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Position:Home>Genealogy> I want to do some genealogy searches. Where is a good place to start?Question:Start by talking to your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, et al. Obtain all the info you can from them. Due to the amount of information required to do a fairly decent family tree, if you go back more than just a few generations, you will find it to be VERY time intensive. PCs now have humongous storage on their hard drives; but, if you COULD put everything into the computer, you will soon find it is very difficult to organize all that information. I currently have more than 100 MB of info, and most of it is not even in the computer YET. If you are sincerely interested in your ahnentafel, your genealogy, you will need to be dedicated and organized. So, try these sites and suggestions: The biggest expense will be TIME; I have spent hundreds of hours and have so much left to compile. Remember, no matter where you obtain the information, there are mistakes (yes, I include "official" documents, such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, death certificates, whatever). My maternal grandmother's tombstone doesn't even have her name correct! Anyhew, as to searching, try these: Free sites: there are several to choose from. Start with: 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/ Assuming they emigrated from Europe, start with Ellis Island and the Battery Conservancy sites: http://www.ellisisland.org http://www.castlegarden.org For ship’s passenger lists, try: http://www.immigrantships.net/ www.cyndislist.com/ships.htm www.geocities.com/Heartland/5978/Emigr... www.immigrantstips.net/ www.searchforancestors.com/passengerli... www.archives.gov/genealogy/immigration... For those with native American ancestry, try: http://www.tribalpages.com/ For a fee, try a DNA test: When you really want to know where your ancestors came from, try such sites as: www.familytreedna.com, dnatribes.com, dnaancestryproject.com, and, of course, the National Geographics Genotype program, https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/geno... For Jewish ancestry, try: www.israelgenealogy.com Have a look at these sites these are South African ones, http://genealogy.about.com/od/south_afri... http://www.rupert.net/~lkool/page2.html.... http://www.jewishgen.org/safrica/website... http://southafricanfamilyhistory.wordpre... Meaning of names: http://www.winslowtree.com/surname-meani... http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/f... Finding live people: Two good places I use are www.zabasearch.com and www.peoplefinder.com Don't forget, use your local library. Ours (a small one, yet) has www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com, as well as periodicals, books and guidance from an experienced genealogist. Keep good notes on where you find what: sources are very important. You have 2 parents, they each have 2 parents, and so on. 5 generations ago, you would have had 16 g-g-g-grandparents; by 10 generations ago, the number would be 512 "grandparents"; by 35 generations ago, the number is 16,179,869,184 persons (compared to a total of 6,700,000,000 people alive on Planet Earth today). In other words, basically every one on earth can trace their COMMON ancestry back to within the last 34 generations! (Or, since Medieval Times.) Good luck! Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Start by talking to your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, et al. Obtain all the info you can from them. Due to the amount of information required to do a fairly decent family tree, if you go back more than just a few generations, you will find it to be VERY time intensive. PCs now have humongous storage on their hard drives; but, if you COULD put everything into the computer, you will soon find it is very difficult to organize all that information. I currently have more than 100 MB of info, and most of it is not even in the computer YET. If you are sincerely interested in your ahnentafel, your genealogy, you will need to be dedicated and organized. So, try these sites and suggestions: The biggest expense will be TIME; I have spent hundreds of hours and have so much left to compile. Remember, no matter where you obtain the information, there are mistakes (yes, I include "official" documents, such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, death certificates, whatever). My maternal grandmother's tombstone doesn't even have her name correct! Anyhew, as to searching, try these: Free sites: there are several to choose from. Start with: 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/ Assuming they emigrated from Europe, start with Ellis Island and the Battery Conservancy sites: http://www.ellisisland.org http://www.castlegarden.org For ship’s passenger lists, try: http://www.immigrantships.net/ www.cyndislist.com/ships.htm www.geocities.com/Heartland/5978/Emigr... www.immigrantstips.net/ www.searchforancestors.com/passengerli... www.archives.gov/genealogy/immigration... For those with native American ancestry, try: http://www.tribalpages.com/ For a fee, try a DNA test: When you really want to know where your ancestors came from, try such sites as: www.familytreedna.com, dnatribes.com, dnaancestryproject.com, and, of course, the National Geographics Genotype program, https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/geno... For Jewish ancestry, try: www.israelgenealogy.com Have a look at these sites these are South African ones, http://genealogy.about.com/od/south_afri... http://www.rupert.net/~lkool/page2.html.... http://www.jewishgen.org/safrica/website... http://southafricanfamilyhistory.wordpre... Meaning of names: http://www.winslowtree.com/surname-meani... http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/f... Finding live people: Two good places I use are www.zabasearch.com and www.peoplefinder.com Don't forget, use your local library. Ours (a small one, yet) has www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com, as well as periodicals, books and guidance from an experienced genealogist. Keep good notes on where you find what: sources are very important. You have 2 parents, they each have 2 parents, and so on. 5 generations ago, you would have had 16 g-g-g-grandparents; by 10 generations ago, the number would be 512 "grandparents"; by 35 generations ago, the number is 16,179,869,184 persons (compared to a total of 6,700,000,000 people alive on Planet Earth today). In other words, basically every one on earth can trace their COMMON ancestry back to within the last 34 generations! (Or, since Medieval Times.) Good luck! myheritage.com gives you a free trial, when I did it, it was a 30 day trial. I would definitely recommend them. I found my long lost grandfather this way. My dad never knew his real father we only knew some things about him and I found him on that site. It listed his telephone number and address and I called him. We've been in contact since! Hope this helps some :) Believe it or not, The Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon Church) have excellent records for tracing families, even non Mormons. Well as for me . . . I have no other choice . . . I mean it wasn't my doing . . . But I am all over this particular one . . . http://genforum.genealogy.com/deberry/pa... I use Ancestry.com and am now trying to do a family tree. I found my dad on it and he has been dead since 1990. I have been trying to make a family tree and using the site. My suggestion is that you get the book unpuzzling your past by Emily Croom. It's about $20. It's well worth its weight in gold. It takes you step by step. Then when you are ready there are so many websites. Some paid some free. You need to understand, what you find out there is only a tool. Do not take anything as gospel until you prove it with birth, death, marriage certificates, obits and cemetery records. This is not a cheap hobby. Don't get upset if you don't find anything online. Most stuff found online is done by other researchers and not all of it is good info. That's why it is so important to document your work. Check your local library's homepage. See if they subscribe to ancestry and heritagequest. If they do you can use ancestry at the library for free and heritagequest at home for free with your library card. There is also the LDS Center in your town that has tons of stuff. Again most of this is submitted by other researchers and you need to document to prove its your line. Read the book I suggested and then follow the steps. You won't be sorry. This is not a cheap hobby by any means. Not only do the documents cost you but it is very time consuming. Good luck on your quest I'm watching this one! Peace. Try the web sites below, it's a good place to start. Good luck and good hunting I will collect a DNA sample and we will go from there. familysearch.org or if you are in the UK FreeBMD You have some good answers. Now, don't take as fact everything you see in family trees on any website, free or paid. The information is user submitted and mostly not documented or poorly documented. There are errors in family trees on the internet. You might see different information on the same people from different submitters. Then you will see the same information over and over from many different submitters and no documentation. A lot of people are copying without verifying. Use the information as clues as to where to get the documentation. A Family History Center at a Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church has lots of records, not just on Mormons. In Salt Lake City they have the world's largest genealogical collection. Their Family History Centers can order microfilm for you to view at a nominal fee. You just need to find out when they are open for the general public. I have never had them to try and convert me or send their missionaries by to ring my doorbell. I have not heard of that happening to anyone else that has used their resources. ancestry.com is a good place to go they give you free trial but w/credit card even so they have the biggest catolog rightnow Listen to Holly N. She's giving you solid, proven advice. There is only one place where you can find everything you need in one place...that's your local library. For the price of a free library card, you can spend hours and hours looking through all the best records, whether on their computers, shelves or microfilms. Between your family and your library, you can do great research. Just beware of family folklore sending you on wild goose chases. |