How do I find my family's history online for free?

Question

My Great-Grandfather immigrated from Scotland as a child at the turn of the century (with his family). Before coming to Canada, they lived briefly in South Africa. (Possibly went there in connection with the Boer wars? But not really sure.) I have spent hours, days, weeks on the web, looking for info on them, but can't find anything. Any advice?

Answer 1

Hey Mama Dee,

Genealogy is an expensive hobby. There are free sites, and you can get some free information, but Genealogy - good Genealogy - is based on Vital Records. Those cost money. To organize your data, you need software (some free, to $30.00). Many sites give you information, but if you want all the information, you pay. But, that said, there are tidbits of information available on the internet. Here are some of the best sites, closest to free as it gets.

Note that you can get free time on pay sites with the purchase of software. Just shut off the pay site prior to them billing you.

Answer 2

There are a ton of loose genealogical web pages on the information superhighway. Do a information superhighway seek making use of your father's final call, eire, kinfolk tree, and if attainable the city or county of eire. in case you don't get any hits, shrink the quest until you do. you have have been given to start with kinfolk tree, eire or some thing else too huge for instant use. As you collect records, you may refine your seek to collect specific records; e.g., Dublin baptismal information, 1901, O'Reilly. you will get all styles of records materials beginning from the paid to the beginner to the non-earnings. reliable success.

Answer 3

RustSkip is right. Even though you might find your family on one of the websites, you have to be very careful about assuming everything is correct. The information provided should be regarded as clues as to where to search.
The people who submit their information to any of the websites, free or the ones you have to have a subscription to like Ancestry.Com, are amateurs like myself and yourself if you decide to trace your tree. Actually any official record you find, it is best to find 2 more to verify the information, if possible. You have to remember what one person says and the other person hears is not always the same thing. Sometimes the informant on the record might not have the correct facts.This can be particularly true of census records.

Answer 4

you could try www.familysearch .org it is completely free,and it's excellent. You can also search some records on www.ancestry.com for free and on www.ancestry.co.uk they have free bmd records but only for England and Wales. I would be quite happy to do a search for you to get you started at least, I have been told that www.ancestry.com are doing a free trial at the moment don't know how accurate that is though.

Answer 5

familysearch.org is the Mormon genealogy site which is supposedly the largest and most complete in the world.
Also, if you know they travelled, and roughly what years they travelled, it is possible to look at many ship's manifests for passenger names.
If you know where in Scotland your grandfather originated, it may be possible to search the town's birth and death records for info as well.

Answer 6

there is a web site called Familytree.com

Answer 7

Try these websites Good Luck :)
www.familyhistory.com
www.familytreemagazine.com

Answer 8

Sorry, most websites dealing with family heritage cost money.

Answer 9

You could try here:

http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/

There must be lots of other sites

Answer 10

I swear to God . you're lying !