how can i find my family tree online for free?

Answer 1

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. Many of them, however, have subtle ads for Ancestry.com in them - ads that ask for a name, then offer a trial subscription. Watch out for those advertisements.

http://www.cyndislist.com/
(240,000+ links, all cross-indexed. If you want Welsh 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 best way to get started is to ask your oldest living relatives about themselves and their parents. You may find great-grandpa's death date and burial place on the web, but only his children, your grandfather and grandaunt, can tell you what sort of man he was.

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.

This is a general hint. Even though you go in through YA Canada, YA Australia, YA UK or YA USA, all of the questions go into one big "pot" and get read by everyone in the world who speaks English. Most of the people here are in the UK and USA, but you sometimes get questions and answers from people who worry about kangaroos eating their roses. So - put a nation, or, better yet, if you are asking about a specific individual, a nation and a state / province in all of your questions. It will help people help you.

Answer 2

Click here:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=family+tree+free&btnG=Search

Answer 3

Probably you can't, but you can get the information you need to build your own, by working backwards from known ancestors via www.freebmd.org.uk which is building a vast database of births, deaths & marriages, and www.familysearch.org, which contains transcriptions of a very large proportion of the Parish Records of this country, details from other sources ,a compete transcript of the 1881 census and large numbers of individual reports by members of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) who maintain these records for their own purposes, but offer access to them freely to anyone interested. and have research centres in many of the big towns - see their site for details

Answer 4

you cant. you can do free searches on www.genesreunited.co.uk and ancestry.co.uk but you cant contact other members to verify information without joining. genesreunited is £9.65 a year to join and well worth it. if you are new to this believe me ,you cant get far without joining. you will find lots of names that you think will be your relations but you cant assume that they are a match unless you can double check it. even names that you think are uncommon are surprisingly common and you will be banging your head against a brick wall if you try to get far without joining. good luck and be ready for it to take over your life!

Answer 5

you could try www.familysearch.org/eng for the mormon site, although I would use the ancestry.co.uk site there is a free bmd section you just cant download the stuff though for that you have to pay. good luck Diane.

Answer 6

type in google family trees and it will come up with varius websites and just click on as many as yooh want untill yooh get the ryt syt! dats wot i do

Answer 7

The crucial to unlock the power to make cash from house is obtaining the correct on the internet interface for writers

Answer 8

Try the free subscription to ancestry on www.ancestry.co.uk

Answer 9

i like the genes reunited site but you have to pay for credits to get some information

Answer 10

try ancestory online or genes reunited,iv chassed a few with both of these