Geneaology

[jeannie1962]

Hi

I see that there are questions about family history research on this forum and I have some questions, scratch that, many questiions!

My husband and I were in Ireland a few weeks ago and there was a library that you could go to that helps you research your family history. Well all I knew that somewhere down the line my dad's family came from Ireland. I don't know names etc. this has sparked me to start the research.

I have absolutely no idea where to begin. I was visiting my mom in Philadelphia this weekend and went rooting in an old chest of my dads. I found some obits from the early 1900's and some cemetary receipts. I was able to piece together back to my great grand parents of my dads mother. all i know on my dad's dad's side is the name of sibilings, not parents.

I am not sure how to go about trying to find birth,death certificates to trace things. Alot of people where born in Philly and I dont know if I should call the State of Pa to see if I can get copies.

I don't know if I should sign up for an internet site and look for things there and which is the best one to try. I see a few people recommend Ancestry.com. Also are there website I can find info on myself.

I need help from people who have done this and can point me in the right direction to begin my search!

Thank you so much

Jeannie

 

[marlynnp]

the Pennsylvania Historical Society maintain copies of vital records from 1860 through the early 1900's ~ start here:
http://www.hsp.org/default.aspx?id=128

 

[Lisa]

Jeannie, you are off to a good start; old family documents are the best source. I did ancestry.com for copies of census and immigration records, but familysearch.org and state archives for copies of birth and death certificates. As others have stated some sources have incorrect information.

Marlynn, thanks for posting that free genealogy source. Does anyone else have other sites that help with genealogy research?

 

[PrincessNancy96]

Sometimes I search for genealogy sites by trial and error..
in my search engine I type in criteria for the county & state..

Doing this I came across this fabulous site in TN..
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~bp2000/fentress/fentress1.htm
one of my cousins like 4 back... I actually met him once had submitted family articles on my family... anyway... as I'm looking through the documents my Granny gave me in college... The family group sheets I received from her...were from him!!!!!! It gave me a great head start...but also gave me a place to confirm and verify all his information...
If anyone needs something in IN... please let me know.. I can search the sites for you to get you on the right track...
I have found some of the county sites have a great genealogical resource section...

 

[jeannie1962]

Wow, were you able to get info on birth cert? Did you get them from ancestry.com? I know the year my grandmother was born but not the date and I know her parents names, but no dates. This is where I come to a dead end.

Do you think I should just join ancestry.com and look up info there. Everytime i plug something in to look up it takes me right back to ancestry.com for the info. I cant seem to find anything

Thanks jeannie

 

[Lisa]

LDS is HUGE into geneaology. You can search on their site and get the film number for birth, marriage, and death certificates. If you go to one of their Family Centers, they will obtain the fiche from the Family Library (in SLC) for a fee. That is how I got my great grandmother's death certificate.

They also have a listing of all the states in the Research Guide of where to write to the state archives for birth, marriage, and death certificates, and the cost. This is how I am getting my grandmother's birth certificate and my great grandparents marriage certificate.

With all this talk of geneaology on the boards, I went back and reviewed what I currently have, found a few new things. Sometimes you need to put it down, then pick it back up at a later date. I've been able to go back to DH's great-great-great-great-great grandparents.

Marlynn, what's an easy way of reading PA website, I couldn't locate their vital records info.

 

[PrincessNancy96]

My DD and I as well as my mom... utilize what we know...and than go to the library to obtain obits... we look 2 days before and after the date..and usually find a wealth of info.. As mom was looking for one last year.... she found an article about the business her dad worked for when she was a kid.. the photo above the article had her dad in it!! The last time we went we spent 10.00 on newspaper articles at the library. Some of that was also KY death certificates. I have for my great-great-grandparents.. The weird thing about that story is.. he had 3 wives.. we descend from wife #2 and all the kids great-grandpa being the baby... well, kids from wife #3 won't speak to kids from wife #2.. they won't even speak to the descendents and no one knows why...maybe someday someone will break that code of silence!
I need to get to Ft. Wayne, IN.. they are suppose to have a very, very large genealogy center that is a wealth of east coast info.... I want to go in the next year or two...but I won't travel without my kids/DH because I'm unfamiliar with the area so I need to find something fun for them to do (but not the zoo because I want to go too)...

 

[pjlla]

Wow, were you able to get info on birth cert? Did you get them from ancestry.com? I know the year my grandmother was born but not the date and I know her parents names, but no dates. This is where I come to a dead end.

Do you think I should just join ancestry.com and look up info there. Everytime i plug something in to look up it takes me right back to ancestry.com for the info. I cant seem to find anything

Thanks jeannie

FYI... ancestry.com will give you a "14 day free trial" when you sign up. And depending on how much you are looking for and how much time you have, you could easily find almost everything you need within those 14 days and then cancel before they charge your CC. That was sort of my plan, but I haven't gotten as far as I would like ( my 14 free days ends this coming Tuesday), so I will probably continue to pay for a few months. .................P

 

[ellenb29]

back in the mid1990's about my family. It's an interesting journey, but I love it. Ancestry.com and familysearch.com all have basic worksheets you can download and start to organize your information. You start with yourself and gather all the family documents you can. Like if you need your birth certificate, one of the best places is to write to the county you were born in, or town, depends on where the records are kept, but that may be the fastest because state repositories are sometimes very slow. For instance I assumed my grandfather died in Troy, NY where he lived, but the clerk had no record. I kept talking to my aunt (after Dad died) and finally found out he died in a TB Sanitorium in another city and sure enough, called there got the info and amount to get the certificate and had his death certificate in like a week.
Ellen

 

[tinkerrn]

My DD and I as well as my mom... utilize what we know...and than go to the library to obtain obits... we look 2 days before and after the date..and usually find a wealth of info.. As mom was looking for one last year.... she found an article about the business her dad worked for when she was a kid.. the photo above the article had her dad in it!! The last time we went we spent 10.00 on newspaper articles at the library. Some of that was also KY death certificates. I have for my great-great-grandparents.. The weird thing about that story is.. he had 3 wives.. we descend from wife #2 and all the kids great-grandpa being the baby... well, kids from wife #3 won't speak to kids from wife #2.. they won't even speak to the descendents and no one knows why...maybe someday someone will break that code of silence!
I need to get to Ft. Wayne, IN.. they are suppose to have a very, very large genealogy center that is a wealth of east coast info.... I want to go in the next year or two...but I won't travel without my kids/DH because I'm unfamiliar with the area so I need to find something fun for them to do (but not the zoo because I want to go too)...

I want to go there too! I have seen several articles, etc.., on their website that I really want to check out. I have family that came over from France and Belgium that settled in Perry Co. back in 1850's. The genealogy center in Ft. Wayne has a book about one of the families that I am just itching to read! I can't find it anywhere else!