I would like to know how to search my family tree for free?

Answer 1

There are over 500,000 free sites devoted to genealogy on the Internet.

Researching your family tree is about as difficult as writing a term paper in a high school History class. You don't have to be a rocket scientist, but it isn't as easy as looking up the capital of Peru. If your great-aunt has already done it and posted her line on the Internet, you might find a line from your (dead) great grandfather all the way back to Charlemagne tonight, without any work.

If not, you will have to do the work yourself. Most teens don't want to spend the time. If you are interested, read on.

These are large and free. Many of them, however, have subtle ads for Ancestry.com in them - ads that ask for a name, then offer a trial subscription. Watch out for those advertisements.

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.)

The LDS site and the RWWC here would be the places to look for Great Aunt Matilda's research. Don't enter everything on either form; just name and approximate birth year. Set the year range to (+/-) 5. Don't expect to find living people, either. Look for someone who was born before 1900.

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; 500,000,000+ entries, of varying quality)

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. FHC's are small rooms in Mormon churches. They welcome anyone interested in genealogy, not just fellow Mormons. They have resources on CD's and volunteers who are friendly. They don't try to convert you; in fact, they don't mention their religion unless you ask a question about it.

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 - put a nation, or, better yet, if you are asking about a specific individual, a nation and a state / province, in all of your questions. It will help people help you.

Answer 2

There are many websites. Cyndi'sList has a multitude of them.

I prefer Ancestry.Com for its records. They have all the U. S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 is not available to the public yet. They have U. K. censuses also.
Your public library might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com that you can utilize.

Now be very careful about taking as fact everything you see in family trees on any website, free or paid. The information is user submitted and most is not documented.
Even when you see the same information repeatedly by many different submitters that doesn't mean it is right. A lot of people are copying without verifying. Use the information as clues as to where to find the documentation.

Answer 3

YOU CANNOT DO YOUR FAMILY TREE FOR FREE !

What you need to do is talk to family, Parents grandparents cousins aunts uncles etc.

Then gather any paper work you may have, certificates of Birth's , Death's and Marriages, baptism certificates diary's and any military paper work and if you are very lucky a Family Bible.

Then make a rough tree just so you can see who's who.

Then work back generation at a time, use web sites like

www.familysearch.org and www.rootsweb.com and others that you will find, but it will cost you a little money at some point but it is well Worth it.

Good luck and good hunting.

Answer 4

My sister has done a lot of that. She managed to go back to early 1700's for our family. And, it was all free, except for the gas. Libraries are wonderful for genealogy. Courthouses have records that are open to the public. We have traveled over 200 miles before just to go to a courthouse. I know the internet requires no traveling, but there is nothing like going to a courthouse and holding paper in your hands that you know an ancestor touched. It just seems more personal.

Answer 5

FamilySearch.org is free and the BEST online.