Are there any websites I can go on to find out who my ancestors were for free?

Question

I hafe to do a report in a week on my ancestors and I cant find anything on them at all my name is Krystal Allard can anyone help me find my relatives or who they were?

Answer 1

Wendy has a great answer. Cyndis list is a great resource with a whole lot of very helpful links.

The best place to begin researching your family tree is with your very own family. Get a note book and write down everything that you know about yourself and your siblings. Include dates and places of birth, marriage and if applicable death dates and places of interment. As soon as you have all that, move back a generation to your parents. Once you have all of that, move back to your grandparents and keep going until you run stuck. Once you have written down everything you know, talk to your family members. Sometimes even your siblings know more than you do, but usually if you talk to your parents or grandparents they can go a generation or two further than you can simply because they are a generation or two older than you.



One thing I need to mention is that to trace your genealogy right, it is going to cost you, whether it be for a subscription to a genealogy site, paying for vital records, making copies of documentation, buying gas to visit libraries or cemeteries, but these are such worthwhile expenditures. The nice thing is that it is not money you spend all at one time. Many of my roots came from Michigan so everytime I go up there for a visit, I carve out time to got to the library or to the cemetery etc.


With that said, there are also a lot of free resources. I have over 500 links to free genealogy records that I myself have found online. Here are some that can help just about everyone.

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/f... This is the webpage to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

http://searches.rootsweb.com/
This is a list of popular searchable databases on Rootsweb. There is a link to the Social Security Death index, as well as death records for California, Kentucky, Maine, and Texas. There are some international databases included too.

http://www.ellisisland.org/
If you are from the United States and know that you have ancestors that immigrated from other countries, there is a chance that Ellis Islands website could help you. You can actually look at the ships manifests on this site. It is so cool! You could even get information like how much money was in your great grandfathers pocket when he came over.

Then there are the message boards at both Ancestry and Rootsweb. They have boards for surnames, counties, States, and countries. This would be a great place to post information you already know about family members and attempt to build on it. It is always wise not to post information on living family members.

http://boards.ancestry.com/default.aspx....
http://genforum.genealogy.com/

You can also look at many of the existing trees out there to see if anybody has created one including members or your families. Sometimes you get lucky, but if you find one out there, I would recommend researching the information yourself before including it in your tree.

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/
http://www.gencircles.com/

So, as you can see from my answer... there is a whole lot to learn about genealogy and finding resources. I learned just by jumping in and doing it.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me through my profile. Good luck!

Are you the same Krystal Allard born in Merced County, California?

Answer 2

Krystal.. you MUST start at home, because information on living persons is private and protected. Your parents can share about themselves and their parents. If your grandparents are living, they should know their own parents, and possibly their grandparents. This gives you some names, estimated dates and places. Those who have died in the last 50 yrs are likely to be found in the social security death index, which is at
www.rootsweb.com and is free.
http://genforum.genealogy.com/allard/
Here is the page for the Allard family board at genforum. Again, it mainly works for people from the 1800's, and don't forget, Allard is your father's family. Every generation back has women, who have maiden names and that is considered to be "their" family.
I also would suggest www.cyndislist.com for some free how-to files. You will only get so far in a week, but I love seeing young people get hooked on research. Once your parents see a bit about how it is done, it might raise their interest also.
And I have never used any of the paid sites... take it for what it is worth.

Answer 3

Family Search may also be well, however most often while you recognize who you're browsing for. More up to date knowledge you'll need to pay for, however you'll be able to discover a few baptism and marriage knowledge without cost. I can handiest get again so far as the mid 1700s. The pay knowledge takes you to both Ancestry or Find My Past. See in case your regional essential library has the loose variation of Ancestry. The census has a wealth of knowledge, however you need to pay until the library has the knowledge without cost. I cross the the general public files workplace in Kew, London to paintings on my household tree, however I am fortunate sufficient to reside a brief teach trip away.

Answer 4

You can get a certain amount of info from the Mormon site
http://www.familysearch.org/
however, it is random and is more suitable for when you have already gone a little way back. You need to start by interviewing your parents about their parents and their parents, ask them about their jobs, childhoods, etc. You can easily get some interesting information like this. Then you can try genesconnected.co.uk, but you will have to pay to join.
Whatever site you use, you will always have to pay to order birth certificates etc, so nothing is actually free.

Answer 5

No they all charge some type of fee sorry