Where can I find information of my ancestors without paying anything?

Question

I can't seem to find any information of my ancestors on the internet. If I find a website it gives you a trial period and then you still have to pay after something like 7 days.Have any ideas?

Answer 1

Here is a list of some of the free ones.

www.rootsweb.com -This is a good one that is free. It is run by Ancestry.com but shouldn't be confused with Ancestry.com- the pay site.

www.cyndislist.com

www.familysearch.org website for the Church of the Later Day Saints.

www.genforum.com This is a site that is full of individual message boards. You can search and post by last name, state, country, or county. This is a great one. Simply post your question on the respective board, and when people answer you will get a notification on your E-mail.

I must say, however, that a good genealogy query, doesn't just say. " I need information on John Smith" I good one would go something like this. " I am looking for information on John Smith of Holland, Michigan. John was born October 11, 1913 in Holland, Michigan and was married to Geneva Jones on October 12, 1937 also in Holland. He died on July 1, 2000. They had six children named. Abraham, Benjamin, Charles, Daniel, Edward and Franklin. I would really like to find out who John's parents are.

As you can see, a good query has

1) the persons name
2) all of the biographical information you know to date and
3) asks a specific question

The reason it is so specific is because people won't waste your time and theirs telling you what you already know. Also, by providing ALL of your known information (for example, the childrens names) it gives people alternate people to research to help arrive at your answer.

http://www.usgenweb.org/ -When you get to the main page, you can get to the state and individual locality pages by clicking on the appropriate links. Keep in mind that some towns are going to have more information than some smaller obscure towns. It all depends on what kinds of volunteers contribute information to their sites. Genealogy is very much a hobby that depends on people.

Check your local library. Many libraries have subscriptions to Ancestry.com or hertiage quest that you can Access from home with your library card number. Heritage Quest is geared mostly toward the US records.

www.interment.net or www.findagrave.com These are cemetery sites that have grown by leaps and bounds.

http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-b...

This is the link to the Social Security Death index. This is a very helpful resource to finding death dates of people who died in recent years (since about the 60's)

If your family immigrated to the US in the last 100-125 years you can try
www.ellisisland.org
This one is cool because you can actually have a look at the ships manifests!!

Good luck in your search. It is a satisfying and rewarding hobby with lots of twist and turns. Remember, you are not going to just find your entire genealogy in one search. It is an ongoing puzzle. I tell people, if you can find one thing every time you are searching, you are doing GREAT. If you find any more than that at any given time you are LUCKY!! Blessings.

Answer 2

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/avYMA

To really get your famiy history probably won't be free. Someone might have told you you can find your family history on the internet, FOR FREE. There are family trees on the internet and most of them do not have documentation. There are people copying those family which means sometimes you see a full page of the same information on the same person by different submitters. Go into Rootsweb and put a surname in the World Connect Block and you will pull up trees but if you want good family history, you need to verify by getting documentation, not just copying what others have to fill in blanks on a family tree chart. That means going to courthouses, which might be out of state and getting the information or writing and asking for copies of records which you will have to pay for. The information in those trees often times does help give you clues as to where to get the records. Go to your library. They probably have a lot of resources and maybe a subscription to Ancestry.Com which you can utilize. Ancestry.Com has lot of records. It also has all the U. S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 is not available to the public yet. The Latter Day Saints (Mormon) Churches usually have Family HIstory Center which has records on people all over the world, not just Mormons. They are nice and helpful and do not allow you to use their resources so the can proselyse you. I have never had any of their missionaries come ring my doorbell because I availed myself of their records. While you are at your library and the Family History Center, you will probably have an opportunity to talk with people who can give you a lot of great ideas. However, before you do anything you should get as much information from your family as possible, particularly your senior members. Tape them if they will let you. It might turn out that they are a little confused on some things but what might seem to be insignificant ramblings and story telling might in the long run be very important.

Answer 3

I have a web page that I'm going to use at the library to teach beginning Internet genealogy. It would take you an hour or two to work through the exercises. They show you large, FREE web sites and have you try various search strategies. It is designed for people in the USA; California would be even better. Write if you'd like to try it. Otherwise, the resolved questions are full of links.

Answer 4

Hi, I specify a website which is owned by Automativox Computer Company, its a open source family tree and ancestors project, all you do is go to map page > add a page > put your last name in the box, and select empty (only the title), if its a new last name i will have the information in less than 5hrs free, since this is a open source project of the Automativox Computer Company....
http://pilot.automativox.com/wikiwig/

Answer 5

Most local libraries have census information, marriage licenses, and death certificates. Check their geneology department. My local library has an entire branch dedicated to it. It seems there was also a local Latter Day Saints church here in Oklahoma that had a lot of information.

Answer 6

My local library has a Genealogy Section. They pay for all the publications and you can go in there and spend all the time you want looking up information on your family.

Answer 7

Without paying anything????- just in ur grandmother's memories.

Answer 8

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp

http://www.gencircles.com/

http://genforum.genealogy.com/

http://boards.ancestry.com/

http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi