Very difficult ancestry search?

Question

I want to find my ancestors and my bloodline. I want to know about where I originate from. The only problem is I don't have my Grandfathers death or birth infromation. My Grandmothers live halfway across thee world. I need to know how to trace my family tree, and I'm getting restless. Please help!

Answer 1

You can't pick up the phone and call her? you can't write her a letter? Your parents don't know when their Dad died? start talking to family, thats the best source, at least you got a living relative to start with. there are all kinds of sites to go on and ask free questions, try message boards at genealogy.com or ancestry.com, they do world wide searches. but you got to give information to get information. names, places, dates, whatever you got, you can't get something from nothing.

Answer 2

Also check out http://www.familysearch.org/ which is free at the Mormon Church. This site is free and you can many times get SS information, too.

Write to any of the older family members in your family and ask questions because each person will remember different things when it comes to stories and things. If they are fuzzy when you first talk with them, call back later because once you bring up things, some of it may come back to them after they've had time to think about it.

If you don't already have software to work with, I'd advise getting Family Tree Maker so you can print up charts and forms so when you write to people or if you decide to call them, you can fill in the blanks and are less likely to forget to ask vital information. Once those folks are gone, so is much of the information they can share with you now so don't do like I did and put it off.

Also check out http://www.rootsweb.com/ and enter the name in the RootsWeb Search. When it takes you to the next page, click on WorldConnect to see if you can find any entries from others on your line. This site is also free.

Remember that any info entered there or any other site may not be accurate or documented by the person who entered it (we've found a few mistakes but not many).

Be sure to go to the Message Board at RootsWeb and check out queries and post your own and maybe get answers from others that way, too.

Once you get alot of your information, you will have gaps to fill in. That might be a good time to highlight the missing areas and sign up for ancestry.com for the three day trial and see if you can find the missing links there.

Have fun ~ it's time consuming, can be expensive but it is so much fun. And if you can, get copies of pictures for your records. Those old pictures are priceless.

Answer 3

If you know your Grandfather's name, the year he died and/or his age when he died, you can pretty well figure out the year he was born. From there, try either www.ancestry.com (for involved searches, you have to sign up for a membership, but a 2-week trial is free. BE SURE TO CANCEL BEFORE TIME RUNS OUT OR THEY WILL BEGIN AN AUTORENEWAL CHARGE TO A CREDIT CARD), or go to www.familysearch.org. They are the biggest genealogy sites I have seen on the internet or used. Another is www.rootsweb.com . If you find him listed (or them, if you mean both grandfathers), there more than likely is a link you can click that will take you back further to HIS parents, etc. So far, I have my grandfather's family traced back to 1700 and possibly earlier if I can find the right connection, and my Mom knew absolutely nothing about her great-grandfather and beyond. :)

Answer 4

Even here in the US, many people DO NOT have contact or access to immediate family (ie parents/ grandparents) to ask the preliminary questions. My grandfather died in 1910 when my mother was an infant (and he was close to 65 then); and I was a late life baby, to boot. It may be a bonus that you do have grandmother(s) still alive.. but I can't tell from your posting if there is the added possibility of a language barrier. So, yes, you have some challenges that many of us here don't deal with.
Not impossible though. If there is ANY way of contact with grandmother, that is your first option, and I second Granny's advice to do so as soon as possible. IF language is a problem, I am aware of volunteers online who offer free help to translate for you.
The other angle is that you didn't mention WHAT COUNTRY are we coping with? The internet really has broken down walls in terms of instant contact with persons from (or still living) across the world. I have seen instances where someone in the US has made connections with persons living overseas, sometimes in the exact area where info is needed, and they offer volunteer help to look up records.
I have 2 places to offer as far as learning about overseas. One is http://www.cyndislist.com/topical.htm
This is a great place to browse for WHAT TYPES OF RESOURCES ARE THERE for your ancestral country.
Next, there is www.rootsweb.com look for the section for mailing lists, click there and see if you can subscribe to a email group. This gives you the chance to network with persons working in the same locality, and hopefully, make friends with an expert on how to get to what you need.
Frankly (and I won't make everyone happy with this comment), NOT EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE FOUND ONLINE IN SOME DATABASE. That does not mean it won't be found, but your research may be more geared to finding original records. The LDS church is likely to be your best option for this. Their members have made efforts to microfilm as many records from around the world as they possibly can, and this effort pre-dates the internet. These films are NOT online, but there are family history centers all over, where you can order appropriate microfilms, and search them at their library. For those who did research before the internet, these films are standard procedure. Another resource that LDS has, is research outlines for various countries. These have overviews of what standard sources are going to be there, and how to use them.
Your homework assignment is to investigate how to contact grandma, and see what she has knowledge of. Check cyndis's for what she knows about online resources. COME BACK HERE, and post again, with whatever details you may have... a name, the place, a time frame. In any genealogy posting, the more you can provide, the better chance that someone will be able to connect you with what you need.
Hugs!!

Answer 5

I wish you luck in this. It is possible that you may find your ancestors. I am 100% certain you will if they were married to each other. If not married find out where they lived and who they lived with. Ancestry.com is a good web site or the Mormons keep excellent records. Trace your grandparents info by getting your parents info. Check out Gen.base.com. Just type either Gen or genealogy and see what you get. Good luck

Answer 6

You will first need to get as much information about your parents, grandparents, etc. as you can from talking to them, because you can typically only search for dead people on the Internet. Once you have some information farther back in your family, here are a few resources for you to use:

http://www.familysearch.org

Probably the best free online resource.

http://www.ancestry.com is one of the best but has a hefty subscription fee.

Also, you can check the surname message boards for his surname at:

http://genforum.genealogy.com

For links to helpful sites, you will want to take a look at:

http://www.cyndislist.com

And finally for a lot of different resources:

http://www.rootsweb.com

Good luck,
Dave
--
http://www.familypulse.org

Answer 7

If grandmothers live halfway across the world that would be a good place to start.

Answer 8

Before the internet, people telephoned, traveled and wrote "dead tree snail mail" letters to research their family history. You are lucky that your grandmothers are living. I'd about bet they'd be thrilled to learn of your interest in family history. Hurry, their time may be short.