Is there free genealogy websites?

Question

ok, my last name is blackburn, and my distant family migrated from england, and theres a blackburn, england, and i wanted to see if theres any family history behind that... but all the websites require a fee, and i dont want to pay for something im gonna use for an hour or two

Answer 1

I am assuming your family is in the U.S. If it isn't then disregard my answer.

First, ancestry.com does have a 14 day free trial-BUT you must cancel before the end of 14 days or they will charge your credit card. Also, don't be suprised if they ask you to put your cancellation in writing and fax it to them. I have had friends tell me that they had to do it this way to cancel.

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 have had a LOT of success on GenForum.

I must say, however, that a good genealogy query, doesn't just say. " I need information on John Smith" Try to provide as many dates, places, and details as possible. One little thing can make the difference as to the answer you get.

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

There are heaps of free family history sites, it depends very much on what you are after. A really good place to start is with the The Church of Latter Day Saints at http://www.familysearch.org - this will give you extracted records from 'Official' records, as well as submissions from members. The source - ie the Church - is incedental, it's just a really big resource of information. For UK stuff, especially to possibly answer your question about Blackburn, try http://www.genuki.org.uk/ - there is lots of info on the various counties and parishes there.

Answer 3

Unfortunately, that is the way most websites operate. They let you in, browse, look around etc... for free. But when it comes down to a specific bit of information they want you to register etc.... of course running a site and doing research cost them money too.

For what you need there could be other ways of doing it, but the bottom line is that somewhere along the way it will cost you a few $$. Hopefully someone with the same name has the information and is willing to share. That happens too. Try a free posting on Gen Web, it is really go for that stuff as you are dealing with thousands if not millions of people all looking for info.

Answer 4

Family Search
http://www.familysearch.org
Search the Family History Library's database, which contains millions of names from thousands of family trees.

GenCircles
http://www.GenCircles.com
Searching the global tree and viewing results is free to everyone. In addition to first and last names, the database is searchable by dates and places of birth, baptism, marriage, death, and burial, as well as by the names of an individual’s father, mother and spouse.

GeneaNet
http://www.geneanet.org
A database that indexes all the world's genealogical resources, whether Net-based or not and whether free or fee-paying.

Free On Ancestry
http://www.freeonancestry.com/
A directory of all the FREE records and resources available on Ancestry.com.

Ancestor Hunt
http://www.ancestorhunt.com
Index of Free Genealogy Search Engines

Find Your Family Tree
http://www.findyourfamilytree.com
A free genealogy web site designed to help you find missing branches of your family tree using Pedigree Resource File (PRF), a rapidly expanding collection of family trees submitted by people worldwide to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

GenealogyBuff.com
http://www.genealogybuff.com
Search for your surname in dozens of family history databases with one click. Though you still have to visit each site to see the results (or find out your search came up empty), GenealogyBuff.com can be a good starting point for online research.

USGenWeb
http://www.usgenweb.org
The USGenWeb is one of the premier sites for US researchers. Here you'll find Web pages for every US state and county.

AncestralFindings
http://www.ancestralfindings.com
AncestralFindings may not own every database you're interested in, but its collection is impressive. Holdings include CD-ROM records of births, deaths, marriages, census indexes, land records, passenger lists, immigrations and Genealogy.com's entire World Family Tree collection.

Answer 5

Try one of these: (some are free & some are partially free)


http://www.ancestry.com
http://www.genealogy.com
http://www.rootsweb.com
http://www.genforum.com
http://www.cyndislist.com
http://www.familysearch.org