Past family members?

Question:

Past family members?

I'm really intrested in History. My family history. Is there a site I can go to look for past family members, that doesnt cost anything?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: This is what Shirley T said but it has links.

This is a long answer that I paste now and again to questions like yours.

The short answer to "How can I find my family tree?" is that if one of your great-aunts has spent 30 years researching it, AND has posted her research on the Internet, you'll find it. If not, you will have to do the research yourself. It is not difficult, but it takes time. Most young people do not want to spend a couple of hours a week doing research, because it is too much like homework. So, you may want to skip the rest of this answer. If not, read on.

If your line has been "done", chance are it is on one of these two sites. When you search, don't fill in all of the fields. Start with given name, surname and birth year. Use (+/-) 5 for the birth year. Expect to spend 15 - 45 minutes on each. Neither has any living people, so don't enter your own name.

http://www.familysearch.com
(Mormon's mega-site. Click on "Search", to start with, or "Advanced Search")

Roots Web
http://www.rootsweb.com
and in particular,
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.c...
(Roots Web World Connect; 460,000,000+ entries, of varying quality)

Here are a few more. The resolved questions have lots of links and tips.

http://www.cyndislist.com/
(240,000+ links, all cross-indexed. If you want Welsh or Pennsylvania Dutch or Oregon or any other region, ethnic group or surname, chances are she has links for it.)

Ancestry.com
http://www.ancestry.com/
(which has free pages and FEE pages - so watch out)
and, in particular,
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/defa...
Surname meanings and origins

http://www.tedpack.org/begingen.html...
My own site: "How to Begin"

United States only:

http://www.usgenweb.net/
(Subdivided into state sites, which all have county sites.)
(The Canadians have Canadian Gen Web, by province)

http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-b...
(Social Security Death index - click on "Advanced". You may find your grandparents.)

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

United Kingdom Only:

http://www.genuki.org.uk/
(Biggest site for United Kingdom & Ireland)

http://www.freebmd.org.uk/
(Free Birth, Marriage & Death Records)

In the USA, some public libraries have census image subscriptions. Many Family History Centers do too.

This is a general hint: Even though you go in through YA Canada, YA Australia, YA UK or YA USA, all of the questions go into one big "pot" and get read by everyone in the world who speaks English. Most of the people here are in the UK and USA, but you sometimes get questions and answers from people who worry about kangaroos eating their roses. So, if you are asking about a specific individual, put a nation and a state / province. It will help people help you. The problem is that past family members likely passed on long before the internet was devised. You can do some research in the dept. of vital statistics. If your family belonged to a particular church, you can often to genealogical research through their records of births, deaths, marriages, christenings, etc. A good starting point is surviving relatives. What can they tell you about your grandparents or greatgrandparents? Sometimes you can find information in the microfilm files of newspapers - in the personal ads. Sometimes you just have to be creative.
The Mormon Church, in Utah, is probably one of the most important sources of genealogical information in the world, and you can always write to them and ask for help. Or you can go and do the research in person.
It's a fascinating, frustrating, time consuming, but ultimately rewarding pastime. Be careful of going back too far.... you might find out the dreaded truth that you're related to some black people. There are lots of sites.

Ancestry.Com I feel is the best for its records and message Boards. Your public library might have a subscription to it. They have all the censuses through 1930. The 1940 is not available to the public yet. They have U.K. censuses also.

They have message boards and you can put one under a surname or location. When you put one on Ancestry.Com it shows up on Rootsweb(free site) and vice versa. It will also show up on the Rootsweb mailing list.

Now be very careful about taking as fact everything you see in family trees on any website, free or paid. The information is submitter by the users and most is not documented. You might see the same information repeatedly on the same person by many different submitters. That doesn't mean necessarily that it is right. It all to often means people are copying without verifying.

Use the information as clues as to where to get the documentation.

Call your nearest Latter Day Saints(Mormon) Church and find out if they have a Family History Center. 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 Family History Center can order microfilm for you to view for a nominal cost.

They don't bring up their religion and they won't send their missionaries by to ring your doorbell.

Cyndi's List has a lot of genealogical sites that you might find helpful.

Good Luck! Have a look at www.familysearch.org and www.rootssweb.com. These sites will give you a rough idea but the only way to find out is to work on your tree properly.

Good luck and good hunting