Genealogy question...can you help?

Question

what is the easiest, cheapest, and fastest way to fnd out my genealogy? I've been trying to find records of some of my ansestors and I'm geting nowhere.

Answer 1

Hey ABC MOM,

Without being specific on why you are getting nowhere, you leave me to guess. First, are you starting at the beginning, with yourself, then your parents, with documentation as much as possible, (vital records). Try putting the information into software? The software packages help organize your data, and provide search tools. Some of those search tools will link family members to suspected Family Tree Branches, from literally thousands of other peoples trees. Family Tree Maker offers free Ancestry.com for a period of time. Prior to the end of the free period, cancel your membership, or decide to keep it for a period of time. Be careful not to pay for it long, it looses its value. Download all the trees you can during your membership, and refer to them later.

Here are some great web sites including the Software packages. Work on one branch at a time. If you get stuck, put it down, and move to another, then go back to the one you were stuck on another day. The Genealogy delema is that for every person you find, there are two new people you need to find, their parents. Enjoy the ones you do find, and try to imagine their lives. Document their stories, and you might get clues about how to research them better. Good luck, and come back here to ask more specific questions.

Answer 2

There's a sign in my auto mechanic's shop:

- - - - - - - - - - - -
Quality
Speed
Price
Pick any TWO.
- - - - - - - - - - - -

In your case, pick any one:

Easiest - hire a professional. They get $25 to $50 per hour. Expect to pay for four weeks worth of their time, plus expenses for photocopying, mileage, etc. The honest ones don't guarantee speed or results. Those 160 billable hours might be spread out over 6 months.

Cheapest - Do it yourself. Like fly fishing or nature photography, it is a rewarding hobby. If you are a fly fisher, you don't expect to land a 15-pound German brown trout with every cast. If you are a nature photographer, you don't expect to "shoot" a 14-point buck taking a sip from a pool at the base of a waterfall every time you unsling your 500mm lens. If you are a genealogist, you have to expect some dead ends, some frustrations and some problems.

Fastest - believe everything you read on the Internet, don't check any facts and hope someone else has "done" one or two branches of your family. It won't be accurate, but you can accumulate people whose surname was probably spelled like one of your surnames faster than you can shake a stick at them.

If you want to take up the sport, Rust Skipper's suggestions are the best. Follow them.
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Later:

I wasn't trying to be harsh. I was trying to point out a fact. There isn't a web site that will predict winning lotto numbers. If there was, everyone would win and the weekly prize of $30 million would be split among 60 million players; 50 cents each, and would you like to buy another ticket?

There aren't any magic pills that will let me lose 30 pounds while eating all of the chocolate fudge sundaes I want, lying in the recliner. If there was, there wouldn't be any fat people.

There isn't a magic web site that will let you enter you name and start rolling out a 12-generation family tree, with a family coat of arms for each surname, complete BMD dates and places for each individual, a 3,000-word biography for all the heads of households and no less than three Cherokee Princesses in each tree. If there was, there would not be 250,000+ web sites devoted to one aspect or anther of genealogy.

There isn't a fast, cheap and easy way to do any hobby - assemble a stamp collection, take prize-winning pictures, catch trophy marlin, play the clarinet, dance the tango, sing gospel, paint landscapes or sculpt busts.

There are web sites that let the teens download music for free, quickly and easily. There are others that let them chat for hours about nothing much. There are fast, cheap and easy ways to look up people on the SSDI - three different ones, in fact. The SSDI is just one tool, out of thousands, that we can use.

I suspect you knew all that and merely used an unfortunate phrase in your question. If you live in the USA, write to me via my profile and I may be able to help get you started. I won't charge you. The suggestions I will make will probably take you time to follow. Genealogy isn't fast or easy (it can be cheap), but it isn't rocket science. If you got a "C" or better in your high school history class, you can do it.

Answer 3

Go to the public library, find one with Ancestry.com online and ask for a little help.

Answer 4

I can't give any more help than you've already gotten; instead, I too am learning from the answers you are getting. Thanks for asking the question, and especially thanks to Rustskipper for his good and lengthy answer.

Answer 5

praying and asking it to God is VERY FREE=)