How To Research Ancestory

[kilee]

I have just got a very interesting piece of info from my mother. For whatever reason my husband and I were talking about our grandparents and such. We got on the topic of our grandmothers maiden names.

Anyhow, I realized I didn't know my maternal grandmothers maiden name, never even remember hearing it. Unfortunately, I never meet my maternal grandparents. They both passed when my mother was a young child. Therefore, she does not know much about them either.

So, I called my mom to ask her what her mothers maiden name is. She told me and I was about floored. My husbands stepfather and my maternal grandmother had the same last name. Spelled idenitcal, they just pronounce it different. Both from the same area city in our state.

Now curosity has gotten me- and I'm just wondering if there is anyway to research our families history. I asked my mother and she does not know much about her family, and nobody to ask. She knew my FIL's last name, but never put 2 and 2 together, because she didn't know how he spelled it.

I just want to stress, it is my husbands step-father- so even on that waaaayyyyy off chance I found a connection, we are NOT blood relatives.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Buckalew11]

we have found a lot of our family history on-line (like ancestry.com). We know a lot of our family history and the on-lines things we have found are pretty accurate judging by what we have found.

Turns out, my grandparents (on my dad's side) were related to each other in 2 ways. I am not sure they ever knew (it was safe because it wasn't closely related but still, we had no idea of the connection.

Good luck. It can be a lot of fun!
I am in touch with a lady right now who seems to have a lot of info about my grandfather's side (NC) and she is in AR. It was weird how I found her but you dig a little and then you get up the nerve to make a contact or two, finding gems a long the way!!

 

[hoosll]

There are a lot of free resources available. Many public libraries have access to databases and the research librarian can help you. If you know that they came through Ellis Island, they have a very good research site.

Unless all your ancestors are only-children, there should be cousins, etc., that you can contact.

try rootsweb.com

ancestry.com is fee-based. Remember that census records are only available until 1930 and that is the primary ancestry.com resource.

Do a search on the name and the city or county on google/yahoo.

there are forums dedicated to last names where people will be willing to help you.

Genealogy is lots of fun, can be addicting, never ends as people are putting new info online all the time.

 

[heatherleigh]

If by chance, you are LDS, you can get detailed ancestry information from them. They keep excellent records, and have done lots of research.

 

[dahirsh]

It sounds like this may not be an option for you, but the first thing you want to do in general is talk to your relatives, especially the older ones. Once they are gone, any information they hold is gone with them. I'm sure you can find sources online or in books of leading questions to ask. Such as "what do you remember about holidays when you were young?" suddenly you may find out about a great gandparent you though no one remembered. At the very least you'll get a sense of your families history. Ask your mother if she knows if she was named after anyone. Ask to see old family photos. Don't forget to speak to aunts and uncles or even better if they are around, your parents aunts and uncles, since your grandparents are gone.
After that, the internet is a great source. Ellis Island records, census records...

 

[Sleepy]

It sounds like this may not be an option for you, but the first thing you want to do in general is talk to your relatives, especially the older ones.

Ask your mother if she knows if she was named after anyone. Ask to see old family photos. Don't forget to speak to aunts and uncles or even better if they are around, your parents aunts and uncles, since your grandparents are gone.
After that, the internet is a great source. Ellis Island records, census records...

Just wanted to add the importance of being specific when talking to relatives.

Asking names is not good enough. You must ask for birth names, NOT nicknames. My mother realized she named me after an aunt and it was not really her name, it was a family nickname. Write down names and ask for spelling. Many names my mother encountered were way off.

when going through family photos, write down names, dates and any locations that are known. Write down relationships of those people if necessary.

Tape record conversations with relatives. I wish I had. My grandparents were a wealth of info. The stories they told were priceless. I have none of that because I always thought I could do it next time.

Ask who lived with whom. Often, with the older generations, many relatives lived together. My mother has found missing links in our family this way. The census told her this info, but you might have a living relative that already has the answers.

Ancestry.com has been a great tool for my mom. It seems impossible, but I am only 38 years old and my great grandfather was in the Civil War. People tell my mom she is crazy when she tells people her grandfather was in the Civil War. Ancesty.com was exactly what she needed to prove this. She found all the record of when he enlisted, etc. The original documents. She found the ones for his brother too. So, he did exist and he was in the Civil War.....it was not just a crazy made up family story.

You also need to be careful. Sometimes family stories turn out to NOT be true. My paternal grandmother always thought the farm she was raised on was owned by her father. It was not. Census verified this info.

A cool discovery is when you find family lineage that goes back several hundred years and can pin point exactly when your last name was changed as far as spelling and the exact person who changed it.

Warning: Family skeletons come out of the closet when doing this research. Be prepared. Documents can also put to rest a family argument or two.

I have enjoyed the info my mother has found. SHe spends hours and hours doing research.

 

[sjaakie]

My husband is also very interested in Ancestory.

He could follow his family back until 1650.

Maybe a little tip.

We found it much easier to search the European files.

If your last name sounds French ore Italian search there. You can also look up files from Ellis Island and the Mormons have very good and detailed files.