Can anyone give me the name of a website that will track your ancestry/geneology for you?

Question

I don't have the time to do it myself and would love to give this to my mother as a gift for X-mas. I don't mind paying for it of course, but I do want a reliable company. Any suggestions?? I want to know my family tree as far back as I can.

Answer 1

There aren't any web sites that do it for you. It requires research skills.

Professional genealogists charge $25 to $100 an hour - most in the $30 - $50 range, with NO guarantee of results. If anyone does guarantee you "No ancestors, no fee", back away from him slowly, one hand on your wallet.

Many US Gen Web county-level sites have lists of people in that county who will do paid research. I have hired professionals on occasion; it is cheaper than flying there myself, staying in a hotel and digging through musty old records that are not on the Internet.

Everyone who takes up genealogy wants to know their family tree back as far as they can. People who take up fly fishing want to land record-breaking trout, too. People who take up stamp collecting want to find a second copy of that one-penny black that is the rarest stamp in the world. Doing so is the hard part.

You might be able to work out a deal with a poor but honest widow who lives in your county, knows her way around the on-line genealogy sites and has an Ancestry subscription, or other access to the census. If you are in the USA, she could probably get you back to the 1850's on most of your lines, maybe. There are no guarantees in genealogy. If you want to try that route, call or write to the president of the genealogy society in your county and ask for suggestions. Again, the only fair way to pay her (70% of genealogists are ladies) would be by the hour; tell her how much you want to spend and agree on a rate. $20 an hour for ten hours would be reasonable, if you paid in cash and she stiffed the IRS. She would work that long and give you what she found.

Answer 2

Ted Pack deserves the 10 points.

I feel Ancestry.Com is the best for its records. It has all the U. S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet.

Don't expect to find your family tree on the internet. You might find some of your family lines. Still you cannot take as fact everything you see in family trees on any website, free or paid. The information is submitted by folks like you and me and is not documented or poorly documented. There are errors aplenty in family trees on the internet. Even when you see the same information repeatedly by many different people that is no guarantee at all that it is correct. A lot of people are copying without verifying. You should use the information as clues as to where to get the documentation. People who copy have a lot of junk in their family tree. That takes time and money. Also hiring a professional genealogist takes a lot of money.

I think there must be a lot of talk that a person can get their family tree on the web and it probably comes from people who have done the copying. They don't realize they probably have a lot of errors in what they have copied.

I don't think you will be able to come up much with a family tree by Xmas.

Anytime you want to trace your family, there are lots of good people on this board that can give you some great tips and advice. Just ask.

This is an All English speaking board. People asking and answering questions are from the U. S., U.K., Canada, New Zealand and Australia. So it is best to specify where you are.

Don't trust any company to do your family tree that is in the business of selling surname products like coats of arms. I understand they have a way of 'linking' you to noble families or families of prominence so they can sell you something.

See the links below: one from the British college of arms and the other from the most prestigious genealogical organization in the U.S., The National Genealogical Society.

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

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

Answer 3

There is no right or wrong answer to this Q... These people have a right to privacy & to be able to live in peace IF they have been rehabilitated & are no threat to the community . In my opinion that means chemical castration but I doubt any government would have the guts to do that . Maybe it should be a parole condition ! On the other hand , the community has the same rights & should be able to have confidence that the person living next door isn't a pervert or worse . How anyone can ever guarantee that in a world of declining morals where each year we are being asked to accept all sorts of behaviour as perfectly normal I don't know. As Sheila so rightly said , it's one thing to attempt to control KNOWN offenders but what about those who haven't been identified &/or caught !

Answer 4

Genealogy is like a hand made, custom quilt, with the pieces from cloth that you weave yourself.
It can take YEARS to do it right. Any company that tells you they can do it in weeks, would not be even close to reliable.
If you put together a family scrapbook, focused on the immediate family (to grandparents), you might have a start on the information.

Answer 5

http://www.ancestry.com/
http://www.familysearch.org/
http://www.cyndislist.com/

Here are three of the best sites. Also, consider going to the National Archives since they are in every state. They have a lot information, as well. http://www.archives.gov/locations/

If you want to pay someone, do a google search on the town that your ancestors came from and inquire about genealogy researchers. I'm not aware of companies but there are many individuals who will do the research for you.

Answer 6

It's more than just finding a website to track your ancestry. It takes time and effort. There are people, professional genealogists and companies who will do that for you. But, you will pay a lot for their services.

Answer 7

by far the best website for this is ancestry.com lots of free info and what i did was did there free trial and in 14 days accumulated all the info and printed it out, then cancelled, and then you can always subscribe again if you need to. also try genealogy.about.com or rootsweb.com

Answer 8

No such thing. For one reason, the vast majority of peoples of by gone days are NOT in any computer base anywhere.

Answer 9

Thats is a wonderful question and I wish I knew, I'll just use the answers you get.

Answer 10

everyone else has already mentioned excellent websites, but i would also suggest you're local library. most libraries have great genealogical sections.