What are some good genealogy sites that are free?

Question

Most of them I have found are connected to Ancestry.com, and you have to pay for the information. Also, is there a way to find if a person was ever incarcerated, and what for, if it was many years ago?

Answer 1

Hey Dianna,

LDS Family Search,
Ellis Island,
Roots.com (does connect, but is free)
GENFORUM

Answer 2

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 3

There are Ancestry advertisements on most of the free sites, because Ancestry sponsors them. Learn to avoid the ads and you'll do fine. Rust Skipper's list is a great one to start with.