family tree help? geneologist recommendation?

Question

my family is having a reunion, and i'd like to make a scrapbook showing our family tree, pictures, etc. Does anyone know of a genoeologist that could look up our family's background? (I mean like 100+ years back) If anyone has ever done something like this themselves, can you give me some suggestions?

Answer 1

Reunions, scrapbooks, etc., I can not help you with.
As to genealogists, most do not do as well as you yourself could. They have the advantage in that they know the general places to look. You have an advantage in that you already know your family.
100+ years back is nothing; you should be able to find your forebears through:
http://www.zeitlerweb.com/surnames.htm origin of surnames

ROYALTY: www.thepeerage.com

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

If anyone tells you to look at the social security death index.
http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-b...

http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/

http://www.superpages.com
Mellissa data.com
http://www.email-name-finder.info
https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/atlas.html
For free e-newsletter, http://www.familytreeDNA.com/fgregister.aspx
http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comconsumerp...

Due to the amount of information required to do a fairly decent family tree, if you go back more than just a few generations, you will find it to be VERY time intensive. PCs now have humongous storage on their hard drives; but, if you COULD put everything into the computer, you will soon find it is very difficult to organize all that information. I currently have more than 100 MB of info, and most of it is not even in the computer YET.

If you are sincerely interested in your ahnentafel, your genealogy, you will need to be dedicated and organized. So, try these sites and suggestions:

The biggest expense will be TIME; I have spent hundreds of hours and have so much left to compile.
Remember, no matter where you obtain the information, there are mistakes (yes, I include "official" documents, such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, death certificates, whatever). My maternal grandmother's tombstone doesn't even have her name correct!
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 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...

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.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

For my family, 3 generations ago was the Civil War; 5 generations ago was the Revolutionary War. I have learned a lot more about history, religion, language, culture, etc., the relatively short time I have been researching the family tree than all those long years in school.

Have fun!

Answer 2

To have someone do this for you is going to cost a small fortune. Why don't you do it yourself? Then you can proudly show it off at your reunion.

When is your reunion? If it's in the near future there is no way anyone could find your lines 100 yrs back in a short period.

My family just published one of our lines. We had 83 cousins submit their info and pics and we sent it to a publisher. Came out very nice. We have all put a lot of work into this and we didn't get there easily. So to just whip it up, it won't happen.

Answer 3

What Holly said is good.

If you are looking to go back just 100 years, that should not be too complicated to do yourself. In 100 years, a family will have roughly 4-6 generations, or a new generation about every 15-25 years, depending on the age of the female when she gives birth to the next generation. In the last 100 years, people waited longer to have children then they did over 100 years ago, so you may only be looking at finding family only as far back as your great-great-grandparents. I know in my family, the last 100 years has produced the following generations: 1994 - my daughter; 1969 - me; 1945 - my mom; 1919 - my grandmother; 1889 - my great-grandmother. That is only 5 in a little over 100 years. Since my mother and grandmother are both still living, they can provide me information on my great-grandmother, and, if I wanted to take it back one more generation, my grandmother can provide information on her grandmother - my great-great-grandmother. You do not need to pay a genealogist to get this amount of information for you. You should have living family who can provide you with some of it, and from that information you should have enough to get some documents yourself (death, marriage, and birth records) on the remaining generations in that 100 year time span.

Answer 4

I use Family Tree Maker to keep track o0f the family records. Then, go to the people who are still alivfe and ask them to fill in the blanks. From there, use public record web sites to start tracing things back. You'd be surprised how much you can do on your own. Hiring someone can be expensive and may no be accurate. Also, you can access the Ellis Island web site to track people who came over from other countries.

Answer 5

It would be cheaper to do it yourself. The resolved questions will show you people ask "How do I research my family tree" about 10 times a day.

If you don't want to do it, call the reference desk of your county library. Ask if they have a contact for the county genealogical society. Ask the CGS, in turn, if they have a poor but honest widow willing to work for cash. $20 per hour sounds right to me. Expect it will take her 10 - 40 hours.

She probably won't be able to get pictures. You will have to help her get back to 1930, the latest census open to the public.

This all assumes you live in the USA.

Answer 6

I have done a lot of this. 100 years back is no problem - especially if the family was in the U.S. for that period.

Answer 7

You might try http://www.rootsweb.com and do a search there for your family name. It's free! If someone has done a family search and uploaded the family history, you might find what you're looking for there. Good luck!

Answer 8

your local college will have a department that should be able to help

Answer 9

you need 2 go 2 ancestry.com its not free, but its worth it