What is a simple free way to search your family tree online?

Question: What is a simple free way to search your family tree online!?
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I usually compare family tree research to writing a term paper in a high school history class!. The simple way to do it is to have an older brother who got an "A" and turn his in!. If one of your great aunts already spent 30 years on it, and she published her research on the web, all you have to do is find it and hope she didn't make any mistakes!. If not, you'll have to do the work yourself!. It won't be simple and won't be free!. You don't have to have a Ph D!., but you do have to have patience and be smart enough to know that someone born in 1863 and named "Robert Lee Jones" didn't fight in the Civil War!.

The Internet is amazing, but it is not magic!.

Here is my standard answer!. I copy and paste to save myself time!.

There are over 400,000 free genealogy sites!. I have links to some huge ones, below, but you'll have to wade through some advice and warnings first!.

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 in the USA,
AND most of your ancestors were in the USA,
AND you can get to a library or FHC with census access,
AND you are white
Then you can get most of your ancestors who were alive in 1850 with 100 - 300 hours of research!. You can only get to 1870 if you are black, sadly!. Many young people stop reading here and pick another hobby!.

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!. You'll have to get back to people living in 1930 or so by talking to relatives, looking up obituaries and so forth!.

Finally, not everything you read on the internet is true!. You have to be cautious and look at people's sources!. Cross-check and verify!.

So much for the warnings!. Here is the main link!.

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

That page has links, plus tips and hints on how to use the sites, for a dozen huge free sites!. Having one link here in the answer and a dozen links on my personal site gets around two problems!. First, Y!A limits us to 10 links in an answer!. Second, if one or more of the links are popular, I get "We're taking a breather" when I try to post the answer!. This is a bug introduced sometime in August 2008 with the "new look"!.

You will need the tips!. Just for instance, most beginners either put too much data into the RWWC query page, or they mistake the Ancestry ads at the top for the query form!. I used to teach a class on Internet Genealogy at the library!. I watched the mistakes beginners made!. The query forms on the sites are NOT intuitive!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

There is no simple AND free way to research your family in detail!. You will need about two years on line, working every day to exhaust all avenues, and new info is always being added!. Best free site is www!.familysearch!.org, but I'm not sure if it will remain free forever!. After that, best site is www!.ancestry!.com which is not free, but if you buy pay per view credits for a small amount, a large amount of census information is opened for you, until your credits expire!. In this way you can research relatively cheaply!. Do not buy an expensive subscription to ancestry!. I also recommend you build your tree on www!.genesreunited, you need to pay a small fee annually, but the site links your tree with matches to other peoples trees, which is a great help!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

As Ted says, it is not simple nor easy!. It is very involved!. Like writing all the essays, book reports, term papers, etc!., from kindergarten through graduate school, and then some!.
I have typed up about 500 pages on my genealogy, and I am just getting started!. A good memory certainly helps; writing skills and organizational skills are a must!. Having said that, here is my list:

You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history!. Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department!. Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc!. Our public library has both www!.ancestry!.com and www!.heritagequest!.com free for anyone to use (no library card required)!.
Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers!. They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you)!.
A third option is one of the following websites:
http://www!.searchforancestors!.com/!.!.!.

http://www!.censusrecords!.net/!?o_xid=2739!.!.!.

http://www!.usgenweb!.com/

http://www!.census!.gov/

http://www!.rootsweb!.com/

www dot ukgenweb dot com/

http://www!.archives!.gov/

http://www!.familysearch!.org/

http://www!.accessgenealogy!.com/!.!.!.

http://www!.cyndislist!.com/

www dot geni dot com/

Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever!.

Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example!.

Good luck and have fun!

Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites:

http://www!.associatedcontent!.com/article!.!.!.

Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test!. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father!. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA!.
I used www dot familytreedna dot com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program!.

It is best to attempt to find 2 or 3 sources for each ancestor!. Whether paper, internet, or a book, I have yet to find sources that are error free!. So, if one has dates wrong, perhaps another has the correct dates (birth, marriage, death, etc!.)
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