Is it possible to get more info on my heritage if...?

Question

I the only info I have is the name of my grandfather and that he was dutch-irish? if so could you tell me where to start?

Answer 1

House of names is how you can find your crest
for free

Answer 2

if it's possible start talking to your older family members to get more info than you have.

If you know your grandfather's name and where/when he was born or where/when he died, start there.

Another way is to start with your birth certificate. The birth certificate should have both your mother's first, possibly middle, and maiden name and your father's full name. You should be able to then locate your parent's birth certificates and get their parents' names.

Ways to have access to this info: Contact a local genealogy group for suggestions on how to locate your ancestors, contact your state records board or the state where you were born or where most of your family lives.

some good books on genealogy: Genealogy 101 by Barbara Renick; Online Roots: How to Discover Your Family's History & Heritage With the Power of the Internet by Pamela Porter and Amy Crow; Discovering Your Female Ancestors by Sharon Carmack.

the last book is good for giving you ideas on places to look for hard to find ancestors that can be applied to males as well as females.

Answer 3

There are a variety of online places to start looking into family history. Your local library may have access to more elaborate family databases that require a fee, like "Ancestry.com."

A place to start online is http://www.rootsweb.com/

Hope this helps,
Your friendly neighborhood librarian

Answer 4

The more info you have at the start, the more you can find, the quicker you can find it. So, start by asking your parents, your grandfather, whomever, all your living relatives. Once you have everything written down, put it into the computer, make copies (backup) and start here:
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 Scotland, check:
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/


For ship’s passenger lists, try:
http://www.immigrantships.net/
www.cyndislist.com/ships.htm
www.geocities.com/Heartland/5978/Emigration.html
www.immigrantstips.net/
www.searchforancestors.com/passengerlists/
www.archives.gov/genealogy/immigration/passenger-arrival.html


For those with native American ancestry, try:
http://www.tribalpages.com/
http://www.cherokee-nc.com/geneology.php...

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

For people from India, try:
http://www.fibis.org/

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...

Here are some general sites with lists of African names:
http://www.swagga.com/fname.htm
http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/afr.php
http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/ba...

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/...

Military:
www.military.com
http://www.familymilitaryrecords.com/

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/militar...

http://websearch.about.com/od/peoplesear...

http://genealogy.about.com/b/2007/05/24/...

http://userdb.rootsweb.com/ww1/draft/sea...


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!

www.nationalobituaryarchive.com
http://www.obitcentral.com/obitsearch/
http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/
http://zip.langenberg.com/

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/howto/w2w/w2welc...
http://www.tedpack.org/obit.html


http://www.newspaperarchive.com/
http://ancestryresearchsitereviews.blogs...
http://www.search-background.com


http://www.birthdatabase.com/
http://www.intelius.com/search-summary-o...
peoplesearch.com
smartpages.com. to get to US Search

http://www.intelius.com/search-summary-o...

Two good places I use are www.zabasearch.com and www.peoplefinder.com
http://www.ancestry.com/facts/-name-mean...
http://www.netsleuth.com/

http://affiliates.reunion.com/ads/ads/la...

http://www.peoplelookup.com/people-searc...

http://people.yahoo.com/

http://www.addresses.com/

http://websearch.about.com/od/wendyssear...

http://www.anywho.com/

http://www.zabasearch.com/

http://www.whowhere.com/

http://www.nola.com/forums/searching/ind...

http://www.77investigators.com/messagebo...

http://www.voy.com/48081/

http://messages.yahoo.com/

http://www.angelfire.com/va3/search/Mess...

http://www.worldvitalrecords.com
http://www.ntis.gov/products/pages/ssa-d...

http://www.search-background.com

Good luck!