When doing a search on your ancestry

[cati]

is there a website that you use. I would like to trace my family tree back, but just dont know how to get started. Any info would be great.

 

[eeyore74]

I don't know much, either, but my aunt and mom have used www.genealogy.com. It's a place to start.

 

[CEDmom]

The Mormon Church put together a website a few years ago for people to trace their ancestory. I've used it and it's not just for Mormons (I'm not one). It got several good writeups in magazines when it came out. Here's a link:

http://www.familysearch.org/

 

[sue1013]

Here's 2 that should help get you started www.usgenweb.com they have links to states from there you can get links to each county. Also www. genforum.com they have pages for surnames. There is a lot of bad information out there so don't believe everything use it as a guide then verify yourself. If you have a large library available to you they should have lots of records (census, land records, marriage records, death records). You can find out from the library website what records they have. Good Luck!

 

[BlkBearSuz]

I also like to use www.ancestry.com. You should also check if your local library has a genealogy collection. There may be a lot of useful resources there. There's also a genealogical society in my city, and everyone there is so helpful. As CEDmom stated, I love using www.familysearch.org. I've found a lot of useful information on their for my family tree.

Good luck! You'll soon realize how fun and addictive genealogy can be. I know I'm hooked.

Sue

 

[Lanshark]

I don't know your ancestry but if it is Eastern European then be prepared that the spelling of your last name may have changed when your ancestors came to the US. This one stumped me for awhile. My grandfather was from Greece and when they arrived at Ellis Island someone would ask their name. These people obviously didn't speak English so they would pronounce the name the best they could. The person registering them would sound it out and write it down to the best of their ability. I found the American spelling was not the correct one. That made searching, back before they came to the US, very difficult. Once I landed on the correct spelling everything opened up on the other side of the sea. 100 years later the "family" still goes by the incorrect spelling.

 

[doxdogy]

This is what happened to my father's ancestors when they came to this country from Poland. Only one brother has gone back to the original spelling of the last name.

Originally posted by Lanshark
I don't know your ancestry but if it is Eastern European then be prepared that the spelling of your last name may have changed when your ancestors came to the US. This one stumped me for awhile. My grandfather was from Greece and when they arrived at Ellis Island someone would ask their name. These people obviously didn't speak English so they would pronounce the name the best they could. The person registering them would sound it out and write it down to the best of their ability. I found the American spelling was not the correct one. That made searching, back before they came to the US, very difficult. Once I landed on the correct spelling everything opened up on the other side of the sea. 100 years later the "family" still goes by the incorrect spelling.

 

[lisajl]

Those are all great websites. Be prepared, though. A lot of sites now charge to look at info. They did not use to do that.

We started ours over 6 years ago. Found a lot of useful info online, found more info putting our names on boards.
I believe on ancestry.com they have a free board for your last name. If anyone else is looking they can contact you.

It is a lot of fun, a lot of work, but worth it.

Good luck on your search.

Lisajl

 

[Cruisin]

cati:

I think one of the best ways to start tracing your family history is to start with the people that are alive today.
Talk to any and all of the older people in your family, get as much info from them as you can. Names and dates of people that they can remember. Then you have a good basis to start from.
You may be surprised how much you can find out just starting from there.

 

[cati]

Thanks everyone. I am going to go right now and check those websites out. Should be a lot of fun.

The problem is, is that I am trying to trace my mother's side of the family. Everyone on that side is deceased. Including my mother and grandparents, aunts and uncles. I remember hearing that my grandmother was suppose to be full blooded indian, but then you never know.

I would like to find out for my kids. I know once they get into 6th grade here they have to do a family tree. I would like to have this info for them when they have to do their project.

Thanks again.

 

[Sleepy]

I am not sure of the website my mom uses, maybe ancestry .com or one of the big ones, but it has recently been adding census' from late 1800's and early 1900's and my mom has had more luck with that than anything. She went from only knowing who her grandparents names were to finding 5 generations back. It gives names and ages, nationality, where they lived, who lived with them, etc. It takes alot of creativity to find the people, but it is possible.

 

[piratesmate]

Ancestry.com seems quite expensive when you first look at it. They have some great databases on-line that you can use, but many are not included in the "basic" price. The census collection is extra, as is the England/Ireland/Scotland and their newspaper collections. If you are interested in their newspaper collections, be sure to check to see if the major papers for the area you need is included. The last time I checked, they still did not have the Philadelphia papers - which are what I need.

I find Genealogy.com frustrating because they're always wanting me to by a CD to "see" the info they have.

When using the Mormon site be careful what sources you use. At the bottom of the page it will tell you if the data was submitted by a church member. I have found many inaccuracies in those files. It's better to use original sources when possible.

Ancestry's free site is RootsWeb

Another site that has links to some great resources is Cindi's List.

I've also tried to do a Goggle search on an ancestor's name, which has yielded some interesting stuff.

 

[Mary Ellen]

There are SO many sites. Cruisin'Kroezes had the best idea for starting - asking relatives about ancestors. Be prepared for "I don't know", "Why do you want to know THAT?", and "Some things are better left alone".

In addition to the Internet, I'd suggest finding your local Family History Center (FHC). It will be at a LDS (Mormon) church and non-members (like me) are welcome. I was very apprehensive about my first visit but found out that prosletizing (preaching, trying to convert) is NOT allowed. Actually, I understand that 90% of the users at the FHC I use are non-LDS. Even a fair number of the volunteers there are also not LDS. You will be able to rent ($3.25 for about 5 weeks) films to use. These films are from churches, county/state records, census..... Anyway, I was able to trace one of DH's German lines back to the late 1500s from films of the original church records.

My favorites have already been mentioned, but I LOVE
Cyndi's List. I subscribe to Ancestry.com and have found that not having to rent census films more than makes up for the cost. I also subscribe to Genealogy.com, but I'm not going to renew - it just isn't user-friendly (at least for me).

I've also had good luck with library web sites. At PublicLibraries.com I've been able to locate the local libraries from where our ancestors lived. Some of them have VERY helpful. Don't forget your hometown library too. At our library's web site, I can log on to Heritage Quest (another subscription site) for FREE. They have many of the census indexed and viewable.

You'll also want some genealogy software. I have several, but my favorite is Roots Magic.

Just be careful, there is a LOT of 'bad' genealogy out there. Just because someone puts a tree on-line doesn't make it true. Look for their sources and PLEASE make note of your sources. I was told this when I first started and I didn't in the beginning. Trust me, you will not remember where you found something hundreds of bits of information later.

Happy hunting!!!