Geneaology/Family Tree

[worm761]

We are starting to research our family trees. I have started by asking all my family members for their info. Where do I go from here? Any suggestions? I don't really want to sink a lot of money into this as it is just starting. I have a tendency to start things and then lose interest. So with that in mind, any suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Liberty Belle]

If you join Ancestry.com or something similar you might get some leads. If you're very serious about it, you'll not want to take all you read on there (as in research someone else has done) as gospel, but it can give you good information and clues.

 

[laurafergie]

Ancestry.com is an invaluable tool and you can join for the first 2 weeks for free. As a member you have unlimited access to census, military records, books, obituaries, too much to list and other people's research

But as the PP said - you can not take other peoples tree's for gospel. Look at their sources. If they are "just saying" with no proof - then move on.

But to get started, you need to get your information organized into a recognizable format.

You can use Ancestry.com online family tree software or you can download a free one like, www.myheritage.com/family-tree-builder or you can purchase one - I use rootsmagic and love it.

Good luck on your search - it is addictive, I have been doing this for over 20 years and still find out new things.

 

[Feralpeg]

I also use Ancestry.com for my base information. It is actually harder to find information about more recent individuals than those who lived prior to 1900. More recent records are no posted online for search purposes. If you can get to your family born prior to 1930, you'll find it easier to locate records.

As others have said, don't take the information as gospel. Look at it to see if it makes sense. I aways Google the person's name and birth year to see if I can find additional information. This has helped me verify the info and has given me additional leads.

Since most of my ancestors came from the UK, I pay the extra to allow access to records outside the US. I've managed to trace my line on my dad's side back to the 1300s. On my mom's side I have traced on particular leg back to Rome 400 AD. I know that sounds crazy. If it turns out that your family was important (royalty, political, clergy), there is a much better chance that information about them was recorded and has survived.

For instance, on my mom's side of the family, they were all some type of nobility. There are a lot of Knights, Earls or members of the royal family. My 13 great grandmother was Mary Tudor (sister of Henry VIII).

Good luck, OP! I hope you have as much fun with this as I have had.

 

[hanutedmansionmomma]

I would invest in some family tree software, or use www.geni.com. You'll need a way to organize info you find. If you do go online with your tree, make sure not to put info for the living online without their permission!

Go to websites for the counties/states/countries your family is from. They have birth/death/census records. Many times you can order copies of these documents for a small fee. Cemetaries and newspapers/obits are great references too.

When you talk to family, get as much info as you can and write everything down. Dates, places, street names, childrens' names, places of employment or trade, school names, name of ship they came over on, country of origin, etc....

Ancestry.com costs $, which is fine, it's a great wealth of info. I would suggest to start your search first, make a list of names, places, dates you'd like to investigate ready and then get on their site. They used to have a trial period then you could cancel. Would be good to be organized before you get on. IMHO.

Have fun! I've been working on mine since 1991:

 

[Guy Incognito]

set up a tree on ancestry.com (you can do that for free), and have it out there for other members to see (you can have info on living relatives displayed as 'private', so they don't have to be concerned about their stuff being out there for the public; even though birth dates/locations/etc are part of the public record anyway)..... so even if you don't pay to be a member of the site, others can look at your data, and possibly help you with connections/etc....

once your tree is up, the site will show if there are any potential links it can find (a green leaf will show up next to that person).... to see that stuff, you'll need to be a member.

I have my genealogy file uploaded to the site (about 50K individuals), and have received numerous messages from members about links/etc.... not a paying member myself, but I figured if my data can help someone else (or if I can get updates/corrections/etc from others), it's worth it.

 

[veraletta]

Ancestry.com is great you can join for 14 days for free to see if you like it.
Also you can use http://search.labs.familysearch.org/recordsearch/start.html#p=home
It's free but you will not find a whole lot of birth, Marriage or death records on here but you may find some.
look to see if your state has any site that may have info on line.
just search in Google.com
print out free family chart and hand them out or mail them out to family member.
Once you do that you should recheck on line in census to be sure info is right.
I love doing genealogy and its really great to be able to find other family members from your family.
I was able to find my half sister that my dad and his second wife said that my mom was lying about. LOL she looks more like my brother than I do.

I didn't have many pictures of my dad's family, but since being on Ancestry.com
I have been able to connect to my dad's cousins and they were able to put pictures of my dad family on my site. Since my dad is now dead and his wife who is not my mother has all family photos and would not copy or send me any info, this has been very helpful site.
I have been able to find in on my dad side of the family.
if you need any help for someone to help look for census you can send me info and I will look to see if I can find out any info for you.
findagrave.com is another site I belong to which doesnt have a lot of info but some times you can find grave site of family members.
http://www.cyndislist.com/
is another good site to start with .
Hope this will help you out.

 

[worm761]

Thank you so much for the advice. I have set up a tree on Geni.com but will start one on Ancestry.com too. I will check out all the sites suggested.

 

[happy place]

Try your local public library history section if your family has lived in the same town for a long time - state, religious and national archives are also a great resource but require abit more work than just using a computer/ website. having said that though, nothing beats holding a piece of paper one of your ancestors touched. If you know which country your ancestors came form, again their national archives may have passenger ship, military records online that could be helpful. Birth marriage and death records are your most reliabel sources, and local newspapers are another good source for this information.

 

[Sparx]

In the Latter Day Saint's religion, family history is very important. they have many resources to find family information, and you don't have to be a member of the church to use it.

here is one of their websites:
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

 

[monkeybug]

LDS churches have Family History Centers, and access to the largest genealogical collection in the world (not just mormons). Non members are welcome to use the facility, and they are usually staffed by people who can help you get started.
I am not a member, (and they haven't tried to brain wash or convert me) but several of my friends are, and that's how I found out about them. Those people are genealogical genius's!
Plus its fun to knock on the Mormons door for once instead of the other way around!
Oh and it's free! (unless they order microfilm for you, and then that's just a few dollars)
Here is a link to their FAQ, and you can also get locations and hours from there too.
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/library/fhc/frameset_fhc.asp?PAGE=faq_fhc.asp

 

[monkeybug]

In the Latter Day Saint's religion, family history is very important. they have many resources to find family information, and you don't have to be a member of the church to use it.

here is one of their websites:
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

Ha ha!!! I must have been getting the link while you were posting. Too funny!

 

[mikki'smom]

Two free sites that have helped me are www.genforum.com and www.gen************....also, Google your family names and see what you might find...

 

[mikki'smom]

I don't know why that previous post bleeped out the word "circles" and then the dot com but it did...

 

[Myothername]

In the Latter Day Saint's religion, family history is very important. they have many resources to find family information, and you don't have to be a member of the church to use it.

here is one of their websites:
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

I was going to suggest this as well but I would not take it as gospel, no pun intended. I was able to confirm a lot of my research but then some of their research just went with a name and did not have anything to back it up. For instance say they took my ancester, Samuel Pettypool, and found "a" Samuel Pettypool. They then assumed it was the same Samuel Pettypool. You can't do this. Confirm dates and birth places on any new information you come across. In this way they traced my family back to like 1100 A.D. in France. I did not take it as truth. I did put the information in my database but with a note that it needed to be confirmed. This goes with any source you have.

 

[momz]

I did this years ago. Before ancestry.com existed. And actually, before computers were as common as they are now. I went to the state historical library where I found a ton of information for all states. They have census data, land records, records of wills, and all kinds of other legal transactions that can identify individuals and families. They also had some other records like locally published history books and church records. Their books were really old, in fact some were so old you were not allowed to photocopy them, and you could only access them in a certain section of the library. Some of the information was stored on microfilm. Back then, you had to sign up to reserve a time to use the microfilm reader. Wow...times have changed. I think you can get a lot of this information online now. It was a lot of fun then. I think you can probably speed up your research time with the new tools that are available for you to use from home. Have fun.

 

[claudia]

We are starting to research our family trees. I have started by asking all my family members for their info. Where do I go from here? Any suggestions? I don't really want to sink a lot of money into this as it is just starting. I have a tendency to start things and then lose interest. So with that in mind, any suggestions? Thanks!

Here's a great blog that I have learned a ton from:
http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com/