I would like to create a family tree for my boyfriend?

Question

I only have his grandpas' name his grandpas' died I just know his name and I can find out his birthday.I need help to create his family tree any suggestions websites or books or software would be helpful thank you.

Answer 1

The best place to begin researching your family tree is with his own family. Get a note book and write down everything that you know about your Boyfriend and his 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 his parents. Once you have all of that, move back to his grandparents and keep going until you run stuck. Once you have written down everything you know, talk to his family members. Sometimes even siblings know more than their brother does, but usually if you talk to his parents or grandparents they can go a generation or two further than he can simply because they are a generation or two older than him.

One thing I should mention to you since you are a new genealogist is to document EVERYTHING! This will save you so much work later. If you get a date from Grandma's bible, simply document that information. If you can get in the practice of doing this from the beginning, you will avoid making the big mistake that most of us genealogists made while we were starting out. Think about it... if you have 50 people in your family tree, you might be able to keep this information "in your head", but what happens when this number rises to 500 or 50,000? After a while genealogy gets in your blood and 50,000 people is not and unfeasible number.

What happens next is up to you. What are you interested in? Would you like to know who all of his great great grandparents are? Are you interested in a particular surname? Are you trying to prove that he is related to someone famous? Only you know the answer to these questions? Once you've decided which avenue you want to explore you can continue. There are many records out there that genealogists use. Many of them are free, but there are others that are by subscription.

One thing I need to mention is that to trace 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.

There are many people on this forum who are avid genealogists who have never paid for a membership to ancestry; however, I have found it invaluable. You might want to visit ancestry because they do have some free areas on their site. I live next to a branch of the National Archives and they have every census record in existence. If you start out looking up people in the census using the microfilms, there is a process you must follow that requires you to look at two microfilms before you find the census page of the family that you need. This is very time consuming and if you are looking up a family member with a name that is usually spelled wrong, there is no guarantee that you will find it. The beauty of having a membership to ancestry is that they have the censuses fully indexed meaning you can type in a name and pull it right up without looking on two microfilm rolls. Further, you can manipulate spellings of the name and the places you are searching in a single search. This alone has made Ancestry worth the money I have spent for a subscription. Many times Ancestry runs specials and I pay under $100.00 per year so if you divide that by 12, the expense is less than a subscription to Netflix or just about anything else. Ancestry also offers Military records, obituaries, marriage records, birth and death indexes and much much more.

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/

After you get so far, you may want to try to input your information into a family tree program. There are several commercially available; however, there are a few that you can download for free off of the internet. PAF (Personal Ancestry File) is a very respectable program that you can download at

http://www.ldscatalog.com/webapp/wcs/sto...

There are several different language versions available. Most programs have places for you to document your sources and have a file format called GEDCOM making it easy to share your tree with people using a different genealogy program or easy for you to change programs without reentering all of your information.

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. Once you get out in the genealogy community you will see that there are a lot of people eager to help you in any way they can. Have I made mistakes along the way? You bet... who hasn't? You will find though that the rewards are numerous and that it can get quite addicting.

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

Answer 2

One of the best books I have found is "Unpuzzling your past" its under $20.00 and takes you thru every step. The easiest software I have found is Family Tree Maker. There are lots of them out there so it depends on what you want. For websites: familysearch.org, rootsweb.com, cyndislist.com. Those will be your most helpful. Got to your local library and they should have ancestry and heritagequest. Both are ones you have to pay for at home but at the library they are free to use.
Invest in the book and start from there. You will have a ball tracing your boyfriend's ancestors. It's a lot of work and you'll pull your hair out at times. Be careful about what you find online as it's only as good as the researcher and you could end up chasing the wrong line. If you have birth and death certificates it will give you a lot of information, parents, etc. Cemetery records are good too.
Good luck

Answer 3

Try your local library if they offer internet access, the local library in my area has Ancestry.com for free use as long as you have a library card, otherwise it is about $26/month. You need to find out where the man was born, then you can possibly find him on a census, then maybe you can find his parents but I'm thinking that will be as far as you get without asking any other family members any questions. Good luck! Do your own tree and you will learn all kinds of fascinating stuff!!!

Answer 4

i visit point this because of the fact it has no longer been suggested in any of the different comments i do no longer have confidence - There are 2 gadgets of grandparents right here that would have touch with any toddlers that come alongside. each and each set of grandparents is going to have a different concentration. no longer that this would not arise ever. It does on extremely a favourite foundation. yet the two one in each of you're able to desire to debate the baby's attendance at non secular conferences - how this is going to be worked out. this would possibly no longer look a huge concern correct now, even though it incredibly is going to be down the line - for the youngsters and for the the two one in each of you in time. i visit tell you - that existence differences. concentration differences. what's or looks unimportant differences. what's or looks important differences. With time and adulthood. the two one in each of you're able to experience on the 2d which you will verify compromises. yet there would come an afternoon while those will substitute. What you each and each experience is important or no longer important will substitute with age, toddlers, only the international around you. while you're no longer committed on your ideals - each and each of you - one hundred% now, there is room for substitute. And which would be a concern once you the two one substitute into one hundred% committed. All it takes is for one in each of you to alter - you or him - and what you have talked out will no longer artwork. There should be a gathering of the minds earlier the I DO or it could substitute into an I DON"T down the line. And which would be disasterous for all in contact, fantastically while there are childrens in contact. earlier you pass any better, you're able to desire to pass to a gathering (or a number of) on the dominion hall, on account that's the place your toddlers will finally be happening social gathering. and you're able to desire to comprehend the data. The greater you comprehend approximately his faith, the greater you will comprehend him and his element of the family participants. Is he a baptized Witness? Does he attend conferences on the dominion hall? Does he participate interior the well-known public ministry? those are issues you will desire to already comprehend approximately him. yet once you do no longer you're able to desire to debate.

Answer 5

familysearch.org. Let him create his own family tree, he will get more enjoyment out of it, and find out a lot about his ancestors.

Answer 6

put find family on yahoo search-plenty of sites

Answer 7

Try this free and really easy to use website:

http://www.geni.com/