Are there any inexpensive websites where you can trace your geneaology?

Question

Also, my wife is African-American and wants to find out more about her heritage, i.e. what part of the world her ancestors came from. Are there any websites that specialize in this

Answer 1

There are 500,000 of them. There are hundreds of sites devoted to African-American genealogy. 99% of AA's get stuck in 1870, which was the first year thay asked Negres what their name was. You wife could pay $100 - $300 for a DNA test to see what her heritage was; it would probably be a mix of different ethnic groups in West Africa. She should look at Cyndi's List > African-American.
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This is a long answer that I paste now and again to questions like yours.

The short answer to "How can I find my family tree?" is that if one of your great-aunts has spent 30 years researching it, AND has posted her research on the Internet, you'll find it. If not, you will have to do the research yourself. It is not difficult, but it takes time. Most young people do not want to spend a couple of hours a week doing research, because it is too much like homework. So, you may want to skip the rest of this answer. If not, read on.

If your line has been "done", chance are it is on one of these two sites. When you search, don't fill in all of the fields. Start with given name, surname and birth year. Use (+/-) 5 for the birth year. Expect to spend 15 - 45 minutes on each. Neither has any living people, so don't enter your own name.

http://www.familysearch.com
(Mormon's mega-site. Click on "Search", to start with, or "Advanced Search")

Roots Web
http://www.rootsweb.com
and in particular,
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi
(Roots Web World Connect; 460,000,000+ entries, of varying quality)

Here are a few more. The resolved questions have lots of links and tips.

http://www.cyndislist.com/
(240,000+ links, all cross-indexed. If you want Welsh or Pennsylvania Dutch or Oregon or any other region, ethnic group or surname, chances are she has links for it.)

Ancestry.com
http://www.ancestry.com/
(which has free pages and FEE pages - so watch out)
and, in particular,
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/default.aspx?ln=
Surname meanings and origins

http://www.tedpack.org/begingen.html
My own site: "How to Begin"

United States only:

http://www.usgenweb.net/
(Subdivided into state sites, which all have county sites.)
(The Canadians have Canadian Gen Web, by province)

http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/ssdi.cgi
(Social Security Death index - click on "Advanced". You may find your grandparents.)

http://find.person.superpages.com/
(US Phone book, for looking up distant cousins)


United Kingdom Only:

http://www.genuki.org.uk/
(Biggest site for United Kingdom & Ireland)

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/
(Free Birth, Marriage & Death Records)

In the USA, some public libraries have census image subscriptions. Many Family History Centers do too.

This is a general hint: Even though you go in through YA Canada, YA Australia, YA UK or YA USA, all of the questions go into one big "pot" and get read by everyone in the world who speaks English. Most of the people here are in the UK and USA, but you sometimes get questions and answers from people who worry about kangaroos eating their roses. So, if you are asking about a specific individual, put a nation and a state / province. It will help people help you.

Answer 2

The best way is simply to start with your own family. If you want to do it on the computer, you can download PAF (Personal Ancestral File), which is free genealogy software at http://www.familysearch.org under Order/Download Products. I imagine you can pick it up pretty quick because it is very user-friendly. Then talk to your parents (and grandparents if still alive) and get as much information as you can from them including names, dates, and places.

Here are a few online 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 (for most of its databases).

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

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

For grave records:

http://www.findagrave.com

It won't all be free but it's worth it.

Good luck,
Dave
--
Create a family tree website at http://www.familypulse.org

Answer 3

The first part of this question has been asked and answered in one form or another at least half a dozen times in the last week alone. I don't know about the second part, but it seems like something I would imagine someone has already thought of, so maybe try a Google search for such sites.

Answer 4

I completed maximum of mine, so a strategies as i ought to, with stressful queries left, some 30 years in the past. It truthfully gave me a happy feeling of understanding who i became and from whence I had come. it particularly is totally humbling, giving an perception into historic previous and that i've got in many circumstances puzzled why it particularly isn't any longer on a school curriculum. considering that we are all genuinely "egocentric", i might have chanced on historic previous extra exciting if having discovered my roots, I then had the job of having to comprehend how the ancestors lived and what life became like for them in England back interior the 18th, seventeenth, sixteenth Centuries. I had a grandfather who became a bigamist collectively as the different died in a psychological wellbeing midsection; a Gt. grandfather who became brewer and drank himself to loss of life on the age of 39, a grandmother who died of a G.I. bleed while purely fifty two (she in all probability does no longer have died now), a Gt. grandmother who suffered from peritonitis for 3 days previously she died (an undemanding appendectomy now, perhaps?). I even have an ex-chief of the Liberal social gathering on my tree and a kin of bargemen. I actually have a Lord chief Justic of attraction and miners/coal hauliers who began artwork interior the pits on the age of 8, working an 8-hour shift after strolling 4 miles to the pit then dealing with a 4 mile stroll dwelling house at nighttime - their purely training being waiting to "discovered to verify and write a sprint at a Wesleyan Sunday college" (from a central authority inspector's record into the employment of youngsters interior the pits) I actually have a convict deported to oz..in 1829 for stealing £2 hundred (it particularly is as good as having a Ronnie Biggs, great practice Robber interior the kin!). some well-known, some no longer. a pair purely a sprint infamous! To me, somewhat significant. And why did a pair of ancestors come from France to marry in Devon back interior the late1500's? the main suitable till final - my 10th cousin's mom became a cousin of the Princess of Wales, so i assume that makes me approximately 3 millioneth in line to the Throne!!!

Answer 5

familysearch.org