writing a novel. I like Roots Magic. Family Tree Maker is the market leader. Both cost around $29. The Mormons will let you download PAF for free. It is clunky, but it is free. You can sometimes find old versions of FTM or Family Origins (FO is the predecessor of RM) in bargin bins at CostCo.

Answer 2

Hi,
You didn't say whether or not your grandparents are still living.. if so, that's a great place to get started. Gather as much 'family history' from relatives as you can first. Parents, aunts, uncles, etc.. can be a great source of information. If that's not an option for you, you can obtain information from birth/death certificates. These can be obtained by writing to the department of the state where they were born/died that keeps these records and requesting copies of birth and death certificates for them (yes, grand children can obtain these).
There are tons of great sites available online for researching your ancestry as well. There are also geneologists who are willing to do the work for you for a price. I hope this helps you. Good luck in your search :)

Answer 3

you can get free forms to start your reasearch at ancestry. com start with you write down your information on the form , next write down information about your parents , next grandparent both paternal and maternal, then your great grandparents both sides the info that you want to dwrite down is date born, where born , date married , where married , date died , where died by the time you have this information written down you have a good start on your genealogy good luck and happy hunting

Answer 4

after you ask your parents/grandparents and your aunt/uncles about what they know of their parents etc.
go to www.ancestry.com and enter your grandparents names, see if someone else has been doing genealogy on the family.

Go to www.rootsweb.com to get some blank family history sheets, that way you can track the family information prior to having software to enter it into.. make sure you document where you got the information..

Answer 5

It will take lots of research, so you'll have to be very interested in actually finding this info...

Here's some websites with some tips to start off with:
http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/roots-l/genealog/genealog.fhsearch
http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/lesson1.htm
http://www.byubroadcasting.org/ancestors/
http://www.accessgenealogy.com/