How can i find out more about my heritage/ancestors?

Question

I am australian born of irish descent, but barely even know my grandparents names..... how can i find out a few generations further back?

Answer 1

Open up a Google window and do a search for Australian Genealogy.

I just did and came up with well over a million hits.

Here is the top choice-

http://www.nla.gov.au/oz/genelist.html

Good Luck....

Answer 2

you've been given some good answers here so I'll throw in a couple more sites for you. familysearch.org and rootsweb.com. But Cyndislist.com has a lot of great stuff. If your parents are still alive they are a great resource or other family members. Birth, Death certificates, Cemeteries and obits also are great resources. Happy hunting. You will be amazed at what you find in your family tree. I recently found out from a newspaper article that an ancestor died 20 yrs later from a wound he suffered in the Civil War. It also listed all his family. What a find!

Answer 3

One of my favorite places is
www.cyndislist.com
with thousands of relevant links, as well as beginner tutorials.
The BASIC trick... start with you, and your own documents. Next, your parents... yes, you will be given information, but get into the habit of collecting verification. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT. With the records, you will find the building blocks to the next level. Example... your parents birth cert. will be a document for them, but also will have names of the grandparents. Now, you have names, but also, you know that they were in a certain place when the child was born... mom at least, is of childbearing age.
Using the more recent record... can you learn where the grandparents died? are buried? If you can get the death record for them, it (again) will link you back to THEIR history.
Seemingly contradictory- the further back it goes, the easier it gets. Why? Living person's records are often confidential, for privacy reasons. Not so, when they have been dead for 100 yrs. It opens up.
http://www.cyndislist.com/topical.htm
I like to tell folks to just BROWSE this website, in order to be amazed at what all is out there.
And no, for the most part, you CAN do it for free.

Answer 4

I found out through my blood type. O RH negative people are traced to European Blood and suppose to be from the Vikings.

You can also look up surnames.

Silly, but your body type. Big hips/thighs in females are fat that can turn into water, it usually means they are probably cold natured and are from a warm climant. Hot natured would mean the opposite. Eskimos have thicker blood, yes I lived in Alaska and it's true.

America is the great melting pot it seems, but were just a few generations away from some point of origin. Good luck in your quest!

Answer 5

you can go to the library and get a lot of books on tracing your ancestry and heritage back

if you know any of their names, you can also look at the microfilm of births, deaths, etc of old newspapers

these will give you a great starting point

I found my deceased grandmother on the obituaries (on microfilm newspapers ) and she died in 1967!

best wishes to you on your search

Answer 6

ancestry.com has some ancestry things...but you have to pay...most ancestor websites require you to pay a certain amount for membership to access files. the price ranges usually from $5 to $19.99

Answer 7

try births deaths and marriages records in aus - if u can afford it
ask your parents
try shipping records
see celtic cousins online
church records too
and try church of jesus christ and latter day saints records online....very good source

Answer 8

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.... jfgi!!