What is a free website where I can Find my Family tree?

Answer 1

Hi Chris!

The guys above me gave you some good starting points, and I'd like to add to that.

--As it was said, your tree is most likely not just sitting around waiting for you to find it, unless you're extremely lucky, and even if it IS, you'll need to verify the information for yourself. Most people who are really interested in genealogy work on this the rest of their lives. I'm not trying to scare you off! I just want you to be aware of how involved genealogy really is. A lot of people come into looking for their whole tree intact and give up early in the search. A great thing about genealogy, especially online, is that you come into contact with a whole lot of very interesting people! It's very rewarding, but requires patience and can be quite frustrating at times.

--These sites you are looking for will not tell you your whole family tree, but they will probably have bits and pieces here and there. See the sources below for some starting points in.

--I host genealogy chats (on a leave of absence until I finish school) and I recommend you check some out because they have great "Beginners" chats and they can really help. Some have great quizzes where you can learn about different records and things. Some will actually do lookups for you. See the sources for chat groups.

--Some of these sites that have been recommended (rootsweb and LDS church) are great for giving leads, but don't fall into the trap many do. If you find information that does not have a specific source, take it as a lead rather than fact because there is no way to verify it's authenticy. It very well could be correct, but you just don't know.

--Over the years, there are bound to be at least 2 people with every name. If you are looking for someone with a rare name and you find a record mentioning it, don't just jump to conclusions that it is the one you are looking for. There are even professional genealogists who make that mistake. Take it as evidence, not as fact.

Answer 2

Hey Chris,

Your family tree is not likely just sitting around waiting for you. You have to put it together from information, and facts that you gather together. Some of that information may come from the internet for free. Some may come from Vital Records that you have to purchase. In any event, people work for years putting them together. Unless a brother or sister put one on the web, your's will not be there. That said, here are some free sites to help you.

Answer 3

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 4

rootsweb.com is a really good place to start. You have tons of search options and it's all user posted. There are trees on my mom's side going back to the 1600's that have people linked allover the country.

Answer 5

you might not find your family tree, but you will find some of your ancestors at familysearch.org or lds.org and log into family history. They are both Mormon websites, but they are very helpful.