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Question:My ancestors are from Australia, England, Scotland,France,Italy and Norway. I was hoping for a site (they all seem to be paysites) thta has access to international records and also a good community of users (forums etc). Any advice for this newbie???


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: My ancestors are from Australia, England, Scotland,France,Italy and Norway. I was hoping for a site (they all seem to be paysites) thta has access to international records and also a good community of users (forums etc). Any advice for this newbie???

Really, to move forward with your research, there is only one site that beats all the rest in terms of all the things you mention, and that's ancestry.com.
If you really don't want to pay,you can usually access it for free at your local library, but I pay for the convenience of having it at home. (quite expensive for a world subscription though.)
I suggest you take out the 14 day free trial and gather as much info as you can in that time. If you still don't want to pay for it make sure you cancel before the 14 days is up or else they'll charge your credit card.

The best free sites I have found are:

http://www.rootsweb.com/
http://www.familysearch.org/

Ancestry.com is a pay site but the community forums are free and very helpful.

You are really asking for the impossible. While you MIGHT get SOME information for free, the reality is that it takes a lot of work by tons of people to go do the digging and find the records and put them together on the internet for you to get access to (like Ancestry.com) so you do not have to go do all that digging yourself in all those countries and their courts and parrish basements, etc. That work is going to cost money, so why should you reap the rewards of their sweat for free? In the end, it is far cheaper to buy a script to Ancestry.com than to go to the actual location of the records yourself. A year subscription to their World Deluxe package is about $300. You can do alot of work in a year and then not have to pay anymore; or you can renew your script for another year if you want. Keep in mind, that while they have TONS MORE records than anyone else, they do not have everything. You will still need to use other sources and do some of your own digging in public records.

People need to give up the idea of doing genealogy for free. No matter what hobby you do, you will have to pay for something......whether it be piano classes, or supplies to paint pictures, or whatever your hobby involves.........it will cost something.

Also, people need to give up the idea that others are out there doing all this work for free and putting it on the internet for them to use for free. No one else works for free. Go ask your auto mechanic to fix your car for free and see how far you get.

http://www.cyndislist.com/
Cyndis list has thousands of sites for genealogy.
With all respect for opinions of others... My opinion is that you limit your success, when you think in terms of "one best site".
Your family history does not consist just of compiled family trees, which is what many sites offer. INFORMATION is what backs up your research.. that info might be at the Library of Congress, which you would not normally think of, as a genealogy site.
Think outside the box. Of course, you want to find the basics of research (cyndi has a great section for newbies/beginners). Once you understand that, open your imagination to other places where you can learn about your family history.

Start with your local public Library.
Ask if they have a genealogy section or Family History Library nearby.
Do they offer Ancestry.com or Heritage Quest Free online
Is there a genealogy library nearby
I would start there.
They can help you get started

Genforum
rootsweb
cyndis list
familysearch.org
usgenweb archives
State Archives websites