Does any one know of free sites that let you look up your ancestors??

Question:like birth records death records etc.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: like birth records death records etc.

This is a text file I paste to questions like yours. People ask similar questions 3 - 14 times a day here. By pasting, you get a long, detailed answer, but I don't get finger cramps. It is long because there are over 400,000 free genealogy sites.

It is also long because researching your family tree is as hard as writing a term paper in a History class. You don't have to be a rocket scientist, but you won't do it with five clicks. I could tell you everything I know in 30 minutes, but not 3. The fact you have to do research stops nine out of ten teens and many adults.

If you didn't mention a country, we can't tell if you are in the USA, UK, Canada or Australia. I'm in the USA and my links are for it. If you are not, please edit your question to add a country. Or, better yet, delete it and ask again, this time putting inthe country. Genealogists from the UK answer posts here too. They are more experienced and more intelligent than I am. I'm better looking and my jokes are better.

The really good stuff is in your parents' and grandparents' memories. No web site is going to tell you how your great grandparents decorated the Christmas tree with ornaments cut from tin foil during the depression, how Great Uncle Elmer wooed his wife with a banjo, or how Uncle John paid his way through college in the 1960's by smuggling herbs. Talk to your living relatives before it is too late.

You won't find living people on genealogy sites. Don't look for yourself or your parents. Crooks can use your birth date and your mother's maiden name to steal your identity. If your parents were married in June and your oldest brother was born 4 months later, it isn't anyone's business, which is another reason living people's dates are not on public sites.

So much for the warnings. Here are some links. These are large and free. Many of them have subtle ads for Ancestry.com in them - ads that ask for a name, then offer a trial subscription. Watch out for those advertisements.

If you try the links and don't find anyone, go to

http://www.tedpack.org/yagenlinks.html

It repeats each link, but it has a whole paragraph of tips and instructions for each one.

http://www.cyndislist.com
Cyndi's List has over 250,000 sites.

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/f...
The Mormon's mega-site.

http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.c...
RootsWeb World Connect. The links at the top are advertisements. They mislead beginners. Ignore them and scroll down.

http://www.rootsweb.com/
RootsWeb Home.
This is the biggest free (genealogy) site in the world.

http://www.ancestry.com
Ancestry has some free data and some you have to pay for.

http://www.usgenweb.net
US Gen Web. Click on a state. Find a link that says "County".

http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/defa...
Surname meanings and origins, one of Ancestry's free pages.

http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-b...
Social Security Death Index. Click on "Advanced". Women are under their married names. They are under their maiden names in most other sites.

http://find.person.superpages.com/
USA Phone book, for looking up distant cousins.

http://vitals.rootsweb.com/ca/death/sear...
California Death Index, 1940 - 1997.

http://www.genforum.com
GenForum has surname, state and county boards.

http://boards.ancestry.com/
Ancestry has surname, state and county boards too. They are free.

Read
http://www.tedpack.org/goodpost.html
before you post on either one.

Read the paragraphs about query boards on
http://www.tedpack.org/yagenlinks.html
before you search them.

http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/lis...
Roots Web Mailing List Archives.

Read
http://www.tedpack.org/maillist.html
if genealogy mailing lists are new to you.

Off the Internet, some public libraries have census image subscriptions. Many Family History Centers do too. FHC's are small rooms in Mormon churches. They welcome anyone interested in genealogy, not just fellow Mormons. They have resources on CD's and volunteers who are friendly. They don't try to convert you; in fact, they don't mention their religion unless you ask a question about it.

the Mormon church is real big on genealogy maybe there

Start here in your search for free resources:

http://www.cyndislist.com/
go to the left side of the page and click on "topical" index..
look under the appropriate heading for recommendations...also become familiar with the whole site and how it is organized.....if you know the geographic area you need to search in then go to that area's section and look at the resources.

There are several types of record databases available for free on the web...you need to determine geographic area and time frame in order to maximize your information gathering.

Be sure and familiarize yourself with Rootsweb found at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ and checkout the educational links while there under the "Getting Started" section. You will also find a link to the Social Security Death index that can be helpful for location death records for individuals who have died since the inception of Social Security.

Another excellent beginner's site is http://www.familysearch.org/ become familiar with the resources on this site and use this as a jumping off point.... in particular see the section headings under the search tab and check them out...search guidance, websites, etc....and be sure and use the "advanced" search....also see the link right above the search form "tips on how to search for your ancestors".......

and not to minimize the subject...but if you are looking for "vital" records in the U.S. then go to the state's official website and locate information on how to get vital documents from state and local governments based on time periods...
there is usually a genealogy link on the main page or can be found under state archive or state library.

and ....the most overlooked resource of all...your local "main" library...check with them for their genealogy collections ..not just in the stacks but also their access online to various databases...including many paid sites that you can access free from your library's physical site...often from even a branch office or from home via your library card. Most large public library systems provide access to their patrons to Library Editions of Ancestry and HeritageQuest among many other databases for free from the library's patron computers at various branches....check this out for sure and be sure to check on "genealogy" classes at your main library or local genealogy society ....ask the reference librarian for help.

Become familiar with how to research with search engines.. go to http://www.pandia.com/ for more on this subject.......become familiar with at least three good search engines to use among them http://clusty.com/ .......go to this site and put in State Archives ........and you will now have access to all the state archives and can see what is available
from the Illinois State Archives for instance. http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/a...

Most archives have some vital records online to view.

The three main rules you should remember are:
1. They probably spelled their names six ways ...and you only thought of five.
2. They fudged about their real age in order to get married, get a job or whatever...including, grandma didn't want you to know she was ten years older than grandpa so she told you she was born in 1900 instead of 1890....and while we're at it..she didn't bother to tell you that her daddy had married three times and that her sister was actually her half-sister by one mother and her brother was a half-brother by another and neither was her mother.
3. Your great grandmother was probalby "not" a full blooded Cherokee...which frankly won't matter to the Cherokees if she'd been full blooded or not...she was perhaps a Mulatto, with indian ancestor in the mix somewhere but not necessarily, she most likely will be found listed as white, mullatto, black, etc........depending on where the census or vital records where taken or registered. Get used to the idea that the ONLY race that is valid is the "HUMAN" race and all others are at some point a mixture or derivative of another group of similiar individuals mainly culturally and frequently but not always have similiar physical characterisitics...only 2% of our supposed racial/facial makeup is genetic....so don't deny yourself access to the possibility of a rich heritage based on assumption about any ancestor.

And the most important rule: Have fun in your research, keep a sense of humor, and when asking for help be "specific" such as "looking for the marriage record of James Darnaby and his spouse Sally in KY abt. 1866" ...... there's a good discussion about this on the Rootsweb site above.

Ah, always for free! Well, the real problem is going to find records. Period. Most records are NOT posted on the internet; official records go back only a relatively short time. I was the last child born to my parents; several siblings were born before I and died before I was born, and guess what? There were no birth/death certificates!
I would suggest that you go to your local library and see what they have to offer. Our library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com, periodicals, books and a volunteer to help.
The Mormon church has many places across the country and around the world where you can go to look up ancestry, free of charge, no strings attached, so check out the Mormons.
Last, you can check out these websites:

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/

Don't forget, if you get stuck on the paper trail, or if you want to know where ALL of your (direct line) ancestors came from, you can opt for a DNA test, such as offered by www.familytreedna.com. They are the best and send a written report plus your own webpage.