Family Genealogy....Websites???

Question:I want to research my family history, but everytime I go to a free website, it turns into a fee! I was wondering if it is really worth the cost? Do you get the information you are looking for? And exactly how up-to-date is the information? What is the best site to do research?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I want to research my family history, but everytime I go to a free website, it turns into a fee! I was wondering if it is really worth the cost? Do you get the information you are looking for? And exactly how up-to-date is the information? What is the best site to do research?

If you find the website wants money, bookmark it and leave it. Then try other sites first, like e.g.:

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.ancestry.com (You do have to pay for this one, but have a look to see if you are serious about this first)

http://www.cyndislist.com/ Cyndi's List gives you lots (and I do mean: LOTS!) of links. Try and narrow down first what you are looking for, it is way too easy to get side-tracked on this one.
You should be able to find good free sites on Cyndi's List that will get you started.

Only pay for stuff once you see that you can't find it any other way. And even then it shouldn't be too much. E.g. in the UK The National Archives allow you to downloads wills and other very interesting documents and you pay only about ￡3.50. Not bad at all! I don't know what it's like in the US.

The largest free database in the world is available through the Mormon Church. Go to the local ward and ask. You don't even haave to be a Mormon to use this resource.

Think for a moment-
WHY would you want up to date information, if your goal is history?? Genealogy is from OLD OLD OLD records, all of which existed before computers. Or the internet. "Recent" information (ie your parents or yourself) is something that can be misused, thus it should not be (and normally isn't) online.
Here is the catch 22- If you don't know what records are being offered, no.. it will be useless for you. If you know that ancestry.com (the largest source) has census records, that are critical to research.. you can get them elsewhere (as I used to do), but that too, cost money. Genealogy isn't free, it never was.
If you were an expert in auto repair.. you can walk into a part store and find treasures, dripping from the ceilings. I hate auto repair, and and I wouldn't know a good wrench from a bad one if it bit my posterior. What a person finds, depends on the determination (and some experience) I don't doubt that your ancestors are probably all over the internet. The MORE SITES you use, the better your odds.
http://www.cyndislist.com/beginner.htm
Here is a collection of tips and guides for beginning research. You can also pull out your own birth certificate and find the information on there, which starts you out. Yes.. you know who your parents are. By getting your own record, you see how to USE A RECORD instead of personal knowlege (which can be fallible). When you get past memory, records are the source anyway, so start out with the right approach.
The BEGINNING of the research is with you, and other probably living persons. Those records will be within your reach, but not online. Once you get back a few generation, and it will open up.
You will find MANY places with "kazillions" of family trees. Any family tree is nothing more that someone else's collection of information.. and it is only as good as the basic records that they used. The file/tree is not a record in itself.
Think of your family history as a jigsaw puzzle that you find the PIECES of. Not a ready made painting, that is complete. The whole challenge is to find the pieces, whether they are online or at the local courthouse, or in aunt Jane's attic.

Your public library might have a subscription to Ancestry.Com you can use. I feel it is best for the records. They have all the U.S. censuses through 1930. The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet. They also have U. K. censuses.

Just don't take as absolute fact everything you see in family trees on ANY website,free or paid. The info is subscriber submitted and mostly not documented or poorly documented. Even when you see the same information repeatedly by many different subscribers on the same people, that is no guarantee it is correct. A lot of people copy without verifying. The information can be helpful as CLUES as to where to get the documentation.

you can get 12 free days at ancestry .com or go for it all at roots web all is free both sites are actually linked .......knock yourself out and make sure you print out the work you do ...it's amazing and you'll find yourself wanting to go in many directions have fun...

This is always fun..."I want it yesterday and I want it for free". No matter how you obtain the information, the biggest cost will be in time.
Check out your local library; ours has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for use, as well as periodicals and books plus a volunteer to offer advice on your searches.
Or you can try these 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.geni.com/

Good luck!

try genealogy.com