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Position:Home>Genealogy> How can I do a free family tree search?Question: How can I do a free family tree search?Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Build your family tree on line. You can use a paid site like: http://www.ancestry.com/ OR You can do this for free on: http://www.tribalpages.com/ Start with yourself, and then attach living family members. Find out all you can about you family from living members, then attach it to your tree. Now it is time to look for historical records and attach the info to your tree: It is ALL about census records, and other historical records! You might get lucky and others may have done some work on your family tree. Google family members names i.e. "Mary Smith" + "family tree" Free sites: http://www.searchforancestors.com/... http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739... http://www.usgenweb.com/ http://www.census.gov/ http://www.rootsweb.com/ http://www.ukgenweb.com/ http://www.archives.gov/ http://www.familysearch.org/ http://www.accessgenealogy.com/... http://www.cyndislist.com/ http://www.findagrave.com/ Genealogy message board: http://www.bbc.co.uk/messageboards/newgu... http://forums.about.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx... http://boards.ancestry.com/ http://www.gensource.com/common/search.c... http://messages.yahoo.com/yahoo/family__... http://genforum.genealogy.com/ http://www.genealogyforum.com/messages/... http://www.progenealogists.com/messagebo... http://messageboards.aol.com/aol/en_us/b... http://boards.rootsweb.com/ ECT. The time may come when you want more information than you can find for free. When this happens you can back up your "tribalpage" tree to your computer on a "GEDCOM" file you can then go to (I think it is the best subscription site) http://www.ancestry.com/ Upload your "GEDCOM" file and start to work! You might need to make a few adjustments to your tree to make it look better. Source(s): z geneology.com Best place for a free search is www.familysearch.org. I have found a lot of information on this site. :) Good luck! Begin by talking with older relatives, siblings and cousins who might have known older relatives that you didn't know. Many people here will tell you to sign up with genealogy.com , ancestry.com and similar sites. My personal experience has been that I have not learned anything by posting my family tree on these sites although I have noticed that several people have copied info from my family tree and posted it on the web without giving credit where it is due. On the upside. What I have found to be helpful about these sites is the message boards and mailing lists. I have had many distant relatives give me very good info in response to queries I have made on these boards. Remember. Always cite your sources because the people who have already done the research deserve credit; just like writing a term paper. I have to tell you right off the bat that most everything online will cost you. Sit down with family members, tape what they say so you can refer back to it. Make copies of their birth, death and marriage certificates for your files. Collect obits (usually cost $2) and cemetery info (usually free). Use what you find online as a tool only. There is so much bad research out there. If you find something, contact the submitted and see if they have documented what they found and ask if they would send you copies of the documents. There are free websites out there but the research is only as good as the researcher. Check your local library's homepage to see if they subscribe to heritagequest. If they do you can access it from home with your library card. If they subscribe to ancestry you can use it at the library for free. Also check out your local LDS Center. They have a ton of info. You may have to pay a fee to use the film. I have spent more then I care to think about doing genealogy over the past 15+ years but it's been worth every penny. I have my family documented very well. I found so much bad stuff online that I ended up dumping a whole line because it turned out not to be correct. It was several years of work and totally blew my research all to heck. So now if I find a person I make sure I document everything I can. Good luck in your quest The best way is simply to start with your own family. If you want to do it on the computer, you can download PAF (Personal Ancestral File), which is free genealogy software at http://www.familysearch.org under Order/Download Products. I imagine you can pick it up pretty quick because it is very user-friendly. Then talk to your parents (and grandparents if still alive) and get as much information as you can from them including names, dates, and places. Here are a few online resources for you to use: http://www.familysearch.org - Probably the best free online resource. http://www.ancestry.com is one of the best but has a hefty subscription fee (for most of its databases). Also, you can check the surname message boards for your surname at: http://genforum.genealogy.com http://boards.ancestry.com For links to helpful sites, you will want to take a look at: http://www.cyndislist.com And finally for a lot of different resources: http://www.rootsweb.com For grave records: http://www.findagrave.com It won't all be free but it's worth it. Good luck, Dave -- Family tree websites at http://www.familyinhistory.com |