Position:Home>Genealogy> How can I look up my ancestors for free?

I know the Ellis Island website would not do me one bit of good since I didn't have any ancestors that came through Ellis Island!. Very likely your relations to Daniel, John and Charles Carroll did not come through Ellis Island!.

You need to trace your ancestry starting with yourself one generation at a time!. Don't think if you find any of your family in an online family tree that the information is correct!. Family trees online are seldom documented or poorly documented!. The trees are not submitted by some expert working for the website but by folks like you and me!. That is true of the free ones as well as the ones in which you have to pay in order to subscribe!.

You will see different info on the same people from different subscribers!. Then you will see the absolute same info on the same people from different subscribers, but that is no proof the info is correct!. A lot of foolish people copy without verifying!. Because of the internet, errors are multiplying all over the place in family trees!.

I have been giving this warning to people constantly asking a question like yours!. I recently was looking at Ancestry!.Com in family trees and found out my younger sister and I are both dead!. According to the tree we died in New Jersey!. The only time we were ever in New Jersey is when we drove through it going to and coming from New York back in 1956!. Therefore we must have been dead for at least 52 years!.
I also was married to my brother-in-law and he is also dead!. My sister and my brother-in-law's 2 children are mine!. An uncle to my grandfather who was widowed twice and was married 3 times married his second wife in New Jersey!. His first wife died where he lived in Gonzales County, Texas and he married her sister!. He really had to do a lot of traveling back in the 1890s to marry her!.

If the subscriber had submitted this information to Rootsweb, FamilySearch!.org, Genealogy!.Com or any of the genealogy websites, it would have been accepted!. You can make up a fictitious family tree and it will be accepted!. If you disagree with something a subscriber has on one of your family members, the owners of the websites will tell you that that is between you and the other subscriber!.

Now, in the long run, Ancestry!.Com is a site I favor but it is not free!. Your public library might have a subscription to it you can use!. The reason I like it is it probably has more original source records than any website!.

Ancestry!.Com has all the U!.S!. censuses through 1930!. The 1940 and later are not available to the public yet!. They have U!.K!. censuses through 1901!. They have indexes to vital records(birth, marriage,death) of many U!.S!. states!. They have immigration, military, land and other records!. They have transcribed the records but you can view the original images!.

There are errors in their transcriptions, particularly censuses, but when you view the original, you can have pity on the transcriber!.

Not all records are online, but the ones they have will save you money and time traveling all over the country to courthouses, cemeteries, libraries, National Archives, to get them!.

A good free source is a Family History Center at a Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church!. They have records on people all over the world, not just Mormons!. In Salt Lake City, they have the world's largest genealogical collection!. Their FHCs can order microfilm for you to view at a nominal fee!.

The first poster mentioned talking to family!. Yes, get as much information from them as possible!. If they will let you interview your older members and tape them!. They might be confused on some things but what might seem to be insignificant story telling might be very significant!.
Ask if any has any old family bibles!. Ask to see and make copies of birth, marriage and death certicates!. also depending on the religious faith, baptismal, first communion, confirmation and marriage certificates from their religion will be helpful!. In Catholic churches they keep separate registers on all of those things plus one for deaths!. These contain parent information!. In our diocese the registers are periodically sent to the Chancery Office to be microfilmed!.

I have never had them to try and convert me or send their missionaries by to ring my doorbell!. I haven't heard of them doing that to anyone else that has used their resources!. They are very nice and helpful!. Just call the nearest Mormon church or visit their free website, FamilySearch!.org to get their hours for the general public!.

Edit: Documentation is the meat of genealogy!. Too many people online apparently think it is important to see how many names they can get into their family tree!. Don't let some website encourage you to merge someone else's family tree into yours!. If you get a hint from a website about someone in your tree that is in another subscriber's family tree, be very very cautious about accepted the information!. I was horrified when I saw one poster talking about a website stating they will "populate your familytree!." That you don't want!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Find out as much information that you can about your family: birth/death dates and city/states !. Then go to genealogy!.com they have lots of family name forums!. Great site!. Another one is familysearch!.com this is also a great site, but you will do your homework also because this information is what has been found on records or sent in by people!. Some of the info for my family was wrong!. I have found census and family records to back my info up!. USGenweb is another site!. Happy Hunting and good luck in your quest!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Start with Ellis Island web site

You can also try the Mormon Church in Salt Lake, Utah!. They share info with Ellis Island!.

also, try to Google the names you mentioned or go to Wikipedia and type in the names!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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