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Position:Home>Genealogy> What's the best site for researching your family history/tree for free?


Question:You mean besides going to the public library and using their free access to websites such as www.ancestry.com or www.heritagequest.com?

Here are a few:
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.geni.com/

If they emigrated from Europe, start with Ellis Island and the Battery Conservancy sites:
http://www.ellisisland.org
http://www.castlegarden.org

For Scotland, check:
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

For Sweden:
http://www.genline.com/databasen/
-http://www.northpark.edu/home/index.cfm?...
http://www.finlandia.edu/catalog/intro.p...

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/
http://www.cherokee-nc.com/geneology.php...
http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/herita...

Netherlanders: http://www.genlias.nl

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

For people from India, try:
http://www.fibis.org/

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...

Here are some general sites with lists of African names:
http://www.swagga.com/fname.htm
http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/afr.php
http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/ba...

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/...

Military:
www.military.com
http://www.familymilitaryrecords.com/

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/militar...

http://websearch.about.com/od/peoplesear...

http://genealogy.about.com/b/2007/05/24/...

http://userdb.rootsweb.com/ww1/draft/sea...

Finding live people:
Two good places I use are www.zabasearch.com and www.peoplefinder.com

While some people claim that not every one is on the internet, the FACT is that if you were born in the U.S. or if you came to the U.S. as an adult, or a child at least 20 years ago, YOU ARE ON THE INTERNET! Ancestry.com and the other big sites primarily dwell on RECENT immigrants (which is why I have found so little help from those sites).

Most likely you are on one of the ancestry sites (or your forebears).

Good luck!


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: You mean besides going to the public library and using their free access to websites such as www.ancestry.com or www.heritagequest.com?

Here are a few:
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.geni.com/

If they emigrated from Europe, start with Ellis Island and the Battery Conservancy sites:
http://www.ellisisland.org
http://www.castlegarden.org

For Scotland, check:
http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/

For Sweden:
http://www.genline.com/databasen/
-http://www.northpark.edu/home/index.cfm?...
http://www.finlandia.edu/catalog/intro.p...

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/
http://www.cherokee-nc.com/geneology.php...
http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/herita...

Netherlanders: http://www.genlias.nl

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

For people from India, try:
http://www.fibis.org/

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...

Here are some general sites with lists of African names:
http://www.swagga.com/fname.htm
http://www.behindthename.com/nmc/afr.php
http://www.familiesonlinemagazine.com/ba...

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/...

Military:
www.military.com
http://www.familymilitaryrecords.com/

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/militar...

http://websearch.about.com/od/peoplesear...

http://genealogy.about.com/b/2007/05/24/...

http://userdb.rootsweb.com/ww1/draft/sea...

Finding live people:
Two good places I use are www.zabasearch.com and www.peoplefinder.com

While some people claim that not every one is on the internet, the FACT is that if you were born in the U.S. or if you came to the U.S. as an adult, or a child at least 20 years ago, YOU ARE ON THE INTERNET! Ancestry.com and the other big sites primarily dwell on RECENT immigrants (which is why I have found so little help from those sites).

Most likely you are on one of the ancestry sites (or your forebears).

Good luck!

I have used ancestry.com and been very pleased. It is free, unless you need to do serious research.

Try freepages.genealogy.rootswe.com, but like all the genealogy sites you only get so far before you are charged.
The Church of Latter day Saints are very good.

Wherever you go you will fork out hard cash along the way.

Try ancestory.com for a good start.

Sherwood Forest.

www.rootsweb.com (mostly other people's research)

www.familysearch.org (the largest free access genealogy site in the world and they have free software you can download)

www.usgenweb.com (Depends on the area of the country you are looking into)

There are several sites Available For you to search.
If English Family try Free BMD,Family Search .org,Rootsweb.These are Just 3.Sites There are also sites available.Where you can get free help.Mostly Lookups.Some of the best lookup sites are on MSN groups

Mike

Huguenot.org, if your ancestors were French protestants who came to the USA in the middle to late 18th century, your great-aunt spent 30 years tracing their kin and someone uploaded her data. If you are Ethiopian, as one person who asked about his ancestry this week, there are basically no places to go on the web.

Otherwise, look in the resolved questions. There are a couple of thousand links there. Just use advanced search for the word "Free" in this category. Someone asks your question 4 - 5 times a day here.

Ancestry.com or rootsweb.com they are both very helpful,make sure you have dates to go by . Good luck

I think this is probably the best free site on the Internet,
http://www.familysearch.org/
hope this helps.

Genealogy would be the best place was to start and find where the place where your parents were born.