How can I research my ancestry?

Question

I would love to trace my geneology but I have no idea where to start! I don't want to pay to see phony websites

Answer 1

Mormon Family History Centers are free and so are public libraries. Some public libraries have librarians trained in helping you search census records and other things to track down families.

Beware it is not easy. I have been working at it for over 30 years.

Answer 2

There are lots of websites. Rootsweb & FamilySearch.Org are the two best free ones. They have good tutorials on family history.

Now, if you find some of your family lines, don't take as absolute fact everything you see in family trees on any website, free or paid. The information is user submitted and mostly not documented or poorly documented. Even if you see the same information repeatedly by many different submitters that is no guarantee it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying. Use the information as CLUES as to where to get the documentation.

Your public library might have a lot of resources and among them might be a subscription to Ancestry.Com which has lots of records and seems to be getting more all the time. They have all the U. S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet. They have U. K. censuses also.

A Family History Center at a Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church has records on people all over the world, not just Mormons.
In Salt Lake City, they have the world's largest genealogical collection. Their Family History Centers can order microfilm for you to view at a nominal fee.

I have never had them to try and convert me or send their missionaries by to ring my doorbell. I haven't heard of them doing that to anyone else either.

But first of all start with your living family and get as much information from them as possible, particularly your senior members.
Tape them if they will let you. What might seem to be insignificant ramblings and story telling might turn out to be very significant. Find out if there are any old family bibles.

You will need to get vital records, births, marriages and deaths. These usually contain parent information, including mother's maiden name. Also death certificates and the applications for a social security number that I have seen not only have parent names but their places of birth.

Now if you are in the U. S., each state has its own laws as to who, when and where a person can obtain birth and death certificates. Also, governing bodies(state, county, city) in many states did not start recording vital information until the first quarter of the 20th century. Even then once they started a lot of people who were born at home or died at home did not get recorded. Church records then can be important, Baptisms, First Communion, Confirmation, Marriage and Deaths. Depending on the particular Faiths, these may contain parent information. Also, again Bible Records can be important.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

Talk to your gran thats what I did and then if you are a member of a church go to them. They let you look at their books for free, but its pretty hard and takes a lot of time.

Answer 4

Start by asking all your living relatives for all the information they can provide. When you have it written down fully, take notes of all the ancestors you have found up to that time, along with dates/places of birth, marriage, death and start searching.
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/

http://www.geni.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...
http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/herita...

Netherlanders: http://www.genlias.nl

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!

Answer 5

Hire a genealogist at about $100.00 per hour.

Answer 6

www.rootsweb.com
and
www.familysearch.org
are very good places to start.

Do you know the full names, birthdates and birth places of each of your grandparents?

Good luck!