Where can I find facts about my ancestors that were born and raised in the USA?

Question

Can anyone tell me what website to go to to do genealogy on my family that were born and raised in the USA and then from there I can search for family members that immigrated from Europe?

Answer 1

Here are a few links that may help you in your search.

http://genforum.genealogy.com
http://boards.rootsweb.com/

These are the messageboards at both GenForum and Rootsweb. You may or may not find your relatives on these boards and even if you don't it would be wise to post a query and see who answers. I have found these to be very useful boards for finding your genealogy. If someone responds to your query, the board will send you an E-mail to let you know that someone has responded.

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 a query should be so specific is because people won't waste your time and theirs telling you what you already know. I have done lookups for people already and reported my findings only to be told, "Well, I knew that!" It would have been helpful if they would have told me that they knew that from the beginning. I probably would have checked a different set of sources to further the search. 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://lists.rootsweb.com/

This is the link to the mailing lists at Rootsweb. Basically a mailing list is like a study group. All of its members are interested in a particular surname or locality in one way or another. Everytime someone posts, you receive an E-mail. You can always unsubscribe at anytime. If you aren't interested in joining the list, there is a searchable archive of all the postings. Some of these mailing lists at Rootsweb go back 10 years. Simply click the "search the archives" link and then enter your search terms.

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/

This is the link to the world connect family trees at Rootsweb. These are user contributed family trees. These may or may not be related to your family, but it is a starting point. If you find one with members of your family, I always recommend double checking it, or getting in touch with the contributer whose name and E-mail address should appear with the tree.

http://www.gencircles.com/

This is a link to the trees on the gencircles website. Again, I recommend double checking any information you may find on your particular family.

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/f...

Finally, here is the site for the church of the Latter Day Saints website. Simply put in your search terms and press search. I'm sure you can figure it out from there.

If you are interested in doing your genealogy, the best way to get started is to start with yourself. Write down everything you know about your parents, then keep going back until you run stuck. Most people can get back to their grandparents and maybe a set of great grandparents. At this point there are so many ways to get back further in your tree. Much of it depends on the records available. For instance, it you live in the United States, public records are only going to take you back so far. Many localities weren't required to keep records until the late 1800's or even early 1900's, and many courthouses were burned in the Civil War destroying many of the existing records that were already in place. In Europe and many other countries, records go back a lot further. Other avenues of getting information are studying old land records, wills, cemeteries, city directories, local histories and military records. Another gold mine of information is if your parents kept old letters of the family. It wasn't uncommon in the early twentieth century for women to have post card books. Some old post cards have some interesting information as well. If you are young, you may have the honor of being able to interview your grandparents for information. If you do this, I would recommend taping the conversation because often it is impossible to remember everything they said and you will have a treasure for future generations. Even though tracing your tree yourself takes a lot of time and a lot of effort, you learn so much and it is so much more worthwhile than pulling up a tree on a website and wondering where in the world the author got their information.

Here are a few more websites that may help you in your search.

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!!

If you start your search for your ancestry, it will probably turn into an obsession. It is very addicting and it is like a big puzzle with so many benefits. You learn where your family came from, where they've been, often you can learn about family medical history. There just isn't a down side. Remember the old addage, "If you want something done right, you often have to do it your self." 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!! Write to me if you have any questions. I would be happy to help if I can. Blessings

Answer 2

The Mormon Church has a huge data base of geneological information. I believe they will help you for free, but I may be wrong about that. There are many sites which will be glad to charge you for information, so try the Mormons first. The library may be able to help you, too.