Help with family ancestry

[Promomx2]

I have tried and tried to find my ancestors but go nowhere. I have to rely on online searches because there is no family alive that knows the facts. Where can I find birth records, marriage records and divorce records for Virginia?

 

[Diva of Dragons]

It really might be worth it to you to join ancestry.com for a month just to see if they anything that will help. You'd be amazed at what you can find there. Plus, try Googling anyone you know of, in your family. I have found some really trippy stuff that way!

 

[dawson5]

I don't know if it will help you but the Mormon's have something.

I think this is it:

http://www.ancestorhunt.com/mormon_church_records.htm

They had something on one of the morning shows about it. It is supposed to be the most comprehensive compilation of records.

 

[agnes!]

I have tried and tried to find my ancestors but go nowhere. I have to rely on online searches because there is no family alive that knows the facts. Where can I find birth records, marriage records and divorce records for Virginia?

If you haven't already, you should join Ancestry.Com - their yearly membership is quite reasonable, even the free parts of the site are pretty good. There is also Footnote.Com (not my favorite, their search engine isn't at all intuitive but some folks really like it) as well as some other geneaology sites.

Virginia is somewhat problematic. There are many counties that are known as "Burned Counties" because many records were destroyed (mostly during the Civil War/War Between the States, sometimes earlier in courthouse fires).

Gather all your information in one place - *everything* you can think of. Remember going to some relative's in Norfolk when you were a kid in but can't remember the address or even quite the name? Write it down. Know that your dad graduated from a specific high school but not the year? Write it down. Know that one granddad was a military vet and the other might have worked for a railroad? Write it down.

Google is your friend. Start putting family names in and places where any relatives have lived. Also do a search of Google Books, putting in family names, places, professions, unions, etc.

There are various [family-name] forums - you might want to put some posts on them, something like for instance "ISO [your Dad or Mom's name + birthyear-death year] relatives/ancestors"...I've found out some interesting stuff that way. There are various geneaology-interest forums that you could post on... city/county/state, War of 1812, etc., etc.

If you feel comfortable doing so, you can PM me a little bit of your info...maybe I can take a look at it today and see what I can find.

If Feralpeg happens along, she's quite knowledgable and has traced her ancestry back to a Tudor - she probably would have some good ideas.

Good luck,
agnes!

 

[cteddiesgirl]

For birth and death records, a good place to start is at your state health department.
Also, for some ancestry info, you can try your state library (not local). My state library has an entire section devoted to genealogy research. Usually they are located in your state capital. Some county based libraries might have some info too.

Don't forget to look into cemetaries either.