Anyone know any Luft's (German) or Archibald (French)?

Question:

Anyone know any Luft's (German) or Archibald (French)?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: If you just want to chat with a cousin, skip the rest of this. If you want to get started in genealogy, read on.
==============================...
I save this and paste it because the same questions come up a lot:

What are good free sites for genealogy?
Does anyone know about the {surname} family?
How can I trace my family tree, for free?

Sometimes in the genealogy category,
Arts & Humanities -> Genealogy.
Sometimes elsewhere. The fourth time I typed in three of my favorite links I realized it would be better to make a good list and save it. Since this is a general answer, some of the paragraphs may not apply to you. If you search or browse the resolved questions in the Genealogy category, you can find more links from other people.

Two warnings:
1) It takes time. Compiling a good family tree is like writing a term paper for a high school history class. You have to research.
2) Most of the genealogy data on the web is about people born before 1900, to protect living people's privacy. You'll have to find your grandparents (or great grandparents) off the web.

Here are some large free sites.

http://www.cyndislist.com/
(240,000+ links, all cross-indexed.)
http://www.familysearch.com
(Mormon's mega-site)
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.c...
(450,000,000+ entries, some excellent, some bad, most in between)
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/defa...
Surname meanings and origins; no specific individuals, but fun.

These are for the USA only.

http://www.usgenweb.net/
(Subdivided into state sites, which all have county sites.)
(Canada has a Canadian Gen Web, with sites for each province.)
http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-b...
(Social Security Death index - click on "Advanced".)
http://find.person.superpages.com/...
(US Phone book, for looking up distant cousins)

These two are for the UK & Ireland only:
http://www.genuki.org.uk
http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

If you get serious, you should probably buy a genealogy program. I like Roots Magic. Family Tree Maker is very popular. Both are $29 in the USA, but you can sometimes find old versions in discount bins at software stores.

http://www.tedpack.org/begingen.html...
has some tips for beginners.