How can i find out about my family tree?

Question

I want to know about my family's history ...where we come from...please tell me how can i find this information...i do not know any person names or anything...plz help me find this info.

Answer 1

The best way I know for you to learn about your roots is to:

Build your family tree on line.
You can do this for free on:
http://www.tribalpages.com/
Start with yourself, then attach living family members.
Find out all you can about you family from living membes, then attach it to your tree.
Now it is time to look for historical records and attach the info to your tree:


It is ALL about census records, and other historical records!

You might get lucky and others may have done some work on your family tree. Google family members names ie. "Mary Smith" + "family tree"


Free sites:

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=27399&o_lid=27399

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/

http://www.cyndislist.com/

ect.

The time may come when you want more information than you can find for free. When this happens you can back up your "tribalpage" tree to your computer on a "GEDCOM" file
You can then go to (I think it is the best subscription site)

http://www.ancestry.com/

upload your "GEDCOM" file
and start to work!
you might need to make a few ajustments to your tree to make it look better.

Answer 2

Okay, when we get questions like yours, we are not absolutely sure where you are. If a person selects English language Q & A, all questions go to the U. S., Canada, Australian, New Zealand & U. K. Boards.

I am approaching your question like you are in the U. S.

First of all like others have said, start with your family. Get as much information as possible, particularly senior members. Those Great Grand uncles and aunts might have some facts confused. But even when they are ramlbing and telling stories, what they are telling just might turn out to be very important. So tape them if they will let you. I have heard people say they go back and listen to the tape again a year or 2 later and hear things they didn't hear the first time around.

Your public library might have some useful resources. They might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com which you can utilize. Ancestry.Com has a lot of records and is getting more and more. They have all the censuses through 1930. The 1940 is not available to the public yet.

Now you will see family trees submitted by different people on various websites. View them with caution. Most are not documented. There are errors. A lot of people are copying and all too frequently they are copying errors.

Call your nearest Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church and find out if they have a Family History Center. If so, ask them their hours open to the general public. They have records on people all over the world, not just Mormons. They are very nice and helpful and do not take advantage in trying to interest you in their religion.

Don't get involved too much in the origin of names. The same surname can come from many different nations.

While at the Family History Center, you will have a great opportunity to talk to people who can give you great advice.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

Hi,
Everyone on here has some great points. Start by talking to everyone in your family..Parents, grandparents if they are still living, aunts, uncles. Find out where your grandparents were born and where they lived. Also, because of respect and privacy of living persons, alot of researchers on the internet will not disclose information about living people publicly on the internet , and the census records in the U.S. are only available from 1790-1930. 1890 census records are hard to find, as the only surviving records are from a handful of states that maybe one or two counties kept copies of their census records. Ancestry.com has some great records, as their U.S record collection has alot of birth records on their site. You might want to access their records via the library or a local genealogy society as most of these sites charge a fee to access their online records. Be careful of getting information on the net. Documentation is the best thing to ask for. If they can't list a documented source for the information, regard it as speculation and tread with caution. By documentation, that is court records of any kind, wills, bible information, census reports, tax lists, mortality schedules, veteran's lists, application for war pensions, etc. Have a great time and happy hunting.

Answer 4

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 5

IBM has a genogragh where they can take a swab and literally show you your family traits goung back generations that will surprize you. Just plug in your search engine "The genograph project" It will take you to National Geogrphics collaberation with IBM reasearch. Very cool stuff going on there.

Answer 6

Do you know your parents full names? Their birthplaces.....that's where you begin and work your way back. I can suuggest a couple of places to start...Ancestry.Com, Church of the Latter Day Saints, Geneology.Com, there are plenty of sites on line. You can go the Central Branch of your Town Library and read books on how to start to trace your family roots......ask them for help....

Answer 7

You start with you, and work your way backwards, your mum and dad, then their parents, and it builds up like that. I am sure, that you will get some really good help and advice from the people who frequent this forum. There are some really good family historians/ genealogists all willing to help out to get you started.

Answer 8

otto herman draeger, norfolk, nebraska

Answer 9

ancestry.com