Can anyone recommend a good Ancestory site?

Question

I would like to find some information about my family and the history of them. I would prefer to find as much as possible using free resources. Any helpful hints or site information would be helpful. Thank-You!!!

Answer 1

There are a lot of good ancestry sites...Of course, you have to take what they tell you with a grain of salt. None are completely accurate, due to facts such as poor penmanship, poor hearing on the part of clerks, etc.
Obtain all the information you can from living relatives and start working your way back. Since the number of ancestors, and hence the number of lines, doubles each generation, if you can work your way back far enough, you will most likely find ancestors listed in some of the most reputable genealogy works, such as "Martin Genealogy" or, better yet, "Burkes". (Burkes was both father and son; each wrote several genealogy books, listing so many who were royalty.)
Start with these:
Anyhew, as to searching, 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
For those with native American ancestry, try:
http://www.tribalpages.com/

For a fee, try a DNA test:
When you really want to know where your ancestors came from, try such sites as: www.familytreedna.com, dnatribes.com, dnaancestryproject.com, and, of course, the National Geographics Genotype program, https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/geno...
For Jewish ancestry, try:
www.israelgenealogy.com
Have a look at these sites these are South African ones,
http://genealogy.about.com/od/south_afri...
http://www.rupert.net/~lkool/page2.html....
http://www.jewishgen.org/safrica/website...
http://southafricanfamilyhistory.wordpre...

Meaning of names:
http://www.winslowtree.com/surname-meani...

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/f...

Finding live people:
Two good places I use are www.zabasearch.com and www.peoplefinder.com

Don't forget, use your local library. Ours (a small one, yet) has www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com, as well as periodicals, books and guidance from an experienced genealogist.

Keep good notes on where you find what: sources are very important.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I like to use Rootsweb.com, Ancestry.com and Genforum.com. These sites will let you know what other researchers have found, but if you want details you will want to subscribe. You can get census information usually at your local library on microfilm. If your research is local, the library will also have abstracts of wills, court proceedings, taxes paid, land transactions etc. If your research takes you into another state, your local library may or may not have resources. My library does have books for several counties in the states surrounding mine, but it just depends on the individual library. Sometimes it is well worth a subscription just to be able to get information without having to leave the comfort of your home! Good luck and happy hunting!
Cheryl

Answer 3

depends the church of latter day saints can help as mormens do geanalogy and you dont have to be mormen to get there help.My dad runs 2 sites for genalogy matterdal matters patterdale patters and he has been doing genealogy on out family tree for around 10 years or more if you send me a email I will give you his email address he would be more than happy to point you in the right direction.