How can i research my family tree?

Question

how can i go ahead and research my family tree without using one of those websites that say they do it and you gotta pay them. im really interested in my family history

Answer 1

Try these:
Free sites: there are several to choose from. Start with:
http://www.searchforancestors.com/...

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

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/

Assuming they emigrated from Europe, start with Ellis Island and the Battery Conservancy sites:
http://www.ellisisland.org
http://www.castlegarden.org

Don't forget to try your local public library...they may have ancestry.com or heritagequest.com, plus books and periodicals, as well as some one to help you.

Answer 2

If you stop over at www.cyndislist.com, she has an excellent beginner section, and thousands of other genealogy related sites.
I occasionally dodge flying tomatoes because I am among the few that don't recommend ancestry. I don't discourage it either, since it does offer a valid service IF YOU CHOOSE. It did not exist when I started research. There has been research before the internet. Much of what you find in the popular sites today is based on submitted research of other persons, which may or may not be accurate or factual. Please don't limit your thinking that this is all that is available, in fact, it is only the tip of the iceberg.
Genealogy is about historical documents, which may be public records, and may be such things as family records (ie Bible records). Facts are anywhere you find them.. the internet is just one means to get to them faster. One huge bonus is that online, you CAN find distant relatives working the same ancestor (not just the surname) who may already have personally sat in the dusty courthouse and found otherwise hidden records. If/ when someone asks you "what is your documentation for this?"... hug them. The fact that they care enough to verify the source is what makes them a good researcher.
The trick is in knowing the balance between finding records, and using the internet as a road to find those same records. There are expenses.. like any hobby, but know where your money is going and why.

Answer 3

You have gotten some excellent answers, as well you should, because people ask that question here 3 - 14 times a day.

Just a note of caution. I teach beginning genealogy on the Internet one night a month at the public library. The two things most beginners have the most trouble with are

1) Many of the free sites (Roots Web and some screens on the LDS site in particular) have subtle ads for Ancestry on them. After a while you learn what to look for, but when you start out they look like part of the site. Before you click on anything, run your mouse over it and look at the status bar at the bottom of your screen. (If you don't have a status bar, click on "View" and make sure "Status Bar" is checked.) If the status bar says something like "ad.doubleclick" or "ancestry.com", it is an advertisement.

On the LDS 1880, in the "Household" view, for instance, at the bottom it says "View the original image" in big letters and "for a fee" in small letters, then "Ancestry.com".

Ancestry is an honest business and they support a lot of genealogy with their advertising. If Genealogy was the superbowl, Ancestry would be Budweiser; their advertising lets us watch it for free, but we have to put up with the ads.

The web is more subtle than TV, so the ads blend into the content more seamlessly. While you can't avoid advertising, you can a least learn to distinguish the ads from the other fields on the screen.

2) You'll have to get back to people who died before you can find much genealogy. Don't expect to enter your own name (or your parents') and have the Web magically give you a 12-generation pedigree chart.

Answer 4

My suggestion is to spend about $20 and get the book unpuzzling your past by Emily Croom. She takes you step by step. This is a great book. I've used it for 15+ yrs. She has since updated the book.

She starts you out by having you talk with relatives. Be sure to use documents such as birth, death, marriage certificates, obits, cemetery records and family Bibles. Any work you do needs to be documented to prove it. You only need to document yourself, parents, grandparents, etc. You do not need to document their children. That's too costly.

You can use the free websites but remember there is a lot of bad research out there so you must document. I can't express that enough.

Genealogy is not a cheap hobby. It is costly due to the fact these documents aren't cheap. Some records under 100 year may not be available due to a new law that was passed because of identity theft. You'll have to read the vital records webpage where you are searching.

Good luck

Answer 5

House of Names has the following in fine print at the bottom of their page

"We encourage you to study the________ genealogy to find out if you descend from someone who bore a family crest..........
No families, not even royal houses, can make sound claim to the right to bear arms uness a proven connection is established through attested genealogical records."

Also see the following from the British college-of-arms and the United States' National Genealogical Society

http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/Faq.htm

http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comconsumerpsst.cfm

So don't take as fact everything you see on the House of Names screen or from any other peddler of surname products.

Get as much information from your family, particularly your senior members. Tape them if they will let you. They might be confused on some things, but what might seem to be insignificant ramblings might turn out to be very important.

Go to your public library and find out what all they have in the genealogical section. They might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com you can use. I believe Ancestry.Com is the best for records. They have all the U. S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 is not available to the public yet.

Call your nearest Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church and find out if they have a Family History Center. They have records on people all over the world, not just Mormons. Their Family History Centers can order microfilm for you to view at a nominal fee.

They are very nice and won't try to convert you. I have never had them to send their missionaries by to ring my doorbell.

Cyndi'slist.com has a multitude of websites.You might want to check it out.
Rootsweb and FamilySearch.org(LDS) site are free.

Now, be very careful about taking as fact everything you see in family trees on any website, free or paid. The information is submitted by folks like you and me. Most is not documented. Even when you see the same information repeatedly by many different submitters, that is no guarantee it is correct. A lot of people are copying without verifying. Use the information as clues as to where to get the documentation.

Good Luck!

Answer 6

Start with your immediate family and work backwards. Ask family members for names and dates and start searching the web. There are quite a few good websites out there with info but you might have to pay for membership.

Answer 7

i sure can help u!
i used this website to search my family coat of arms www.houseofnames.com
just keep in mind that it only shows information about ur family history but not the family tree...but dont give up hope just there! i have another website for u that DOES have what u want: http://www.genealogy.com/fslanding.html ... this is a good site to track down ur family tree plus its FREE!
good luck and i hope u find your family tree
JAZZ ♥

Answer 8

looking into my family contributors historic previous grew to become into something I constantly wanted to do yet in no way have been given around to. i grew to become into the object of somebody else's learn tho. at some point 2 years in the past I have been given a telephone call one night from a female who advised me that my Dad grew to become into her stepsister's Dad. i grew to become into gobsmacked yet I took her stepsisters fone quantity and rang her. guess what I had a 0.5 sister I knew no longer something approximately. it form of feels Dad had a courting in 1941 and a woman baby grew to become into born. They misplaced touch while women people and childrens have been evacuated by way of jap probability and that grew to become into the final they observed of one yet another. In 1947 mothers and dads married and had 5 toddlers of their very very own. the different baby grew to become into in no way reported. I purely found out approximately her the evening of the telephone call. i don't be attentive to if my Mum knew approximately her or no longer. My 4 brothers want no longer something to do together with her yet I easily have met her and he or she is gorgeous. My purely be apologetic approximately is that i did no longer be attentive to her quicker. My brothers are nonetheless lacking out, they wont even call her sister yet I do. i think of they're ashamed by way of fact she has Aboriginal blood yet i do no longer supply a darn. It looks like we can ought to positioned yet another branch on the family contributors tree.