Family tree question?

Question

how can I find any information about my family. (I mean my grandparent &/or greatgrandparents) all I know is I have some polish gens and a little jewish but how can I find more info? I mean my mom and dad hardly know anything about our family! So does anybody know how to find info about my family?

Answer 1

there's a few sites that you can start with.

Rootsweb has a link that you can print off blank family tree forms. and you can search there free within states and counties.
it's a good place to start.

Answer 2

In one word, documents. Records.
Yes, many families know their background (or what they believe is their background). Others don't.
So, look first at your own birth certificate. Many new persons think it is silly to look for a document, for what they already "know". The purpose is independent verification, which is even more critical, when you get past what they "know". Your birth certificate is the start. Next, use the documents for your parents. Once someone is dead, then you look for their death certificate. Or obituary, military record.. whatever there might be. Then you get to census records, tombstones, court records, so forth. If the immigrant ancestor was naturalized, there should be a record of that.
Here's a tutorial...
http://rwguide.rootsweb.com/
Each step of the way, things change or are specific to the time and place. What works in the US is not the same as the UK. Learnng what records work is the challenge of the game.

Answer 3

You have to start with yourself and work backwards , parents , grandparents, g-grandparents.etc. Your parents must know the dates of their parents birth and grandparents. Census in the area where they lived helps. Talk with aunts , uncles etc. Beware it can be very addicting. Have fun, you will be amazed at what you will find. Computer and libraries are a great help. the web sites that eveyone gave you so far is a good start. Good Luck

Answer 4

try Ancestry .com
Need a name and date and a place of birth of a grand parent and a death date.

Answer 5

Start with your parents, then grandparents. Get their names, birthdays, dates they died, and their places of birth and death. After that its just a matter of either going on-line to places like ancestry.com or genealogy.com, or going to your local library. I know that the LDS Church is a good resource. They may even have a library where you live.

Answer 6

You might try ancestory.com. I've used them lots with great results. You also might check with aunts, uncles cousins... Good luck. Genealogy is so much fun!

Answer 7

O.K., I am raising my hand now...
Ask your living relatives for all the information that they can provide; write everything down, especially who said what (source).
Check on the web and at the library.
Here are some sites:
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 Sweden:
http://www.genline.com/databasen/
-http://www.northpark.edu/home/index.cfm?...
http://www.finlandia.edu/catalog/intro.p...

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!

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...

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.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

Have fun!