Have you ever used Ancestry dot com?

[Geoff_M]

What are some of the free sites out there?

The two biggest are:
www.familysearch.org
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com

 

[Crankyshank]

I just finished the BU genealogical research certification course, and I can't tell you how helpful ancestry has been to me (in conjunction with my NEHGS membership and the records pilot search at familysearch.org)

As mentioned before, you cannot rely upon the work of other people without verifying it yourself. However, the access to the records and the ability to connect with other people with similar research interests is tremendously helpful.

And a suggestion for those with brick walls: check alternate spellings of names, siblings, and neighbors. I was able to trace my Great Grandmother's family back to the 1600's after getting stuck in the mid 1800's - this wall bugged me for years until I started researching one of her brothers.

 

[Feralpeg]

I did the free trial. For my family, it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, which is not that much. It only listed family members up to my great grandparents. It only gave birthdays, no photos or anything cool like that. I felt it was pretty crap.

Ancestry.com isn't a magic bullet. It can only find things when given information to go on.

I got stuck pretty early on. It seems that more recent people are harder to find. When this happened, I started searching other things, such as Ancestry's newspaper clippings and other websites. Sure enough, I found little snippets of information such as a birthdate or a hometown. That was all it took and Ancestry took off. I gave it what it needed to connect to the World Tree and it gave me tons and tons of info. Now, I still needed to do a lot of leg work. You have to look at the information and make sure it seems reasonable, but it has been incredible for me. Please understand that I have been working on mine for about two years. This is not a quick and easy process.

 

[Rora]

I just wanted to add a little bit about what I know to this discussion.

My mom, grandmother and I are all members of the Daughters of the American Revolution- an organization of women (there's one for men) that can trace their family back to the early Colonial years and before the Revolutionary War. If you can prove you had an ancestor who fought or contributed to the American side of the War, you can become a member. Because we have to search for relatives (because if you have one from that time period, it's likely you have at least 2!! ), I know probably too much about geneology research!

Ancestry.com and Rootsweb.com are fantastic. In addition, the cenus is your best friend in proving relationships, careers, etc. If you can find marriage certificates, social security applications and death certficates, you're even better off in connecting your family dots.

Also, if you do use a website like ancestry or rootsweb, enter AS LITTLE INFO AS POSSIBLE. While that might seem stupid, it's actually the most valuable piece of advice I've ever come across. It's so important to enter as little info as possible because it opens the door to many options. For example, you enter your Great Great Great Grandmother's name and birth year. You might not find a single thing because what if someone else has her on record but for a different birth year or simply a different spelling of her last name? It's those types of things that can really expand your search.

Best of luck to you OP!

 

[bettymae1121]

I have a question. I haven't even started yet but I anticipate a "brick wall" already.

My great-grandfather (my mother's father's father) was adopted as a young boy off what they used to call an orphan train. This likely would have been in the late 1800's. I have no idea if they kept adoption records back then, and if they did and if they survived all this time, would they have ever been made public? Does anyone here have an ancestor that was adopted, and if so, how did you handle the serch?

 

[Geoff_M]

I haven't had to deal with an adopted relative, but from what I understand you may not have as hard of a time as you might think. I've heard that the habit of sealing records related to children adopted is a fairly "modern" practice. Back then, all such records (if created) were out in the open.

 

[Crankyshank]

I've researched an adopted family member from the turn of the 20th century and was able to find his birth family thanks to census records, death records, and city directories.
Do you know if your great-grandfather's name was his original name? and any ideas where he got on the orphan train?

 

[bettymae1121]

I've researched an adopted family member from the turn of the 20th century and was able to find his birth family thanks to census records, death records, and city directories.
Do you know if your great-grandfather's name was his original name? and any ideas where he got on the orphan train?

No idea where he got on the train at, and I'm fairly sure he took the name of the family that adopted him. My grandfather died years ago, and what I've posted is all my grandmother knows about it.

I haven't started yet, but always figured this would be a likely sticky point. But, one of these days I'll take the time to start looking, who knows, maybe I'll get lucky!

 

[Crankyshank]

No, I mean did he keep his first name? Do you know where the family that adopted him live?
I would check old newspapers from that time. In many cases there was an article in a local paper about the orphan train that may have a list of the children. You can also check your state archives for adoption records, but that's not necessarily reliable because they might not have formally adopted him.
Have you been to the orphan train heritage society website? http://www.orphantraindepot.com/

 

[bettymae1121]

No, I mean did he keep his first name? Do you know where the family that adopted him live?
I would check old newspapers from that time. In many cases there was an article in a local paper about the orphan train that may have a list of the children. You can also check your state archives for adoption records, but that's not necessarily reliable because they might not have formally adopted him.
Have you been to the orphan train heritage society website? http://www.orphantraindepot.com/

I haven't even started yet. I'm assuming he kept his first name (from what I understand he was older when adopted, not a baby or todler) but that's a good point, for various reasons his whole name may have changed. I'm pretty sure I know the general area where the adoption would have taken place, though not sure what year or even decade.

Thank you for the link to the orphan train website, I had no idea a site like that existed.

I've have a few days off from work next week, and no real plans, this might be a good time to really start digging into it!